Cities & Planning

When drivers rule the road, irresponsibility becomes fatal.

Standing on the platform of SeaTac Airport Station after midnight, straining to see whether the next light rail train is coming, I can’t help but wonder whether I would have been better off taking a $60 taxi home. The $3 train would be coming, my transit app assured me, but it wouldn’t be taking me

Short answer:  Because the buses are timed to meet each other, and this is harder than it looks. Long answer:  If you’ve used public transit in an area that has infrequent trains, including the suburbs of many cities, you’ve probably wondered why the bus and train schedules aren’t coordinated.  Why didn’t they write the bus […]

Protecting culturally significant public lands and expanding outdoor access should be a political priority.

Solar advocates in southwestern Virginia say being local, proving the tech works, and building a coalition to support it have been key to their success.

Designs at the Venice Architecture Biennale are rethinking the modern flush for a water-strained world.

Google Wallet will soon support digital ORCA cards and allow for contactless payment via Android-powered mobile devices. That will save many Puget Sound transit riders the need for a physical ORCA card. Mobile payments have been a highly anticipated feature since the new ORCA system launched last year. Google will have the distinction of being

Congestion Pricing is Coming to Manhattan. Will It Work in Other Cities?

by Scudder Wagg Suffolk County is a vast and variegated place covering the eastern two-thirds of Long Island, New York. It includes a range of historic towns like Babylon, Huntington, and Port Jefferson, many of which grew up around the Long Island Rail Road. The western two-thirds of the county is largely developed in an […]

Their advantages extend beyond reducing carbon emissions.

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.