Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes showcases what Cheonggyecheon Expressway is like today, after being converted back to a creek and pedestrian pathway, including newer improvements in recent years.
America’s housing crisis is a complex and persistent problem. There isn’t just one reason for the housing crisis, but rather many compounding policy, demographic, and technological reasons that have led to it. In this video, Dave Amos of City Beautiful documents how the country has slow walked into
Dave Amos of City Beautiful dives into the history of the Public Land Survey System and how it has affected much of the United States in big and small ways.
The Denny Regrade, completed between 1897 and 1930, changed the face of Seattle’s downtown forever. This video from Seattle’s municipal archives breaks down how it happened and why.
Historian Lorraine McConaghy rehashes the arc of Kirkland’s history from blue collar boomtown with an industrial waterfront to bust town to its high tech resurgence, all while using a lens of racial equity and housing exclusion.
Uytae Lee of About Here highlights Kensington Market, a very diverse district in Toronto steeped in history. It’s increasingly become a popular area of the city for redevelopment interest. Lee highlights how the community is trying to move forward while having a stronger stake in decisions around how the
Journalistic integrity demands we review the tapes for the last year, and own up to our failings. Here are the corrections and regrets for 2023.
Freiburg im Breisgau is famous in planning spheres for its high rates of biking, walkable suburbs, and green ways of building. Mike Eliason has sung the praises here of the German Black Forest city for its Baugruppen housing approach and famed Vauban. Intriguingly too is that though Freiburg was originally
Do you know where Seattle, or your town, gets drinking water? Is it reliable and safe? Will we have enough water in the Puget Sound region as the population grows? What does today’s drinking water in the Seattle area, the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, Spring Street downtown, migrating
One would be excused for missing the door to 911 Pine Street. It is a classic alcove doorway, deserving of little attention even if it wasn’t overshadowed. Unlike its neighbor at 901 Pine, it does not have a box office, lengths of velvet rope, and a giant marquee of
On July 6, the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) launched their Legacy of Structural Racism Interactive Report. While this report is far from the first piece of literature to connect policies such as single-family zoning to structural racism, it provides a high-level overview and collection of resources on this history
FAME Housing is building an affordable housing development like no other in Seattle’s Central District For over 50 years, Bryant Manor has provided affordable housing to families in an amenity-rich location in Seattle’s Central District. Part of First A.M.E. Housing Association (FAME Housing), Bryant Manor is
Rollie Williams of Climate Town walks through the history of minimum parking laws and growth of parking in America with a few cameos from Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes. Williams highlights the many problems with such laws and the arbitrary nature of them.
American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham’s famous “make no small plans” imperative is destroying your city and your life. You should get a bingo card when attending a city planning conference. Instead of numbers, the squares should have pop-planning phrases to be crossed off as you hear them
In this year’s legislative session, the Washington State Legislature passed extensive housing reform. House Bill 1110 compelled many cities in Washington to open up single-housing residential zones to long-banned duplexes, cottage courts, and small apartments. Such middle housing has been missing from the calculation for years, and it’s
This week, Dave Amos over at City Beautiful does an excellent job discussing the history and pitfalls of historic districts. From their early application to preserve important landmarks to their recent use as another hurdle to prevent density, the video emphasizes the differences between saving historic buildings and backdoor rezoning
Two-for-one videos this weekend, starting with the time Not Just Bikes went to paradise and discovered it wasn’t quite idyllic. About the size of Amsterdam, The Bahamas’ main island of New Providence features sun, surf, and crippling traffic with a complete lack of public transportation. Come for the aerial
It’s one of the rare years that Ramadan, Passover, and Easter coincide, so it feels appropriate to take a look at the city where the three big faiths collide. Often, and unfortunately this year, somewhat literally. And who better to calmly and thoroughly guide us through the Old City
Thank you for contacting The Urbanist Podcast. It is Spring Break, so co-hosts Ray Dubicki and Natalie Argerious are out of the office this week. Please enjoy a couple of unaired clips and updates from earlier stores we covered. We assure you that tiki shirts are being worn. https://www.
In 1997, a caller to Art Bell’s late night Coast to Coast AM shared the astounding story of a bottomless pit on his property near Ellensburg, Washington. After dropping trash into the hole without it filling, then a questionable amount of fishing line without hitting bottom, Mel Waters decided
When what is now downtown Bellingham was initially platted in the mid-1800s, it is likely that little consideration was given to parking. Mostly because cars did not exist in the mid-1800s. As automobiles became quintessential components of the American way of life by the 1920s when it killed off Bellingham’
Welcome to your February long weekend. It’s not the best of weather in Seattle, so we look askance at all you escaping to beaches in Mexico. Even you should still take a second to appreciate that the long weekend is brought about by the President’s Day federal holiday.
On Wednesday, February 22nd, 5:30-6:30pm, a coalition of organizations, including partners of The Urbanist, is offering an event that tells the story of the Eastside through a racial equity, transportation, and affordable housing lens. Speakers Guillermo Rivera (Eastside for All) and Chris Randels (Complete Streets Bellevue) will also
The future of wildly popular streateries now rests in a narrow view of the street’s past. It’s 9am on a Thursday morning in the multipurpose room of the Ballard Service Center. Six of the seven members of the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board sit around a conference table
The French Alpine town was offered a quirky alternative and turned it down. Even in the United States, there was a point in the early 20th Century where most American cities and small towns had trains, trolleys, and interurban rail, often better than what is available today. It is a
Nimbys, Yimbys, and How Toxic Waste Kicked Off Both Movements. For years, I’ve identified as a fervent Yimby advocate — an acronym which means “Yes, in my backyard.” It is often understood to mean not allowing slow bureaucracy and antagonistic old cranks to stop the construction of apartments and light
“And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day.” For the quarter of humanity celebrating a holiday in this hemisphere of the globe pointed away from the sun, don’t forget your Vitamin D today. It is hopefully a good and welcome morning to you and yours. Fairytale of New
When asking where Seattle’s Millionaire’s Row went, the trite answer is “Starbucks for coffee.” But the honest answer is a bit more involved. Seattle’s original chic addresses hosted some of the country’s earliest industrial barons, but also stood the test of time. This House takes a
American malls are so ubiquitous that it is difficult to consider they were purposefully conceived, actively designed, and meticulously managed. Every facet of an atrium ceiling or food court placement was decided based on cost, profitability, and aesthetics. But malls have rarely been considered as Serious Architecture. Meet Me by
As a volunteer with Friends of Street Ends, a group that works to open and enhance Seattle’s shoreline street ends for public access, I had the opportunity to tour the Duwamish Waterway in July, where one dozen street ends abut the shoreline. A centerpiece of Seattle’s industrial heritage,
Does crossing the quarter century line make something historically important? Lovers that are literally star-crossed by the bureaucracy of heaven. Fate and art playing against one another over style and crime. Young performers and a director after breakout roles and on the verge of superstardom. That is “A Life Less
Author Josephine Ensign will be available to answer questions on her narrative history of homelessness and safety-net healthcare in Seattle. Next month on Tuesday, October, 18th, at 6pm, The Urbanist will hold its first book club meeting. There are so many excellent books being published that address the topics we
Why is Los Angeles’ downtown so small? It isn’t just because of the car. Dave Amos of City Beautiful explains.
The “Visions of Wallingford” project poses a question: “How does a neighborhood learn?” It’s one that strikes me as both fascinating and important. It’s important because in Seattle the city government has traditionally given geographically defined “neighborhoods” pride of place in city planning. The 1990s neighborhood planning process
Los Angeles was a city built on good transit bones, but somewhere along the way went off the rails with cars and suburbanization. Ray Delahanty looks at the good bones that still remain of the bygone streetcar era and shows how these areas supported by new rail transit are recreating and expanding w
The short answer is 153, but the long answer is that we are too young to act this old. Seattle was founded in 1851 and incorporated as a city in 1869. So, 171 years or 153 years, depending on which you want to use. Either way, it’s longer than
Transforming Broadway into a plaza would create a world-class pedestrian space in the heart of Downtown Tacoma. Urban explorers, or really any attentive pedestrians, are bound to discover glimpses of the past that we tragically destroyed in pursuit of a city designed around automobiles. One such example with an ironic
Seattle has a history of infuriating maps. For its relatively young age as an official municipality, the place has produced amazing blood-boiling cartography. Some maps are infuriating because they illustrate the city’s history of brutal oppression. Like this beautiful work by the Burke Museum’s Waterlines Project illustrates the
Vox looks at the story of the Craftsman home and how it became a staple across America in the 20th Century.
A short walk through the long history of discriminatory housing ads It’s interesting to sift through historic print newspaper advertisements and get a glimpse of the city’s history. It’s not always a good history. Questionable phrases pop up associated with names you recognize. Half acre lots in
Climate Town charts the history of how the car industry rapidly reset what the American Dream would be. The oppressive takeover has wrought a highly car-oriented society that is unhealthy, inequitable, and unsustainable. But how America has gotten here took many calculated steps, which Climate Town
Dave Amos discusses small towns in America and the surprising way many are disappearing.
The history of Link light rail was writ large on the Northgate Link’s opening day. The entry point for my first ride to Northgate Station on Link light rail was Capitol Hill. It was early in the morning on the opening day, although so not as early as I
In the 1960s, Amsterdam briefly was sold on a highway urban renewal project designed by an American planner David Jokinen. It would have destroyed the Amsterdam known today and it parts of it did get implemented as the country became more car-oriented, but it was halted and things have changed
Dave Amos explores the history and life of downtown malls in North America. He points out their pitfalls and what alternatives may be better for urban communities.
Vox digs deep into why American housing is so expensive, which runs the gamut from exclusionary zoning practices to a history of redlining.
Berlin shows how arbitrary and definitive administrative boundaries can be through its divided history between West Germany and East Germany after World War II. Davos Amos explores what this functionally meant for the divided city in terms of planning and infrastructure.
An island in Hawaiʻi had long been occupied and used by the United States military. But native Hawaiians fought to restore it to the people and bring it back ecologically after years of being used as a bombing range. The island holds deep meaning to many Hawaiian people.
But will Seattle stop acting like it before it’s too late? With the Covid-19 crisis dragging on, and the climate crisis setting us up for an extended smoke event — it’s almost possible to forget that the housing crisis never abated. This, despite declaring an emergency back in 2015.
Embedded in Bellevue’s Coal Creek wilderness area are a handful of parcels that have been developed or zoned for single-family homes. In 2016 and 2017, the two largest parcels were purchased. Their developer seeks to build 35 new single-family homes on six of the 12.3 acres. After learning
In the shadow of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and the midst of a dramatic rise in anti-Asian violence, I stumbled upon Tacoma’s Chinese Reconciliation Park. For me, parks are a place to exercise, sightsee, play, and come into contact with nature and sometimes history. I
Vox tells the story of how two women led movements to plant street trees and commission community gardens in New York City in a period of deep disinvestment. Their legacies still live on today.
In Los Angeles, the history behind Dodger Stadium is marred by forced displacement of Latinos in several neighborhoods. The initial displacement was for government-funded projects but eventually turned to baseball stadium. Vox digs into this “missing chapter”.
The B1M says that Tokyo has the world’s best subway system. In this video, they explain why.
Vox focuses in on why San Francisco’s Chinatown has its architectural characteristics. The history behind it has a lot to do with racism and protecting land. Vox also explains why North American, European, and Oceanian cities have decorative gates at the entrance to “Chinatowns” and building motifs.
Los Angeles’ Skid Row was not an inevitability, it was a policy. Johnny Harris explains how this district of tragic poverty came to be.
The terrible legacy of colonialism and apartheid have left deep marks in South Africa that are still visible today. Vox explores the history of segregation in the country and how communities are still very divided along racial lines even though apartheid was ended in the 1990s. The social and economic
Dave Amos documents the history of railway towns in America in this video. Railway companies in the 1800s expanded quickly to the West, platting small towns as part of their federal land grants. Amos explores how companies built their lines, designed the towns, and the legacies of towns that remain.
