Cities & Planning

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...

His bold ideas caught the eye of the US president. Now inventor Saul Griffith is sparking an energy revolution in Australia, with a goal to create the first all-electric community where households could save $3,000 a year on their energy bills.

New research shows that if done right, urban farms and gardens can support all kinds of species—for the good of people and the environment.

Outreach providers and social workers are teaming up to combat drugs, crime and poverty in 'the Blade.'

Over the years, cars, trucks, and SUVs seem to get larger and heavier. TrueCar investigates why modern cars continue to grow in size.

The American car has gotten bigger in the past few decades but parking spot size has not kept pace. Regardless of the cause, th

Some commuters to pay as much as $30 per day. Tolls don’t need to be this high to manage congestion, argues City Observatory. This article originally appeared City Observatory Under the new O…

How Much Land Would it Require to Get Most of Our Electricity directly occupied by wind and solar infrastructure by 2035

One of Seattle’s most heavily used bus stops is heading toward a badly needed upgrade soon thanks to coordination between King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT)…

Seattle faces complex questions on how the Ballard Link extension should be delivered. Should a second tunnel be built through downtown? Should stations be deep or shallow? How should surface trans…

With hybrid work here to stay, city leaders ask: Can the central business district become a residential neighborhood?

By Katharine G. Trostel and Valentino L. Zullo The work of the Rust Belt Humanities Institute at Ursuline College is rooted in imagining and co-creating new futures. As two native Clevelanders (rai…

Given the amount of construction around town, Seattle’s sidewalks get painted a rainbow of colors. Many know that these markings are important for something, but the specifics seem indecipherable.&…

When what is now downtown Bellingham was initially platted in the mid-1800s, it is likely that little consideration was given to parking. Mostly because cars did not exist in the mid-1800s. As auto…

The engineers at Mainspring Energy have unwound conventional generator design and come up with the linear generator. They explain their journey and how the breakthrough technology works.

Seattle’s era of small thinking and smaller plans must come to an end. In order to face the combined climate and housing crises, the city and region must crawl out of its own navel and see the oppo…

Shipments of heat pumps outpaced gas furnaces for the first time in 2022.

Low-income homeowners could see their home values plunge by 10 percent.

The Transit Cost Project, a project supported by the NYU’s Marron Institute has released the most comprehesive report to date on why US transist-infrastacture is so expensive: Why do transit-infrastructure projects in New York cost 20 times more on a per kilometer basis than in Seoul? We investigate this question across hundreds of transit projects […]

One proposal involves replacing the waterscape — dinosaur sculptures and all — with a meadow of native plants. But will the Seattle Landmarks Board sign off?