Just under a month ago, a myurbanist entry presented further imagery of renewal in Seattle’s Madrona Woods–with continuing reconstruction photos of a “Thoreau-like cottage”, first shown here.
Today, showing more replacement than reconstruction, a more expansive home rises from the original footprint.
In the era of sustainability, this form of site intensification is one way the urban setting will redevelop while preserving neighborhood look and feel.
Many articles summarize the complex issues associated with Seattle’s viaduct-replacement/deep-bore tunnel debate.
Such articles are often accompanied by a cross-section supplied by the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), illustrated here.
Inspired by the WSDOT cross-section and ongoing discussion of applicable transit modes, the embedded myurbanist commentary below graphically focuses on but one question along the way.
Last week, the entry “a palette for placemaking” provided an original, myurbanist rendering of contiguous downtown Seattle urban blocks ripe for contemporary placemaking upon sale of the associated property assemblage.
A resulting Facebook exchange, captured below, shows the ensuing discussion, recalling the “urbandwidth” neologism created here on July 19 and noted in Planetizen.
Is another word in order to describe such social media exchanges? “Urbanter”?
Bellevue, Washington has been alive with debate about planned light rail alignments in and around its downtown this year, with Sound Transit, the regional transit agency, often at loggerheads with local elected officials about the preferred route to be selected for study and eventual implementation.
Last month, Sound Transit selected a segment adjacent to a close-in residential neighborhood for further evaluation in the project Environmental Impact Statement.
The situation remains a textbook application of the challenges which Paul Symington and I addressed in our recently republished report, “Urban Centers and Transit-Oriented Development in Washington“, (the “Barriers Report“), downloadable here. In keeping with our discussion of political, organizational and interagency implementation challenges, the Bellevue City Council and many residents oppose Sound Transit’s preferred alternative.
On the ground, opposition is clear from the landscape of signage, and from an imaginary train ride captured below–well over a decade before completion of Sound Transit’s East Link. Regardless of which alignment is chosen and constructed, consider rides with memories of where planning-era signage was located along the way!
Today marks the launch of a related site, UrbanPointofView, which provides a compilation and “portfolio” of my interdisciplinary approach to urban land use issues.
For an integrated summary of urban insights, at home and abroad, please see the embedded link below.