As increasing density and increasing housing costs raise temperatures all over Seattle, residents and planners are engaging in a comprehensive plan that will determine how the city grows over the next 20 years.
Ari Cetron provides insight into the comprehensive planning process underway at Seattle's Department of Planning and Development (DPD), examining in particular the plan's need to accommodate 120,000 projected new residents in the next 20 years.
The "essential question" posed by the Seattle 2035 plan, according to Cetron: "should we concentrate our growth into only a few areas or spread it around, with denser buildings across the city?" Currently DPD is considering four growth alternatives, with the aim of narrowing those four choices down to one option by July. Public comment on the current phase of planning ends June 18.
The four alternatives, according to the Seattle 2035 website:
- Continue Current Trends
- Guide growth to urban centers
- Guide growth to urban centers near light rail
- Guide growth to urban centers near transit
The website includes "highlights" for each of these alternatives.
Ceron's coverage is headlines with a promise to show five maps that will determine the city's future, and to deliver on that promise, Cetron chooses a map showing areas at risk for displacement along with four maps showing where each of the alternatives would locate the largest numbers of new housing.
Read the full story: Seattle 2035: Five maps that will determine the city’s future
Environmental Criticism for the Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan
The Seattle 2035 will manage growth for one of the fastest growing cities in the country. But shouldn't it also mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions of this famously eco-conscious city?
Seattle Releases Draft Rezonings for its 'Urban Villages'
Seattle is planning to add height and density in "urban villages" around the city—part of the growth and affordability goals targeted by previous planning efforts by the city.
Seattle Ponders a New Approach to Zoning for its Comprehensive Plan Update
The city of Seattle will have an updated comprehensive plan by the end of 2024, with zoning changes to follow by 2025.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Move over, LA: St. Louis gears up for Olympics, invests millions in downtown redevelopment
The Missouri city will host the 2028 Olympic soccer group stage and knockout matches.
Mass. votes against statewide minimum lot size for single-family homes
Over 2 million residents voted on Question 7; it was decided by just over 30,000 votes.
Maryland’s $15 billion bridge project gains key approval
The Maryland Transit Authority said the project will create over 60,000 jobs and add $23 billion to the local economy.
‘No clear next steps’ for Chicago's permanent festival grounds
Eleventh Ward Ald. Nicole Lee has suggested Soldier Field as a possible location for the permanent event space.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello