The Seattle Times

Snohomish County, Wash., officials are tussling with local city governments and fire-department officials over regulation of so-called "air condo" developments sprouting in the county's unincorporated areas.

By and large, Americans support the rights of property owners -- leaving planners with the challenge of creating regulation that protects the public without infringing on private interests.

Using a steel dock-like structure and blocks of Styrofoam, a Louisiana professor has designed housing that avoids flood-damage by moving with rising water.

As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, many homebuilders are seeing a demand for housing that can accommodate the boomers, their aging parents, and even their adult children and grandchildren.

Seattle residents are protesting a 600,000 square foot retail development set to move into the city's historic Little Saigon neighborhood. They fear that the character of the neighborhood will be erased by the major chain retailers on tap to move in.

Louisville has adopted a "complete streets" policy which makes the provision of sidewalks, bike lanes and bus stops mandatory. Neal Peirce discusses the plan in his column, and offers some international examples.

Neal Peirce looks at new ideas for financing roadway improvements, including leasing toll roads to private companies and on-board computer monitoring of actual road use.

Plans to use fees charged to developers for building parks and open spaces in Seattle have been abandoned.

Inclusionary zoning and community land trusts are two innovative methods that government and non-profits are starting to use to create affordable housing, though these, like past efforts, have their shortcomings.

A planned 10-home development at Issaquah Highlands, a Calthorpe Associates designed urban village outside Seattle, will give homeowners relief from utility bills.

The city's planning commission wants to use "incentive zoning" to encourage the development of taller buildings and generate revenue for the city's affordable housing fund.

Though Washington State's property-rights initiative failed to pass in November, opponents and supports are trying to work together to address some of the concerns of land owners who feel the current regulations are too strict.

Residents near Seattle are upset after transit officials altered plans for proposed extensions of the area's light rail system. Concerned citizens claim that the transit authority's decision to scrap two lines puts politics above effective service.

At a recent meeting of the Urban Land Institute, delegates discussed what urban development will look like in the 21st Century -- and what it will need to be successful.

Bellevue, Seattle's largest neighboring city, grapples with Robert Lang's categorization of it as a "boomburb" -- having nearly as many foreign born citizens (32%) as New York's Brooklyn neighborhood (38%).

In the second of his two op-eds on the future of transportation in the United States, columnist Neal Peirce looks at the role of public transit.

With traffic congestion already growing intolerable in many cities, how will Americans be able to get to work when there are 400 million of us, asks Neal Peirce.

The recent opening of Whole Foods in downtown Seattle highlights the challenges of attracting major grocery stores to the urban core.

A recent editorial encourages the Washington State legislature to take the first step towards highway congestion pricing.

As part of its $6 billion regional transit plan, Seattle transit officials have started construction on an airport extension.