David Walters

UNC Charlotte
Architect and town planner, professor emeritus and former director of Master of Urban Design Program, UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture

Biography

David Walters is a British architect who has four decades of experience as an architect, urban designer and community planner. He is professor emeritus of architecture and urban design at UNC Charlotte, where until he retired he was the program director of the Master of Urban Design program at the College of Arts + Architecture.

Education

Walters earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK, and has practiced and taught in England, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and North Carolina (since 1990).

Expertise

Walters is affiliated with Stantec’s Urban Places Group. Previously with The Lawrence Group, Walters has won state and national awards for urban design master plans, form-based codes and community planning projects based in Carolina communities. Walters is the author or co-author of three books: Design First: Design-based Planning for Communities (with Linda Luise Brown); Designing Community: Charrettes, Masterplans and Form-based Codes; and The Future Office (with Christopher Grech).

Articles

  • Opinion: Let’s steer clear of the “D-word” when it comes to housing
    ui.uncc.edu
    Mar 11, 2020
    Post-war zoning effectively made America’s historic neighborhoods illegal. No longer could you live above the store. No longer could you build a duplex, triplex, or quadraplex  amidst single-family houses. Now, most new housing was a homogenous spread of nothing but single-family bungalows. Apartments were all lumped together and quarantined off in a different part of the city. But stroll through any historic district here in Charlotte and what do you see? Exactly that old-fashioned mix of duplexes and quadraplexes nestled amongst single-family dwellings.
  • What makes a good city? You need the right codes
    plancharlotte.org
    Nov 30, 2017
    How can we stop design and planning mistakes from damaging our city? Part 2 in a series of illustrated essays on urban design. Commentary from David Walters.
  • What makes a good city? You need the right codes
    ui.uncc.edu
    Nov 30, 2017
    How can we stop design and planning mistakes from damaging our city? Part 2 in a series of illustrated essays on urban design. Commentary from David Walters.
  • What makes a good city? Urban design, explained
    plancharlotte.org
    Oct 12, 2017
    How can we distinguish between good development proposals and the not-so-good? First in a series of illustrated essays explaining urban design principles.
  • What makes a good city? Urban design, explained
    ui.uncc.edu
    Oct 12, 2017
    How can we distinguish between good development proposals and the not-so-good? First in a series of illustrated essays explaining urban design principles.
  • Can Charlotte learn these lessons in time to save lower South End?
    plancharlotte.org
    Nov 23, 2016
    Can lower South End survive the large-scale cookie-cutter development now ravaging South End and NoDa? David Walters offers a way forward, based on lessons from Des Moines. Yes, Des Moines. Commentary.
  • Can Charlotte learn these lessons in time to save lower South End?
    ui.uncc.edu
    Nov 23, 2016
    Can lower South End survive the large-scale cookie-cutter development now ravaging South End and NoDa? David Walters offers a way forward, based on lessons from Des Moines. Yes, Des Moines. Commentary.
  • Moving from zoning’s alphabet soup to describing real places
    plancharlotte.org
    Apr 05, 2016
    You probably know places you like. And you probably don't know whether they're MUDD-O, R-22MF or UR-2(CD). A new approach to zoning lets us envision places we like and then come up with ordinances that allow us to build them—without the arcane letters we’re used to. Commentary.
  • Moving from zoning’s alphabet soup to describing real places
    ui.uncc.edu
    Apr 05, 2016
    You probably know places you like. And you probably don't know whether they're MUDD-O, R-22MF or UR-2(CD). A new approach to zoning lets us envision places we like and then come up with ordinances that allow us to build them—without the arcane letters we’re used to. Commentary.
  • How zoning shapes your daily life, even if you don’t know it
    ui.uncc.edu
    Mar 30, 2016
    “Zoning” may top your list of boring topics, but it shapes your life. It’s why walking and biking are tough in Charlotte, and why driving is all but essential. And with Charlotte’s zoning ordinance about to change, here’s what you need to know. Commentary.