CHUCK WOLFE is a Santa Fe-based multinational urbanism consultant, author, and influencer, Visiting and Guest Scholar in Scotland and Sweden (2014 and 2017-22), a recent Fulbright Specialist in Australia for an award-winning project, and a long-time American environmental/land use lawyer. In addition to his law degree from the University of Oregon, he holds a graduate degree in regional planning from Cornell University. He has 38 years of experience in environmental, land use, and real estate law. He has held leadership positions in both the legal and planning professions. He has represented public and private clients in property redevelopment, regulatory entitlements, drafting, and brownfield remediation issues in Washington State and other venues.
He is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Seeing Better Cities Group, practiced at several law firms, and lived abroad from 2017-2022. At the University of Washington, he has taught land use law and contributed to major research efforts addressing urban center and brownfield redevelopment. He has served on the Board of Futurewise. He is the former Vice Chair, Fund Development, and former Treasurer of the Northwest District Council/Urban Land Institute and served on its Managing and Advisory Boards. He has been a frequent radio and podcast guest in several countries. He has written regularly for many publications, including GeekWire, The Atlantic, The Atlantic Cities/CityLab, Governing, CityMetric, Planetizen, The Huffington Post, Grist, and Crosscut. He has blogged at myurbanist.com and sustainingplace.com.
From 2023 on, the best way to access his writing is via Substack, at Resurgence, A Journey.
He is the author of Sustaining a City’s Culture and Character (Bloomsbury (2021), the third in a trilogy of books addressing how to determine the intrinsic identities of cities and urban places. He is also the author of Seeing the Better City (2017) (finalist for a 2018 UK National Urban Design Award) and Urbanism Without Effort (rev. ed. 2019), both from Island Press.
Is 'Hacking' a Planning Commission a Good Idea?
Does giving short shrift to grassroots tradition cut against the dynamics of community-based decision-making?
A Cutting-Edge Planning Hackathon in Seattle
In GeekWire, Chuck Wolfe covers an atypical urban planning and policy gathering called an “Urban Resilience Hackathon,” which was held at the University of Washington in Seattle late last month. For a day, the event showcased collaborative problem solving and innovative thinking in addressing urban challenges.
Elevating the ‘Small Stuff’ in Urban Design
Chuck Wolfe recaps arguments in favor of increased attention to incidentals — from benches to bollards — in urban development practices.
Deconstructing Office-to-Residential Conversions in Seattle
In a two-part inquiry in GeekWire, Chuck Wolfe looks at clearing the path to office-to-residential conversions and the complex path beyond.
Considering Mindfulness as an Urban Planner's Tool
A recent blog post in Substack considers the appropriation of mindfulness to urban observation and, implicitly, urban planning today.