Vox looks at the history of redlining, practices of renting and selling property, zoning practices, public services and investments, and environmental health that collectively reinforce and prop up segregation. The video explores how where you grow up might affect the trajectory of your life.
The Indonesian city of Jakarta was colonized by the Dutch. Early on, the Dutch brought their canals and segregated the population, providing direct running water mainly to Dutch residents. Over the decades and centuries, the city evolved with piped running water being very limited. This has led to a serious
Burien is seeking to bring back the cornerstore to residential neighborhoods. An ordinance adopted on Tuesday will pave the way for “legacy storefronts” to return in areas of the city that have historically had commercial spaces but ceased as Euclidean zoning stamped them out over the decades. The timing of
Dave Amos takes a dive into how Pyongyang was designed by the ruling Kim family. The impacts of their directives are far ranging on the North Korean capital city.
Vox highlights how the United States casually engages in environmental racism through the lens of the Navajo Nation and the Red Water Pond incident.
Johnny Harris steps back in time to find out why New York City became so successful and huge even in the age of burgeoning global megacities.
Dave Amos walks through the history of strip malls, how they are designed, and how they are being adapted.
Dave Amos of City Beautiful explains the history of city design in the Americas, which were shaped by the Spanish Conquistadors.
Bloomberg QuickTake documents the history of Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood (also known as Black Wall Street), a Black district, which fell victim to angry mobs of Whites that carried out a horrifying racial massacre and destruction of the community.
How did America’s civilian police forces go from just uniforms and basic equipment to militarized forces mirroring the national military? Vox takes a look at the rapidly changing face of American police forces over the past few decades.
The story of Dr. John Snow and the London Cholera 1854 Outbreak transformed epidemiology and our use of maps to track deadly outbreaks of disease.
How did we get here? Over this series of articles, I am laying out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. A long history of exclusion keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities, an absolute loss for building a vibrant and
How did we end up with the rules of the road?
Central Park is world renowned and beloved by many, but it has a shrouded history marked by elitism and racism. In this video, Vox uncovers a small piece of the pre-park history in Seneca Village.
The history of assimilation in America of native people is terrible and indefensible. This Vox video explains how this process was adapted over time to dominate and steal native people and their lands.
Johnny Harris of Vox explains why Amsterdam has canals and how the Dutch have fought the ocean for land.
How did get Tokyo become one of the world’s most populous urban area? Dave Amos explains how it became so urbanized.
Model Cities is a little known chapter in our urban history. It was part of LBJ’s War on Poverty, and was the last gasp of serious investment by the federal government to improve life in urban America. Devised as a corrective to top-down urban renewal, the program coupled major
Have you ever wondered how urban stormwater and sewer systems in cities work? Dave Amos walks through the history of these systems and the pros and cons of modern ones in use.
In this video, Vox explains how New York settled on Manhattan’s modern grid.
