An inadvertent cityscape graces Seattle in late May.
(Daniels Development preserved the last historic church building in Seattle’s central business district as part of the pending Fifth+Columbia development project).
Category: everyday urbanism
the legendary darkness of a city night
How many of us fear the darkness of the city? Is safety measured by statistics or perception?
Here, from the street, hidden possibilities intrigue the imagination amid open and closed businesses, shadows and light.
towards sustainable striping
As the street becomes disassembled to its component parts and modes are split, lower-budget striping is often the preferred definitional boundary for automobile, bicycle and pedestrian.
Consequently, discussion and debate often ensues around alternatives to the “great American stripe”.
We begin with the international contrast of “the flower line” and move on to variations anew.
where the car is a stranger
As the future of the automobile is roundly debated amid increasing discussion of pedestrian, bicycle and transit environments, images remind us of the changing nature of the street.
urban greening on a morning walk
Last month, we illustrated some potential “quick wins” for placemaking, gleaned from a morning walk. Here are some additional, “scaled” lessons learned through observations of an historic urban park network partially restored by neighbors, in cooperation with a big city park department.
Local action supplements big ideas through demonstrable implementation. Seattle’s Madrona Woods story, accessible here, shows us how and why.
1. City woods, then (1909) and now (2010):
2. Stairways along the way, public and private:
3. New pedestrian bridge, restored lake shore:
4. The prize of the daylighted creek:
