Seattle
Seattle's Struggle to Build Affordable Housing
The Emerald City's affordable housing difficulties mirror those of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and others: too much demand and too few resources.
King County, Sound Transit Announce $83 Million for Transit Oriented Development
A new regional transit oriented development initiative in Seattle will focus on affordable housing and walkable communities. The Executive's Transit Station Housing and Development Initiative will partner King County and Sound Transit.
Health by Design: Findings from ULI
A new ULI report finds that innovation in placemaking is about the inter-relatedness of health and the built environment.
Seattle Makes Grassroots Crosswalk Design Official
Seattle will implement a process by which neighborhoods can take the Tactical Urbanism practice of DIY sidewalks a step further—by officially approving local designs for sidewalks.
19 Progressive Recommendations for Seattle's Housing Crisis
The Urbanist chose 19 of the progressive recommendations from a total of 65 put forward by the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda Advisory Committee (HALA) committee.
What If Seattle Had a Century-Old Subway?
Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle called for a centrally-planned metropolis with efficient transit, parks, and a cap on building height. It was voted down, but remains an interesting study on planning for the long term.
Mapping Fun: Where Seattle Has No Sidewalks
Not all streets are created equal: Some have sidewalks and some don't.
Sound Transit's East Link Rail Line Needs $20 Million More for Engineering
Sound Transit had to deliver bad news last week about cost overruns in the design and engineering phase of the East Link rail project that will cross Lake Washington along the path of Interstate 90.
Lesson from Seattle: Zoning Is a Political Debate, Not a Policy Debate
The swift rejection of a proposal to upzone residential neighborhoods in Seattle inspired The Urbanist to evaluate the lessons of the episode. One takeaway: don't demonize single-family homeowners.
Dueling Proposals for Seattle's Waterfront Park
Eventually, Bertha will push through and create an alternative route for what is now Highway 99. Eventually, also, Seattle will decide on a plan to build a park where the viaduct now runs.
Downtown Seattle Works to Curb Driving as it Grows
With the highest levels of construction in over a decade, the city is working to reduce traffic congestion.
Seattle to Rely on Green Stormwater Infrastructure
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has released a draft plan to overhaul the city's stormwater infrastructure to reduce the pollution levels in Puget Sound.
Seattle Tower-Spacing Rules Cause Controversy
To preserve views, zoning rules from 2006 require adequate distance between residential towers of a certain height. As developers chafe against the restriction, residents still worry they'll be left facing a wall.
Seattle Releases App to Track Development
Into an active development environment, and the resulting heightened pitch of development controversies, comes a new app from the city of Seattle that allows the public to track development projects.
Can Seattle Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis With Zoning?
Seattle returns to zoning as a tool to promote the construction of affordable housing.
Detaching the Family Car from Single-Family Housing
As parking reform takes to multi-family housing, the detached single family home has largely escaped discussion. Should it? Seattle (of course) is taking the lead. Also, is all of Minneapolis ready to eliminate parking minimums along transit lines?
The End of Single-Family Housing? Seattle Housing Committee Creates a Stir
A draft report, by the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Advisory Committee created by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, includes language about single-family zoning that has provoked debate.
$73 Million Expansion Underway for Seattle's Pike Place Market
One of Seattle's most recognizable locations began work on sweeping changes on June 24, 2015.
How to Keep Young Families from Fleeing to the Suburbs
Millennials are loving their center cities these days, with their lofts and bars and yoga studios. But what happens when Millennials start to have families and don't quite fit, physically or culturally, into city life anymore?
Anti-Crime Measures for Seattle's Westlake Park: Foosball and Ping Pong
Call it tactical urbanism, call it reactivating spaces, call it good old fashioned fun—games like ping pong, foosball, and bean bag toss are central to plans to make Westlake park more hospitable.
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.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
