Cities & Planning

Flatiron Building in New York is coming up for auction soon. I learned about that when I posted a photo of the Flatiron Building being constructed on a social network. It triggered a chain of thoug…

There is no spine. There is no Ballard to West Seattle extension. There is no one coming to save us. By 2042, Seattle should have four Link light rail lines covering downtown and branching out to R…

The United States has experienced a wide variety of extreme weather over the last 125 years, impacting people, communities, and geographies. Track monthly data on how counties experience severe weather, including precipitation and temperature.

The split shows that much of the South, and rural America, could ditch fossil fuels easier than big cities and the coasts.

A long-planned street revamp in downtown Seattle made headlines this month when a group of preservation advocates, many aligned with Pike Place Market, pushed back on the planned removal of two row…

Concrete is the defining material of the Anthropocene and takes a terrible toll on the climate. Martha Henriques goes in search of the ways it could be better for the climate.

Green-blue urban grids make cities sustainable, resilient and climate-proof. This website will help to find fitting measures and inspires with attractive examples.

In the 60s and 70s the Dutch government was building car-centered cities. Here's how and why they pivoted.

They envision the neighborhood with fewer cars and more walkability, affordable housing, green infrastructure, restaurants and businesses.

An impressively long list of governments on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas have joined together to jointly request funding finish a 200-mile biking and walking trail that will connect the Pacifi…

Haiti is facing a profound political and economic crisis.  Functional governance that serves the interests of Haiti’s people is largely nonexistent.  One of the necessities to overcome this crisis is transitioning from the extractive environmental and economic model that has long plagued the country to one that is regenerative and good for Haitians and their […]

Editor’s note: This post is part of our theme for March 2023, Science City, an exploration of the ways cities and science have interacted over time and around the world. By Vincent Femia Simo…

Rainier Valley has seen more than its due share of collisions over the years. Martin Luther King Jr. Way S is a particularly problematic spot where serious injuries and fatalities are common. Inter…

King County Executive Dow Constantine has sided with those seeking to site light rail outside of the Chinatown-International District (CID). In his annual State of the County speech yesterday, Cons…

Almost every single Monday or Tuesday night of 2023 has seen city councils in cities of all sizes across Washington meet with a common topic on agenda after agenda: House Bill 1110. The bill has be…

A "15-minute city," where all essentials are 15 minutes away by foot or bike has come under fire from conspiracy theorists.

If you look at a map, New Orleans looks like a natural place to put the Gulf of Mexico’s largest port. It feeds right into the Mississippi River. Yet it

This is a second installment examining the Everett Link Extension alternatives currently undergoing scoping. The first piece focused on station and station area alignment alternatives. This second …

In January, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced that after over two years of planning, it intends to finally install a permanent bike lane along a short stretch of West Margin…

The Guardian Watchmen, a group of Wei Wai Kum First Nations citizens, use traditional methods to protect Vancouver Island's fragile ecosystems.

Pets left behind when people fled the disaster in 1986 seem to have seeded a unique population.

The Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan was a virtual city within a city. But in the end, nothing could save it.

King County Metro will start rolling out a new on-demand microtransit service, Metro Flex, on March 6th. Riders will be able to request pickup and drop-off within defined service areas via a mobile…

Cycling is the most sustainable form of transportation, but the bicycle is becoming increasingly damaging to the environment. The energy and material used for its production go up while its life expectancy decreases. Illustration: Diego Marmolejo. Cycling is sustainable, but how sustainable is the bicycle? Cycling is one of the most sustainable modes of transportation. Increased ridership reduces fossil fuel consumption and pollution, saves space, and improves public health and safety. However, the bicycle itself has managed to elude environmental critique. [1] [2] Studies that calculate the environmental impact of cycling almost always compare it to driving, with predictable results: the bicycle is more sustainable than the car. Such research may encourage people to cycle more often but doesn't encourage...