Seattle

The High-Tech Urban Experience, Now Standardized

The seven largest metros in the nation are teaming up to unify the technologies that are revolutionizing life in the city, Steve Towns reports.

May 2, 2012 - Governing

Ranking America's Hipster Havens

Katrina Brown Hunt ranks America's top ten cities for hipsters with the help of Travel + Leisure readers, who voted in the magazine's annual America’s Favorite Cities survey.

April 19, 2012 - Yahoo! Travel

Examining Our Now-Fading Mania For Malls

On the sixty-year anniversary of the genesis of the country's first enclosed mall, Mark Hinshaw looks at America's foolish detour into shopping malls.

April 19, 2012 - Crosscut

Are Seattle's Trees Depressed?

Ariel Schwartz reports on an art project turning Seattle's trees an electric shade of blue in an effort to raise awareness of them.

April 12, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Making Regulatory Reform Work in Seattle

Although Seattle's downtown redevelopment may be receiving plaudits, Chuck Wolfe describes efforts underway to rethink land use regulations on a broader level in the city, with jobs in mind.

March 28, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Chronicling Seattle's Booming Downtown

Jon Talton reports on the recent upswing in development in downtown Seattle, as new jobs and residents signal a quick rebound from the Great Recession.

March 26, 2012 - The Seattle Times

Seattle Launches Ambitious Streetlight Survey

The Emerald City puts the streetlight of the future to the test – for both safety and feel, and the results could affect how cities everywhere are illuminated in the future, reports William Yardley.

March 14, 2012 - New York Times

Suburbless in Seattle

Mark Hinshaw calls an end to the use of the term "suburb" to describe the communities ringing Seattle, and the inferior connotations attached to it. It's a term that he thinks has outlived its usefulness.

March 6, 2012 - Crosscut

Changing the Paradigm of Urban Development

Jason Kambitsis speaks with Bruce Katz, the founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, about his advocacy for taking a fundamentally different approach to urban development based on economic diversification.

March 1, 2012 - Wired: Autopia

HOV-to-HOT Conversion Seen as Key to Easing Congestion

Robert Poole reports on efforts across the country to reduce freeway congestion through HOV-to-HOT conversion and public-private partnerships.

February 27, 2012 - reason.com

Getting Seattle's Priorities Straight

Jordan Royer weighs in on two major developments in the Emerald City, and why the one that flew under the radar should have taken center stage.

February 24, 2012 - Crosscut

Building Permaculture in Seattle

Robert Mellinger reports on efforts to build the nation's largest public food forest in the Beacon Hill neighborhood in Seattle.

February 21, 2012 - Crosscut

Parsing San Diego's Misguided Waterfront Plans

As Seattle considers ways to improve its waterfront, local architect and urban planner Mark Hinshaw evaluates a conflict brewing 1,250 miles to the south, for a lesson on what not to do with valuable downtown waterfront real estate.

February 15, 2012 - Crosscut

Preserving Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing

As developers across the country increasingly recognize the market advantages of redevelopment oriented around transit, and property values rise in response, hundreds of thousands of units of affordable housing are at risk.

February 5, 2012 - Shelterforce

Highway Removals to Become More Difficult

Following highly publicized urban highway removal success stories like Boston's Big Dig and San Francisco's Embarcadero, Anthony Flint asks whether similar successes will be easy to duplicate.

January 10, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Sharrow Backlash - Are They Working?

Proliferating faster than bike lanes or bike parking racks may be the chevron symbols in the pavement with bicycle icon informing cyclists and motorists alike to "share the road". But can too many sharrows be a bad thing, asks Grist's Elly Blue.

November 18, 2011 - Grist

"Streetless In Seattle" Policy Polarizes Citizens

Ethan Epstein chronicles the work of Seattle's mayor, Mike McGinn, who won office in 2009 from established candidates and a powerful incumbent on a "philosophically anti-car" base.

November 4, 2011 - City Journal

Seattle May Revise Bike Plan, Already

Mike Linbom cites the popularity of greenways for why the city is considering spending $100,000 more than the original plan's cost to update it, after just four years.

November 3, 2011 - The Seattle Times

Nations Largest and Most Expensive Expansion Program

Seattle's East Link light rail extension project is said to be completed in 2023 and will attract about 50,000 riders a day, says Yonah Freemark. In addition, the city council wants a section of the line to be tunneled under Downtown Bellevue.

November 2, 2011 - the transport politic

In Seattle, Feelings are Mixed on Extra Perks for "Ultra-Green" Building Standards

Under the "living building" pilot program, a handful of developments get to bypass the usual zoning for sticking to some of the most stringent building standards in the world. But one developer wants an additional 10 feet of height for it.

October 21, 2011 - The Seattle Times

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.