Cities & Planning

How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity directly occupied by wind and solar infrastructure by 2035

One of Seattle’s most heavily used bus stops is heading toward a badly needed upgrade soon thanks to coordination between King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT)…

Seattle faces complex questions on how the Ballard Link extension should be delivered. Should a second tunnel be built through downtown? Should stations be deep or shallow? How should surface trans…

With hybrid work here to stay, city leaders ask: Can the central business district become a residential neighborhood?

By Katharine G. Trostel and Valentino L. Zullo The work of the Rust Belt Humanities Institute at Ursuline College is rooted in imagining and co-creating new futures. As two native Clevelanders (rai…

Given the amount of construction around town, Seattle’s sidewalks get painted a rainbow of colors. Many know that these markings are important for something, but the specifics seem indecipherable.&…

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 auto…

The engineers at Mainspring Energy have unwound conventional generator design and come up with the linear generator. They explain their journey and how the breakthrough technology works.

Seattle’s era of small thinking and smaller plans must come to an end. In order to face the combined climate and housing crises, the city and region must crawl out of its own navel and see the oppo…

Shipments of heat pumps outpaced gas furnaces for the first time in 2022.

Low-income homeowners could see their home values plunge by 10 percent.

The Transit Cost Project, a project supported by the NYU’s Marron Institute has released the most comprehesive report to date on why US transist-infrastacture is so expensive: Why do transit-infrastructure projects in New York cost 20 times more on a per kilometer basis than in Seoul? We investigate this question across hundreds of transit projects […]

One proposal involves replacing the waterscape — dinosaur sculptures and all — with a meadow of native plants. But will the Seattle Landmarks Board sign off?

Three maps comparing light rail station areas create a portrait of a complex region. Columbia City…Mount Baker….Beacon Hill…SoDo… When I first arrived in Seattle, the light rail stops — and t…

A last minute switch to a dedicated bike lane went against previous public outreach. During a valuable Seattle winter sunbreak on a weekend afternoon, Green Lake Park buzzes with activity. The inne…

I’ve feared it. I’ve protested it. Now I’m hugging it

When the first electric car was registered? (spoiler, it was much earlier than most people may think) Which electric cars are more…

This is "ROMI - Robotics for Microfarms" by Noumena on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

As an ecological engineer, driven by a love for ecology and a fascination with technology, I research, design, and pilot emerging technologies to build better urban ecosystems for people and nature. A framework I call the “Internet of Nature”.

Kiosks, brick and mortar shops, and pop-ups are all possible retail approaches Sound Transit quietly completed a retail integration strategy report. The strategy outlines four general approaches to…

The Transit Costs Project is exploring how to deliver more high-capacity transit projects for a fraction of the cost in countries like the United States.

An NYU study finds that most of the overspending isn’t where you think it is.

At every sideways breath of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Seattle fans expect news of men’s professional basketball returning to the nation’s upper left. Like gleaning divine words of prophets from…

A public school is an essential part of any community. Here in Seattle, public schools are in crisis.  Last month, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) announced their intention to close schools and c…

A while back I wrote about Ada Palmer’s glorious science fiction series Terra Ignota, which I really do recommend to anyone with the slightest interest in philosophy, politics, or history.  But I called out one feature of her world that made me crazy: the fantasy that globe-spanning supersonic driverless flying Uber would enable people to make […]