The Urbanist is publishing a series of articles focusing on the leadership of women is shaping the past, present, and future of Seattle.
The latest entry in the 'Women Shaping Seattle' series is an interview with Barbara Swift, FASLA, who founded Swift Company in 1982 and has gone on to contribute landscape architecture and urban design work for "powerful places for civic life and discourse around the city and the world.
The interview surveys the work of Swift Company and touches on themes like innovation and the influence of design practice on recent changes in the city. When asked to describe one part of Seattle ripe for change, Swift offers a pro-density argument on one of the hot topics of Seattle land use and urban development politics:
An area ripe for change is the amount of land occupied by single-family detached bungalow housing. This land use is dominant in Seattle and needs to move quickly to higher density–and create community. Without adapting this, Seattle won’t be able to absorb increased population, provide for low-income housing, or combat sprawl.
Previous articles in the series includes an interview with Lisa Picard, the Executive Vice President and Regional Manager of Skanska Commercial Development USA, and an article detailing the long history of women working to shape the city of Seattle.
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research