November 1955, Bellevue, Washington. Addressing the Bellevue Municipal League, Urban Planning Professor M.R. Wolfe:
1. Notes the emergence of a “new urban form”, the “regional city”, and
2. Stresses that one “principal challenge of our culture” is, inter alia, the “handling of this phenomenon”
March 2010, Bellevue, Washington. Via his offspring:
What do these photographs show? Today, what role does the exurb or suburb play in a “regional city”? How are we “handling this phenomenon”?
Here is a compendium of recent activities and ideas, as reproduced from seattlepi.com:
Seattle has recently seen and speculated: Transportation behavior changed by necessity (and consequent “community-building” often occured) during the city’s 2008 snow and Summer 2007 “freeway fright” construction.
For those weeks of necessity, we lived in an auto-limited world.
And just last week, by the way, we saw how Nord Alley can work.
Fast forward and head north from Nord Alley.
In the March 6 Vancouver Sun, Public Affairs consultant Bob Ransford reports on lessons learned from the Winter Olympic city’s experiments with pedestrian space and alternate forms of transportation, and the so-called “Vancouverism” branch of urbanism:
Fantastical tales of canceled freeways, comprehensive transportation, a new innovative planning structure and “Estidama” (Arabic for sustainability), use of traditional materials and long range planning with cultural sensitivities.
Can leadership succeed, premised upon utopian goals?
What are the ongoing lessons for the Seattle region?
Are we still able to “Make no little plans…”?
Or is there an underside to fantastical urban reinvention?
Today, myurbanist engineers presented an early twentieth century solution to downtown Bellevue/Sound Transit “moving sidewalk” proponents, who were joined by advocates of a similar approach to aid travelers moving from the airport light rail station to the main terminal. “That was a truly moving presentation,” said one observer.
Thanks to Pugetopolis author and local media contributor Knute Berger for suggesting the following illustrative link: