Finding Charlotte's Identity

[voyager12]

I often hear people reference identity when they choose a city. People move to Charleston for it's southern charm and friendly manner. Asheville for it's natural beauty and offbeat character, The Triangle for it's tech jobs and intellectual atmosphere spawned by highly ranked universities. I originally moved here for a web job. I think most people move here because of jobs and family reasons. This is a wonderful attribute but we need other calling cards. I don't think NASCAR and Big Banks and Whitewater is well rounded enough or the right ingredients to spark a "vibe". They are great tools to have but maybe it's the lack of an overall organic vibe or the sense of place here thats grabs me when I travel to other cities. These are simply my tastes and opinions, I get this vibe in small doses in Dilworth, Southend, PlazaMidwood and NoDa. These are quite small pockets and don't have the density to have much influence beyond a few blocks. Maybe it will just take time and 20 years from now it will be a different story. It's hard to get beyond now though.

[Charlotte_native]

I don't think NASCAR and Big Banks and Whitewater is well rounded enough or the right ingredients to spark a "vibe".

[KulBC]

From my own experience, I was born and raised in charlotte. I moved to Raleigh three years ago, and people around here tend to categorize Charlotte in a way that i've not thought about. A lot of people on different occasions have commented on the "charlotte wealth." They see charlotte as a city of money and upper class. One person even jokingly said "go home and drink your evion water that runs through the pipes." I've never viewed the city like this, but it is a common thought among many people not from Charlotte. On another note, maybe the citie's underlying identity has been with it all along; trendy. Look throughout the city's history. when it was the thing to have street cars, charlotte did. when cars became the "it" thing, they were and rail dissappeared. Now, it's all about the high rise living; the fancy condo in the sky, and the wealthy urban CBD, and architectural style. Maybe the city is just like that old person who refuses to get old... so they have plastic surgury all the time. I can't say i'm too particularly proud of that type of image, and i'd like to see it differ from that. I'm just merely stating what i've observed.

[lukedog]

From my own experience, I was born and raised in charlotte. I moved to Raleigh three years ago, and people around here tend to categorize Charlotte in a way that i've not thought about. A lot of people on different occasions have commented on the "charlotte wealth." They see charlotte as a city of money and upper class. One person even jokingly said "go home and drink your evion water that runs through the pipes." I've never viewed the city like this, but it is a common thought among many people not from Charlotte. On another note, maybe the citie's underlying identity has been with it all along; trendy. Look throughout the city's history. when it was the thing to have street cars, charlotte did. when cars became the "it" thing, they were and rail dissappeared. Now, it's all about the high rise living; the fancy condo in the sky, and the wealthy urban CBD, and architectural style. Maybe the city is just like that old person who refuses to get old... so they have plastic surgury all the time. I can't say i'm too particularly proud of that type of image, and i'd like to see it differ from that. I'm just merely stating what i've observed.

[lukedog]

London is much much more than that and most informed people know it. Maybe the American tourist doesn't know much better but there are very few places in the world that have defined the entire planet as much as London has over it's 2000 year history. The entire American obsession with having a detached home in the suburbs can be traced directly back to the english manors that used to surround London where the rich and powerful went to escape early industrial London.

I can't imagine that we would forgive the absolute lack of identity in Charlotte by reducing London down to a few tourist sites.

[Spartan]

Charlotte's lack of identity has a lot to do with the dominance of The Banks . Although the growth of the banks has been great for the city economically, it has supported a culture of gentrification that places no value on character, history, or sentiment, especially if it is not considered mainstream. Order and cleanliness are paramount. As a result, we have too few public spaces, limited parks, and nowhere (other than the light rail) that people from different socioeconomic strata can co-mingle.

Much of the reason that newcomers never really become Charlotteans is that to us, the Charlotte experience is generic and largely suburban. When I leave uptown, I only know I'm in Charlotte because of the center medians at each intersection and the crowns on the street signs. The city, which I see as in its teenage years, is torn between its small-town roots and its metropolitan future and has made many compromises that have satisfied neither urge. Charlotte has become more urban physically than it is prepared to be mentally.

Finally, everyone here has come from somewhere else's suburb. The generic, soul-less suburban culture here is the same generic, soul-less suburban culture everywhere else but without the established city in the center. It is the city created by people who have never really lived in a city. It will take at least 25 years for Charlotte to even start to incubate a distinct culture. Atlanta in 1980s was the same way and it is only now beginning to assume an identity as (arguably) the capital of The South and capital of Black culture in the US...and even it has a long way to go. The question that should be asked and is more difficult to answer is whether or not Charlotte's culture is indicative of what modern American culture has become and are we now realizing that we really don't like it?

[monsoon]

I am curious since London was brought up...what is London known for (I have my thoughts- want to hear from others)?

[krazeeboi]

Personally, I think an established identity (even if not well-known nationally) is important because it often serves as a source of civic pride for its residents. For example, Charleston prides itself on its lowrise skyline, which is dotted with historic church steeples. If you even consider building anything over five stories on the peninsula, the preservation organizations will sink their fangs in your neck before you can even put the thought into words. I know this may be an example a little on the extreme side of things, but the basic concept is that the identity is something that's worthy of protection because it helps the city to define itself amongst other cities.

Someone touched on this earlier, but the elements that I see that are most common that help a city to forge its identity are music, cuisine, architecture, education, the arts, and geographic location. Charlotte doesn't specialize in any of those, so it's not easy to see why many tend to say the city is generic. Some boomtowns can lay claim to at least one those elements, so they aren't seen as being as generic as Charlotte. Take Nashville for instance; it's got the music industry and its educational institutions. Austin has UT and is also known as the "Live Music Capital of the World." And there are others. I really think things would have been a bit different if Charlotte had an established university located downtown.

In the end, an (established) identity isn't something that can be forced; it just has to mature over time.

[fortyniner]

We have traditionally been too conservative to capture the imagination of anyone, let alone the planet's. It's changing. I think we're "not too trifling" anymore (Sorry President Washington). How about a great park called "A Trifling Place?"

I just don't think a "packaged" slogan will endure.

[SCLA]

Lots and lots of people all around me --- friends, family, acquaintances, myself --- love Charlotte. We love it for the fact that there's always another exciting new cultural venue, a new restaurant, a jazzy new bit of architecture.....yet still often run into friends at the grocery or across town. We can all share a comforting frame of reference when you mention a certain street intersection, or coffeeshop, or local political issue. We're at a marvelous point in this city's growth, of enjoying both its small-town attributes and its big-city urbanness. It's easy for anyone, thus, to feel a sense of ownership in this growing "teenager" that is Charlotte 2008. But despite all this, I don't think many, or any, of us feel like we're a part of a "Charlotte identity".....rather, just people from somewhere far away or from a much-different Charlotte of years ago, who happen to like living here now.

I agree with several of the previous posts in that I don't think you can 'create' an identity; that's almost a contradiction in terms. It comes only from the layering of generations of lifetimes marked by stability, tradition, and the status quo. Say you come from an Italian neighborhood in inner-city Boston or Philadelphia; that elusive-to-describe "identity" came about from decades & decades of a community living a certain way. Charlotte's story, especially after WWII and accelerating since the late '80s, is all ABOUT changing. (So maybe that in itself IS Charlotte's 'identity'.) I'd suggest that Charlotte's identity went away in the 1940s or so; I say this only as an observation, not as either "good" or "bad" (although some of its ways of life were clearly bad, others good, e.g. segregation; a slower pace of life; "Southern" customs, more gentility, no air conditioning to hide inside with). Sure, "The South" as we define it in popular culture did not always exist; it was an evolution just like every society throughout history, formed by the evolving circumstances of slave labor, a textile industry, climate, all these sorts of things; but the point is that it was relatively unchanging for many decades. Maybe our new identity won't begin to take root till our current growth spurt settles down, an economic turn of events which would be seen by most of us as a negative.

[Durhamite]

Does identity mean association. For instance, outside of regions, a city is probably only known for maybe 1 or 2 things:

LA - Hollywood

Seattle - Pikes & Space Needle

San Fran - Alcatraz, Street Cars

Dallas - Cowboys, JFK

Orlando - Disneyland

Miami - South Beach

New York - Empire State Building, Lady Liberty

Milwaukee - Beer

I could go on and on...other than urbanites (who could readily expand on he list), most people generally know little or nothing about other places.

Example: if you ask someone from Seattle what is Richmond, VA known for.....what would they say. Being from the south, I know it's historical significance of being the capitol of the South during the Civil War. Is Richmond not urban, have great architecture, etc, and kind of funky....Yes...but to the typical American it doesn't have a specific identity. What about Minneapolis...most people can't associate anything right off the top (maybe Mall of America....about as generic it get's...a BIG mall), but Minneapolis is much more than Mall of America. My association with Minneapolis is the Mary Tylor Moore Show, but who amongst the generation X,YZ remembers that.

Point being, it's nice to known for something but it doesn't really matter.

[Raintree21]

Anyway, any feedback on "A Trifling Place"??

[monsoon]

Forgetting what George Washington said, Charlotte is more famously known as being the "Hornets Nest of America" during the Revolutionary War with England. During that war Lord and General Cornwallis invaded Charlotte in hopes of occupying it to form a major base of operations for the Southern leg of the British war against the USA. His invasion lasted only 3 weeks where he was forced to pull out due to local militias working against him and he later referred to this place as the "Hornets Nest of America".

Cornwallis is more famously known for his surrender in Virgina which marked the end of the Revolutionary war and Britian's defeat at the hands of the rebels and of course the formation of the United States.

So this is probably our most famous moniker and the reason that we have Hornets Nest Park, and of course the reason that George Shinn named the first NBA team here the "Hornets". Oddly enough when the team was moved toNew Orleans it kept the Hornets name, but their name is based on Charlotte history.

[Charlotte_native]

Does identity mean association. For instance, outside of regions, a city is probably only known for maybe 1 or 2 things:

LA - Hollywood

Seattle - Pikes & Space Needle

San Fran - Alcatraz, Street Cars

Dallas - Cowboys, JFK

Orlando - Disneyland

Miami - South Beach

New York - Empire State Building, Lady Liberty

Milwaukee - Beer

[Miesian Corners]

I see this lack of character in the city as a major problem when the novelty of the city wears off. Once commute times get really long and open space is hard to come by and, most worryingly, when home price appreciation slows relative to the national market, all of the newcomers who so quickly came here will quickly leave just as quickly.

[ArtCritic]

Charlotte is more famously known as being the "Hornets Nest of America" during the Revolutionary War with England. During that war Lord and General Cornwallis invaded Charlotte in hopes of occupying it to form a major base of operations for the Southern leg of the British war against the USA. His invasion lasted only 3 weeks where he was forced to pull out due to local militias working against him and he later referred to this place as the "Hornets Nest of America"...

So this is probably our most famous moniker and the reason that we have Hornets Nest Park, and of course the reason that George Shinn named the first NBA team here the "Hornets". Oddly enough when the team was moved toNew Orleans it kept the Hornets name, but their name is based on Charlotte history.

[arsenalfcn5]

And go where? Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Tucson, Nashville, Jacksonville, Orlando? Cities that are booming and are just as forgettable as we ever thought about being. Cities whose traffic problems FAR exceed Charlotte's (well, except for JAX and Orlando)? This is a Sunbelt problem, not a Charlotte problem. Ugly suburbs look like ugly suburbs, regardless of the name stamped on the property tax bill.

[Charlotte_native]

I don't mind our current reputation of being a business and banking hub. BofA aquiring Countrywide will only enhance that. It doesn't mean I want to be known singularly for banking or to only be about banking, but it does in fact bring a lot of money and jobs here. Not just banking jobs, but the entire support community. Bankers need places to live, eat, shop, play, and generally spend their money. You like funky clubs and restaurants? Someone has to support them financially. You like art, artists, and galleries? Someone has to purchase art for it to be created and for the artists to survive. Same with music, live music, etc.

In other words if banking is bringing growth to Charlotte it isn't just the growth of the banks. It doesn't mean banking is all we are about, any more than our jobs are all we are about, it just is where are primary income is generated. All the groovy things we'd like to see in a city generally cost money -- few are free!

[krazeeboi]

And go where? Atlanta, Raleigh, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Tucson, Nashville, Jacksonville, Orlando?

[Justadude]

London is much much more than that and most informed people know it.

[monsoon]

.... But the reality is that most Londoners live and work in the suburbs, ride buses instead of the Tube, and almost never lay eyes on a man in a black Bowler hat. .......

[RealMadrid]

A lot of people would be surprised about how many average people know Charlotte around the world, and are still wearing Charlotte Hornets clothes...

[NcSc74]

My experience in London was just like NYC...a definite division of the haves and have nots. Not all the streets were clean and historic as I thought and the buses and the tube were filled with the worker bees going to and from work...shopping and partying. What I thought London was is not the reality. So much can be said about perception and reality. I agree with dude that having an informed public is the key. If your city dwellers create that "brand" then the rest of the populace rather it be local or national will too recognize the city and that "brand". It has to be something only the people of Charlotte can dream up and embrace to make it stick. If Charlotte wants to be known as a banking city then let it be. If the city wishes to promote itself as "THE" historical Queen City then do something to make it so. Only the locals can do this not some outside "branding" agency. St. Louis has the arch right. So you mean to tell me that Charlotte cannot have some monumental landmark to define herself. Surely there is more to landmarks but that is the issue right. Trying to catch the national eye with as much tact as possible won't fullfill that dream. When I think of Charlotte I think of the cities namesake, gold mines and tall buildings. One more thing being the big fish in NC doesnt hold as much weight as it does in other cities. NC has 2 other metros of about the same size so Charlotte has to do more with less fanfare. I say develope more urban fabric, densify downtown neighborhoods and promote uptown as the jewel in the QC crown...along with a huge statue of Queen Meck herself in or near uptown somewhere...that should take care of the landmark thing.

[Andyc545]

Some have posted statements that stated that cities sometimes present multiple identities and they differ from person to person. Based on that, I bring up a question- what do you think about when you hear Charlotte (I know its tough since we live here)? How about other people you know from out of the city, what do they think of Charlotte?

I bring this up because although cities may bring multiple characteristics and identities, Charlotte seems to struggle gaining any, IMO of course. The biggest reason for this is because I believe that this is changing, transforming, or still just being established. The closest connection, I personally, can connect with Charlotte is "Family", "Southern Hospitality", "BBQ", and "Banks". The problem with these are that they are not unique and overlap many other cities presence.

With this being said, I also would like to say that the vision has changed just in the 8 yrs that I have lived here. When I first moved, my relatives and friends back home, do I dare say, in WNY, either never heard of Charlotte or thought it was just a small town that had good whether. If I were to ask these same people 8 years later today, which I have in fact, I receive a completely different answer. This is partially due to the knowledge that many WNYers are moving here, but they also see and hear more about our big city. They still don't perceive us with an identity, but certainly perceptions have evolved. I predict that it will be sooner than we all imagine that Charlotte will be known for something unique, having an identity with it. By the way to answer my original post and agree with some on here- no it's not important to have an identity, but it builds character and uniqueness, in one proportion.

[Justadude]

Not true at all...... Not even close.....