Promoting Green Space In The Urban Core

"Last month, the city's Department of Planning and Development released a draft of the Seattle Green Factor program, which involves landscape requirements for new development in neighborhood commercial areas.

Green Factor is based on European approaches to urban sustainability, and offers landscape strategies that encourage sustainability and increase green space in the city. Current requirements mandate a percentage of open space on a development site, but the result is not necessarily green or sustainable. If approved by the City Council, Green Factor would require that a variable portion of a parcel be vegetated."