Seattle's 'Urban Villages' Become Bedroom Communities

In a recent column for Crosscut, Knute Berger looks back on the 20-year history of the city's urban village strategy to inform its emerging reality as an "urban bedroom community."

1 minute read

January 30, 2015, 2:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

Anthon Jackson / Shutterstock

Knute Berger describes the urban villages plan: "Mayor Norm Rice introduced the urban villages strategy some 20 years ago, designed to designate centers of urban growth around the city. It was the planning response to the new Growth Management Act, and targeted areas throughout the city by increasing densities and anticipating where growth could be best absorbed."

"With change once again intensifying and with now two decades of village experience — plus the impending update of the city’s Comp Plan for growth through 2035 — we have an important chance to see whether the villages have worked as intended. How did we do on growth targets, livability and, most importantly, sustainability? How’s the health of the city? What do the results suggest for the future?"

The city took an institutional approach to answering these questions, hiring Peter Steinbrueck to produce the recently released Seattle Sustainable Neighborhoods Assessment Project [pdf], sponsored by the Department of Planning and Development.

Berger goes on to detail the good news and the bad news of the report, which you can read in the full article.

FULL STORY: Eye-opening study: Seattle is becoming an urban bedroom community

Thursday, January 29, 2015 in Crosscut

Land Use United Kingdom Seattle Urban Villages Commuters Bedroom Communities View More

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