Author: Chuck Wolfe

Charles R. (Chuck) Wolfe, M.R.P., J.D. provides a unique perspective about cities as both a long time writer about urbanism worldwide and an attorney in Seattle, where he focuses on land use and environmental law and permitting. In particular, his work involves the use of sustainable development techniques and innovative land use regulatory tools on behalf of both the private and public sectors. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, where he teaches land use law at the graduate level. He contributes regularly to several publications including Planetizen, CityLab/The Atlantic Cities, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Grist, seattlepi.com, and Crosscut.com. He blogs at myurbanist.com.

the mission ahead: recalibrating “urbandwidth”

On By Chuck WolfeIn compact development, everyday urbanism, infill development, infrastructure, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, top posts, transit oriented development, urban abstractions, urban views, urbandwidth31 Comments

Writing and conversing about the urban experience has made one thing clear. Short of the word “urbanism” and its modified variants, there is no one English word which holistically captures the qualities of livable cites or the associated metrics that many commentators tout and exemplify.

Portland’s Jason King supports this point in his wonderful article,”[Fill in the Blank] Urbanism,” which I noted in March. King’s article profiled the range of paired terms which modify the basic urbanism premise–and asked readers to name a favorite.

Others have described the inadequacy of commonly used catchwords. Writing in the Washington Post, on May 8, architect Roger Lewis called for terms far more descriptive than “transit-oriented development” (TOD) to describe the qualities of walkable cities, calling for “multimodal TOD’s”.

Similarly, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Green Lab Director, Liz Dunn, working with Walk Score’s Matt Lerner, have advocated for a Jane Jacobs-based comprehensive metric, the Jane Score, to more completely measure urban diversity and “granularity” and supplement the increasingly recognized Walk Score tool.

With such ever-expanding and thoughtful efforts to diversify the measures applicable to a renewed, compact, walkable, and multimodal urban fabric, it would help to have one word to describe the phenomenon.

I suggest that we are talking about recalibrating urbandwidth around the world.

Consider the recalibrated urbandwidth of City Square in Melbourne, Australia

(This article appears in slightly different form in seattlepi.com on July 21, here. Thanks also to Planetizen for incorporating the original form of this article under the headline “For Lack of a Better Term,” here.)

inspiring the walkable waterside: who gets, who pays?

On By Chuck WolfeIn compact development, everyday urbanism, pedestrianism, placemaking, politics, sustainability, urban abstractions, urban administration, urban views11 Comments

In the ideal urban setting, waterside venues are optimal places of human interaction, and are often destinations on longer treks across neighborhoods which Alex Steffen terms “deep walkability”.

Such venues are also symbolic of the politics of placemaking: who gets and who pays amid the unfolding challenge of how to fund and maintain?

The renderings of France and the United States below suggest five elements of the “walkable waterside” within the context of sustainable urban experiences–as presumed characteristics of smart growth and consistent with the touted norms of today’s walkable urbanism.

These modified photos add to prior myurbanist renderings here and here, which visualize the contemporary dialogue about multimodal urban experience, and aim to enhance our sense of the possible.

The displayed examples share at least the following elements:

1. Walking places.
2. Biking places, with enabled separation from other transportation modes.
2. Places of congregation, recreation and observation.
3. Intermingling of water-dependent trades.
4; Food along the way.
5. Natural settings blended with the urban fabric.

Even with the prospect of stimulus-era federal assistance, cash-strapped cities in challenging economic times often lack necessary resources to implement, maintain and sustain these elements of successful places. The legitimate budgetary needs of other, complementary urban needs, such as human service, public safety and infrastructure maintenance and improvements compete for the public dollars which result from taxes, bond issues and the traditional suite of urban revenue generation.

As a result, without more, the places we want may lose a competition for scarce resources in the world of local public finance.

Accordingly, what is the supplementary private role in public placemaking? Can we further innovate legally permissible public-private partnerships to assure the bright colors of rendered community?

In this case, perhaps compelling imagery of human interaction can beget further innovation.

urbanist online discoveries, part 1

On By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, infill development, infrastructure, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability4 Comments

Reclaiming alleys has been a frequent topic both here, and in other blogs and media. Some cities have specialty blogs devoted to alleys, including Seattle architect Daniel Toole’s intriguiging Alleys of Seattle Blog, embedded below, which is well worth following.

private reflections in a public place

On By Chuck WolfeIn everyday urbanism, pedestrianism, placemaking, urban abstractions, urban views5 Comments

In his 2004 New Yorker article, Paul Goldberger wrote of architect Rem Koolhaas’ downtown Seattle Public Library branch under the moniker of “ennobling public space“, lauding the return of a dignified, people-centric structure to the city center.

Six years later, those depicted below along the library’s Fifth Avenue entrance facade looked within themselves, reflecting with private particularity, while also ironically reflected in the monumental public glass.

myurbanist sustainability sightings

On By Chuck WolfeIn compact development, everyday urbanism, infill development, Israel, pedestrianism, placemaking, sustainability, urban views7 Comments

Since our six month recap of myurbanist sightings in late April, further recent sightings merit additional thanks.

In particular, thanks to Planetizen for carrying the first Jerusalem urban sustainability piece of our Israel series, to Kaid Benfield for multiple kind references to our backyard cottage articles and initial postcard piece in his NDRC Switchboard blog and reprints in The Huffington Post and the Daily Kos. (See also Kaid’s great new blog post, “Musings on vacation sites, consumption, and resilient communities”, here).

Thanks again to Knute Berger for reference to myurbanist in his May, 2010 Seattle Magazine column.

And a final, special thanks to CH2MHill’s ever-improving Green Growth Cascadia blog (especially Jeanne Acutanza and Wesley Zhao) for reference to our Nord Alley piece and the current “Green Growth Profile” of myurbanist and background pontificator, as embedded below. Seattle’s Great City also provided a nice summary of the profile and the context for myurbanist, here.