KOMO 4’s Seattle is Dying documentary hit Seattle like a giant stink-bombshell. Homelessness has been a big issue in Seattle for a while, but the documentary focused attention on particular elements of the crisis–spoiler alert: both the analysis and the proposed solutions were bad. Nonetheless, it got a
![North Seattle Land [Ab]Use Bike Ride Recap](/content/images/www-theurbanist-org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/img_20180929_105616650-e1546883716477.jpg)
Last September, I led a 30-person deep bike ride from Ballard to Wallingford for The Urbanist. Ages ranged from four to mid-70s, we had family bikers, cargo bikers, and my wife hauled a friend who couldn’t ride because they had recently been hit on their own bike. It was
The Forward Thrust bond initiatives of 1968 and 1970 were a success because of their ambition. They were also failures because of their myopia. In this essay—the second installment of a four-part series I’m proud to have published here in The Urbanist—I want to take a look
One of the gifts of living in a large city is the presence of well-endowed cultural institutions. Sitting next to our theater companies, the opera house, and the symphony–perhaps a little higher–is the Seattle Art Museum. True to its elevated position among the city’s institutions, SAM has
I want to tell you about 417 acres of land owned by the city of Seattle, about 1% of the Seattle that does not have a road on it. This land does not have any housing on it or city offices or facilities freely open to everyone. You have to
The Urbanist hosted a tour of the South Lake Union and Cascade on Saturday morning, offering a glimpse of these booming neighborhoods that most Seattleites rarely see up-close in their day-to-day lives. Many pass through in their commutes cursing the traffic, but how often do we take a leisurely stroll
This month Pike Place Market turns 110 years old. This archival footage shows some rare shots of the market during its second decade, when the market’s buildings were owned and maintained by Arthur Goodwin, who took over after his uncle Frank Goodwin retired. Frank Goodwin oversaw the original building
Update: This story has been corrected to reflect that the City of Seattle does not require private developers to spend 1% of their budgets on art. The program applies to public projects, such as parks, libraries, community centers, and bridges; it stipulates 1% of eligible city capital improvement project funds
Another year, another great list of articles from our writers at The Urbanist. Here are our top ten articles from 2016 based on readership. Each is worth a full read. Why You Should Vote No on Seattle Initiative 123 by Scott Bonjukian After two previous articles on the effort to
Watch Scott Kubly, Director the Seattle Department of Transportation, do his PechaKucha-style keynote speech on transportation history in Seattle. Kubly delivered the speech as part of the the fifth annual NACTO Designing Cities conference held in Seattle.
Take a step back in time and hear about the history of West Seattle.
This year’s Seattle Design Festival, opened on September 10th, with the theme of ‘Design Change’. Given that 2016 marks 100 years since the first woman, Elizabeth Ayer, commenced architecture studies in Seattle, we thought it opportune to share a series exploring how women have changed and are continuing to
Seattle’s Smith Tower was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi and among the tallest buildings in the world. Built after Seattle’s Great Fire, it is the oldest skyscraper in the city, and is a tribute to the innovations in engineering and technology of the time. Smith
At the BOOM: Changing Seattle exhibition Seattleites interested in shaping Seattle’s future began by looking backward. Rapid change is nothing new to our city. The Urbanist checked in with three Seattleites involved in the must-see exhibit. Together, they have made connections that will appeal to a broad swath of
Vancouver, British Columbia is well known for its (almost) lack of highways in the center of its city. Vancouver is also well known for its progressive investments in transit (SkyTrain, bus rapid transit, and frequent bus service) and walking and biking facilities. What Vancouver isn’t known for is its
It’s been a long haul since the November kick-off, but wait until you see what over a hundred volunteers mapped over 1,000+ hours and what it reveals. There’s an extraordinary amount of historic buildings in Greater Ballard. The maps created from all the data (7,300+ structures,
The recent gas explosion ripped a hole in Greenwood’s heart just as it was entering a new era of economic vibrancy. Greenwood’s many vacant storefronts had been filling up, reflecting a renewed appreciation for a business district built around the last in-city stop of the Interurban Streetcar. The
In April 1961, the construction on the Space Needle began and quickly came to completion in December of that year. Built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the 605-foot tower remained and has become an iconic symbol of Seattle. This classic short chronicles how the Space Needle came to be.
How did the unique landscape of the Puget Sound region come to be? Nick Zentner of Central Washington University has the answers in this short video, which uses graphics and on-site narration to explore the grinding cycles of rock and ice that have shaped the western lowlands of Washington state
Tobias Lau, of Social Action, described how prior to learning about the innovative research about social life and experiences in cities led by Danish architect Jan Gehl, he had considered city development as “something that happened in front of me. Not something I could take part in.” As Lau gained
It’s time to hit the streets for the survey portion of the Mapping Historic Ballard portion of the Department of Neighborhood’s Small & Simple Grant to Ballard Historical Society. Mapping Historic Ballard is a community effort to document the rich history of Ballard architecture and provide guidance for
The Center for Wooden Boats (CWB) shares a piece of Lake Union’s hidden history. Long a place of maritime industry, and now home to new industries and uses, the lake once served as a place for shipwrecking. The CWB takes a look at what local archaeological research has turned up in recent years.