Photo: Alex Walker

In late 2007, Sustain Charlotte Founder and Executive Director Shannon Binns moved to Charlotte after spending a decade living in major cities – Washington D.C., New York City, Seattle – where he could easily navigate using public transportation. While he’d lived car-free for 10 years, he found himself unable to navigate without one in Charlotte. 

The pattern of urban sprawl that has defined our growth for the past 70 years has resulted in a tragic loss of tree canopy, forests and farmlands; degraded our waterways and air quality; and severely worsened our impacts on the climate.

This sprawling pattern of development was accompanied by decades of building roads solely for cars. The needs of people who walk, bike, and ride transit were overlooked, which led to our current lack of bike lanes, sidewalks, and safe intersections. Soon, cars became necessary for nearly every daily living trip, from the grocery store to work, doctor’s appointments to school, and everything in between. People who didn’t drive were often left behind, literally disconnected from opportunities and from their community.

Sustain Charlotte was born because our city needs a better way to grow, now and for generations to come. 

One of our roles is to educate citizens and policymakers about the way in which many of our greatest community challenges are systemic in nature. These big challenges require holistic thinking and problem-solving, along with effective actions and investments.  

We focus on trying to change current unsustainable land use patterns by advocating for more compact growth that makes walking, biking, and transit feasible. 

We also advocate for redesigning our existing streets to make walking and biking safer and public transportation more accessible.