Cities & Planning

# Seattle has set a goal of 112,000 new homes over the next 20 years, but is that really enough to meet demand?

Short-term result likely to be increased energy prices across the board

# The 3.4-mile light rail extension will add a station at Marymoor Village, near King County's largest park, and in the heart of Downtown Redmond. The May 10 opening sets the stage for the full extension of the 2 Line across Lake Washington later this year.

# With housing advocates and the Port of Seattle divided on the issue of allowing housing near Seattle's sports stadiums, councilmembers are being forced to pick sides, after Sara Nelson reintroduced the proposal earlier this month.

So. Storytime for guerilla gardeners and solarpunk enthusiasts. This story comes to me 3rd hand but I believe the basic shape of it is true, even if details may be off. So there’s this guy who lives…

Ten years ago, Jo Nemeth quit her job and closed her bank account. Today, she’s more committed than ever to her moneyless life

For centuries, gleaning was a lifeline for the rural poor in England and France. Today, some nonprofits are working to bring it back.

Solar power has transformed life in Africa. Now, as the aging devices begin to break down, “solar entrepreneurs” are keeping them — and local economies — humming.

As fast fashion drives textile waste to stratospheric highs, new methods are turning mountains of old clothes into rack-ready garments.

An effort to bring high-speed internet service to parts of Sammamish led to angry neighbors and a suspension of the city's contract with Ziply Fiber.

Tokyo has succeeded in maintaining an abundance of affordable housing because it has no downtown, many railroads and laws that make it easy to build.

Is the secret of Tokyo being affordable that Japan lets its cities be messy?

Tokyo has rightly been getting some plaudits for housebuilding of late, and this post brings together some stats that illustrate just how impressive its record is. First, some definitions and conte…

a dialog between Didi Pershouse & Alpha Lo

# 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.

# Moving freight by rail is significantly more efficient than by truck, a fact that could help Washington meet its climate goals. But are state leaders neglecting improvements to the state rail network?

As Los Angeles smolders, the AQI can’t capture the full picture of wildfire smoke.

Cheonggyecheon stream in the South Korean capital has become an attraction – and helps with flood management, fighting air pollution and cooling the city

Japan’s population is the oldest in the world, with few young people working in agriculture. But now its farmers are getting help from a robot called Adam.

It sounds much like the smart home of today.

Some are still standing and look rather handsome.

In honor of World Toilet Day, we flush out an eight part series on the history of the toilet, plumbing, the bathroom and more.

Over the last few weeks I have tried to pull all of the disparate ideas for the bathroom together and come up with a functional and practical set of ideas. Here is a summary of them all, in one bathroom that you can't

I took some serious abuse in comments when I wrote Gates Foundation Throwing $42 Million Into The Toilet, questioning whether we needed a high-tech toilet solution.

Have a look at your sink after you brush your teeth or shave. There is stuff all over it that you have to clean up. You can't wash your hair in it. Alexander Kira of Cornell University looked at the

In 1940, Buckminster Fuller receieved Patent 2220482 for a prefabricated bathroom. Fuller wrote in his claim:

The really amazing thing about this standard "bathroom" from 1915, ninety-seven years ago, is how much it looks like the standard bathrooms of today. How did it get this way, and how did we get stuck

In 1854 there was a major outbreak of cholera in Soho, London. Nobody knew what caused cholera, but John Snow carefully mapped the location of every victim, (documented wonderfully in Stephen Johnson's book The Ghost

Victor Hugo wrote in Les Miserables that "the history of men is reflected in the history of sewers."... The sewer is the conscience of the city. Everything there converges and confronts everything else. "