Cities & Planning

Is Walmart's embrace of EV chargers the remedy for range anxiety?

A protected bike lane along a state highway? It’s poised to become reality, thanks to a new state law upgrading the standards that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) wi…

Today the Netherlands has a reputation as a kind of bicycling paradise. Dutch people own more bicycles per capita than any other place in the world. The country has more than 20,000 miles of dedicated cycling paths. International policymakers make pilgrimages to the Netherlands to learn how to create good bike infrastructure. But none of

In the spring of 2020, downtown Seattle sat empty. A once bustling and growing core of tower cranes, thriving businesses, and active neighborhoods was now silent. Office workers were gone, and in t…

A naturally intelligent network programmed by the sun.

Sevilla-Buitrago, Álvaro. Against the Commons: A Radical History of Urban Planning. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022. Reviewed by Mohamed Gamal-Eldin and Marianne Dhenin Historian Á…

Vision Zero was formally launched in 2015 and set the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries in Seattle by 2030. Eight years in, the traffic fatalities — especially for pedestrians,…

The vertical farming space—with companies like Bowery, AeroFarms, and AppHarvest—took huge Silicon Valley investments. But it is not thriving.

“Tumplines allow one to carry heavier weights over larger distances without getting fatigued."

Children shouldn't have to take "the scary trail" to school.

One parking structure pivoted to growing mushrooms and endives.

Denser housing would help too, as survey finds apartment dwellers more likely to ride transit or walk. Commute Seattle’s annual survey is a unique snapshot into how people are getting around …

Gabrielle Gurley and Luke Goldstein discuss the condition and politics of the U.S. urban fabric.

Transit is at a crossroads. The pandemic upended a period of growing ridership and service that saw Seattle lead the nation in both the rate of ridership gains and car-free household formation. It …

Councilmember Strauss introduces legislation to regulate 70,000 additional trees – but will the effort to boost canopy coverage to 30% slow down housing creation? After three years of work on the i…

Draining the lake allowed agriculture to thrive, but left the region vulnerable to floods.

Orange Sky Australia positively connects people experiencing homelessness through free laundry, showers and conversation. Join our community to help the homeless.

Any frequent reader of The Urbanist knows that we have a long and painstakingly catalogued list of gripes with Seattle. From the completely avoidable pedestrian carnage to the collapsing school dis…

If you travel around Capitol Hill, the Central District, and Madison Valley, you’ve likely seen construction on E Madison Street in preparation for King County Metro Transit’s RapidRide…

RapidRide G Line will have lots of capacity during the day, but evenings and connections get dicey. Next year, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and King County Metro will cut the rib…

It ain’t much, but that’s all the Board’s going on too. This week, the Sound Transit Board of Directors will be deciding on preferred Ballard Link alignments and station locations…