Seattle
Planning is only one ingredient of the cocktail that produces new housing, but planning should bear in mind all the other factors influencing the process. Vancouver and Seattle provide case studies and sharp contrasts in housing outcomes.
Sightline Institute
The single most effective way a major employer in Seattle found to reduce solo driving was to charge employees for parking, but ruling-out monthly permits. An innovative method was adopted to charge workers on a daily basis
The Seattle Times
An approved, 55 micro-unit, mixed-use development with no parking sited on a transit corridor with 15-minute headways has been halted by a legal ruling after neighborhood opponents proved the bus was not meeting its schedule.
Seattle Weekly
By any measure, Seattle is growing at a breakneck pace. But with those new residents come cars, and all the infrastructure and land use inefficiencies they bring.
The Seattle Times
The city of Seattle has finally been compelled to maintain pedestrian infrastructure in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Urbanist
Many argue that bikes save cities millions by lessening pollution, improving public health, and opening up space that would otherwise be taken by cars and parking, but some counter it's too hard to ticket bikers when they don't have licenses.
The Seattle Times
Seattle provides plenty of shade for residents to enjoy in the summer months.
The Stranger
There's only one requirement to qualify for Seattle's Poetic Grid project: write a poem about a specific place.
Next City
The Campaign For Responsible UW is hoping to push for additional changes to a finalized version of a master plan for the University of Washington's Seattle campus before the city can approve it.
The Urbanist
Vancouver's exploding housing prices are caused by income inequality, housing scarcity, and a housing bubble, not by foreign investors and vacant housing units.
Sightline
Seattle's Design Review Program, in place since 1994, could see substantive changes in the near future.
The Urbanist
Sidewalk-adjacent eating spaces generally separate diners from pedestrians. By using markers instead of fences, some Seattle eateries are opening their dining areas to the street.
The Urbanist
Seattle is faced with an affordable housing crisis that has led the new Planning & Community Development Director Sam Assefa to look globally for solutions.
The Planning Report
King County, Washington was once home to a large number of black homeowners, today the county lags far behind the rest of the country.
The Seattle Times
Contra Costa County, California, located in the East Bay Area, is looking for new incentives to get commuters to carpool through the congestion region. If only there were an app for that.
Government Technology
Sometimes it seems like Seattle and Amazon have a symbiotic relationship.
The Seattle Times
Issues about which bus schedules work best for students and families, and how changes to the school bus system should be funded, came to a head in Seattle this week.
Seattle Met
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.
The Urbanist
Transit agencies from Washington to Florida are beginning to make the switch from diesel and natural gas-powered buses to battery electric buses, some faster than others.
Sierra Club Compass
Tech thrives on connection, and America's west coast tech hubs are more connected than ever before. But Seattleites aren't in a rush to abandon their city's distinctiveness.
The Economist
