Despite being here for only about seven weeks I’ve gotten the chance to see a fair amount of Seattle, and it’s quite amazing how many different neighborhoods there are and how quickly the urban landscape can change from one block to the next. My adventures have been aided by the fact that many of my classmates and new friends live in several areas around the city.
The Washington State Senate Transportation Committee hosted a “listening forum” in Seattle on Monday to hear out citizens on transportation issues, and the main topic was the impending funding cut to the King County Metro bus system. With several hundred in attendance, people from all walks of life spoke and gave a collective impression of just how critical public transit and transportation funding is to the millions of people in the Puget Sound region.
The U.S. is seeing a slow reversal of a half-century of migration to the suburbs, with people more interested in walkable communities closer to the core cities of metropolitan regions. With the Millennial generation also less interested in driving and owning single family houses, suburban areas will have a surplus of homes and shopping malls in the years ahead. Empty structures have imbedded energy from their construction, so reuse is more sustainable than demolition, but how is a building adapted for uses it wasn’t made for? This is the challenge I took on with my personal project, “Thinking Outside the (Big) Box”.
With classes underway, a conveniently timed conference in nearby Bellevue gave me the opportunity to skip school the last two days and mingle with over 400 planning professionals. The Washington State chapter of the American Planning Association hosted its annual conference with the theme of ‘Wicked Problems, Smart Solutions’ and gave me great insight into the field right as start learning to work in urban planning. I started networking with both students and practitioners, and the event was well organized with presentations on a myriad of current issues.
As the impacts of climate change become more noticeable around the world, planners and politicians are taking steps to reinforce their cities against natural disasters. Though climate scientists stress that no single weather event can be attributed to climate change, last year’s Hurricane Sandy and the recent Colorado floods are poignant examples of the extreme weather events that will be more frequent and intense as global temperatures and sea levels continue rising. In the design and planning professions, especially in the eastern U.S., an emerging conversation is debating when to harden infrastructure, how to rebuild after major events, and even whether to abandon vulnerable areas entirely.
The famous view from Kerry Park.
It’s been two-and-a-half weeks since I moved to Seattle, and I must admit I’m still getting used to it. Today I had my first classes in the graduate urban planning program at the University of Washington, and I forsee my studies giving me a unique view on my experiences in this urban environment.
With increasing ridership and voter support, regional transportation agency Sound Transit is expanding its services throughout the Puget Sound area. Formed in 1996 with the approval of King, Pierce, and Snohomish county voters amidst increasing traffic congestion, ST operates now two light rail lines, several intercity express bus lines, and the Sounder commuter rail service between Everett and Lakewood. The 1996 ‘Sound Move’ measure also funded infrastructure improvements like HOV lanes, park-and-ride lots, and transit centers. As the metropolitan population is expected to to grow from 3.55 million people to 4.40 million by 2030, a coherent regional transit network will be essential to ensuring the prosperity and health of Puget Sound communities.
I’m here! With the help of my folks I finally made the big move to Seattle on Monday. My apartment is located in a pretty accessible location north of the UW campus, but I don’t think I’ll ever drive in Seattle again. Okay, so I probably will, but the move gave me quite a tour of all the wrong turns to take in this city. Besides that, my experiences so far have been relatively positive.
City planners today at the Seattle Department of Planning and Development released a preliminary map of areas where marijuana farms, processors, and stores may be located within city limits. According to the Seattle Times, the areas have not yet not been approved by the state Liquor Control Board, which is charged with implementing the legalization of marijuana after Initiative 502 passed last year, but is based on rules the city council is considering. Most of the locations appear to be in industrial areas with few in residential and commercial districts, and the map indicates tighter restrictions on marijuana businesses than other recreational drug sales.
Master plan, showing full growth after a trial run in the southern plots.
A new public food forest is opening over the next year in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood with fruit trees, shrubs, and other food plants that will be available to all visitors. The park will also have private gardening plots, known in Seattle as p-patches, and encourage residents to learn about permaculture. At seven acres and on city-owned land, the Beacon Food Forest will be the nation’s largest addition to urban agriculture and the local food movement.
The Northwest Urbanist 