Click below to listen to the conversation between 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck and Kristen Young, director of community relations for UNC!
Welcome to “Embrace The Space!” A monthly segment presented by Trinsic Residential Group, “Embrace The Space” features conversations with experts and professionals in town planning, discussing how differing concepts — from land use and housing to transportation and beyond – all come together to create a community that works, and works for people. This month, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck was joined by Kristen Young, director of community relations for UNC!
Young’s work at UNC involves the creation, development and maintenance of spaces serving both businesses and residents.
“The vision is always creating space that serves the mission for the university, said Young. “My role is just making sure that people that come to campus and our community members know more about the spaces, and can access the spaces.”
According to Young, that encompasses not just availability, but accessibility. Through meetings and partnerships, the university is working to ensure accessibility and safety for everyone — including pursuit of the town of Chapel Hill’s goal of completely eliminated pedestrian accidents.
“What I’m really encouraged by is that the Highway Safety Research Center, which is a unit on campus that’s part of the university, is assisting the town with making these spaces safer for pedestrians,” said Young. “Their recommendations are really about speed and better lighting at crosswalks, and the town has already taken a lot of these steps, but I’m really encouraged that they’re including university staff … and trying to make this a safer community for pedestrians.”
In her conversation with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck, Young also mentioned some future plans and forward-thinking initiatives concerning town and campus landmarks.
“We have a really exciting opportunity to redevelop Porthole Alley and make a new home for the Carolina Coffee Shop,” said Young. “They are celebrating a hundred years this year, and we want to make sure that they can be here and serve residents for another hundred. … This opportunity will also create new office and retail downtown and bring the 50,000 people a year that come to the admissions office. We can bring them downtown in a new renovated admissions and visitors center. So, we’re really excited about the opportunity at Porthole Alley. Um, folks can learn more at go.unc.edu/porthole, and learn about this opportunity that we have.”
“Embrace The Space” is a monthly segment presented by Trinsic Residential Group on 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com featuring conversations with experts and professionals exploring town planning, from land use to housing to transportation, and examine how so much works together to form a place where people can not only live — but thrive.
You can find more conversations like this in the “Embrace The Space” archive on Chapelboro, and each month in a special segment airing on 97.9 The Hill!
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