Cities & Planning

A transportation engineer explains how the circular intersections work, and why they're catching on across the country.

Comment by October 31 to urge the City to improve the Seattle Transportation Plan. Seattle is mapping out the next two decades of transportation investments as part of its comprehensive plan process, and one transformative option is on the table. The City should not just study that option, but actually choose it in order to

We have long known that self-set (i.e., Harberger) property taxes can not only lower the cost of making property trades, and discourage leaving properties idle, but can also serve as a substitute for eminent domain, wherein governments force sales at its-set prices in order to assemble large property packages. As with self-set taxes all properties have reasonable price offers, a buyer can suddenly buy a package at once.

The International Energy Agency has a new forecast for 2030.

Indonesian Railways' rapid improvement offers hope for turning around floundering Amtrak Cascades service. Back in April I attempted to take the train from Tacoma to Portland. The day it was to depart, I was informed we would be placed onto a coach bus in lieu of a train. When I asked why, I was told

As restrictions spread, neighborhoods are getting quieter — and cleaner.

Scientists in three states are comparing how three gardens of bur oaks are adjusting to a warming world and what it means for tree migration.

For decades, society has dealt with people with dementia and other forms of cognitive decline by storing them away in unstimulating, medicalized environments. But around the world, a new architectural movement is starting to challenge that old paradigm. Designing environments where people with dementia can live as normally as possible, until the very end. 99%

Find the best restaurants in Seattle. From the best Seattle restaurants for a date night to cheap eats, here are the places to eat right now.

The City of Seattle will be required to return two sizable federal grants, both of which had already been awarded to fund the long-planned Center City streetcar extension between the city's two disconnected streetcar lines, if a local match isn't provided in the next few weeks to be able to advance the project. This news

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 a Medieval city, it was

While Saturday and Sunday Link ridership is exploding, Sounder trains still don’t run on weekends. Sound Transit does not yet run regular Sounder service on weekends, but the agency should certainly change that given demand shown by strong weekend ridership on Link. By passing the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure, Puget Sound area voters

It's a poignant lesson for U.S. cities that are considering going fare-free.

From Port Townsend to Pioneer Square, visit supernatural hotels frequented by ghost hunters from across the country this Halloween.

In the 1970s, a bold idea in the Wedgwood neighborhood turned a failing farm into a movement of urban gardening.

An appeal brought by neighbors threatens to delay construction and heap costs on cash-strapped Seattle Public Schools. Construction on a new Alki Elementary School in West Seattle has stalled. The former school, demolished this summer and now a vacant lot, sits quiet, with the process to issue a permit to start construction on a new

San Antonio TX (SPX) Oct 16, 2023 - Southwest Research Institute has developed a new modular steel buttress dam system designed to resolve energy storage issues hindering the integration of renewable resources into the energy mix. The

The National Academies of Science report includes 80 recommendations for how the U.S. can achieve its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

King County Metro is expanding its on-demand microtransit service, Metro Flex, to serve the Issaquah area. The expanded service begins on October 16 as part of a partnership with the City of Issaquah. The larger Metro Flex service area takes in swaths of Issaquah Olde Town and nearby neighborhoods, North Issaquah, and more of the

George Cove patented solar energy technology in the early 1900s. Then, after a mysterious kidnapping, his business shut down.

We have launched the second volume in a new series of books opening up Low-tech Magazine’s archive by theme.

Excellent news for ratepayers, birds, bats, landscapes, and whales as offshore and onshore wind projects get scuttled

A Half Dozen Unforgettable Urbanism and Transit Tomes

This year's Australian national Dyson Award winner tells us more about the bolt-on REVR retrofit kit he's developing, that aims to convert ICE cars to practical, efficient hybrids for less than US$3,200, taking less than a day to install.

Adding light rail, rebuilding Memorial Stadium, and keeping tenants happy through it all is the challenge before Seattle Center. Walking around in Seattle Center and the neighborhood surrounding it, you quickly realize that one of the city’s largest pedestrian-only spaces has a lot of untapped potential. One morning in early October, I explored Seattle Center

Pueblo is a world-class model for the clean-energy economy envisioned in the Inflation Reduction Act. But its residents may not feel it.

In 2003, the Japanese municipality of Kamikatsu declared their intention to become a Zero-Waste Town. While true zero-waste is impossible, 20 years later the town has reached an impressive 80% recycling rate. (The national average in Japan is just 20%; in America, single digits.) Kamikatsu has achieved this rate