Yule Heibel's Library tagged seattle →  View Popular, Search in Google

Lots of good sense in this article. I can think of a few NIMBYs who'd benefit from its insights...
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When it comes to land use, local city councils can’t suspend the laws of economics any more than they can suspend the laws of physics. ...opponents of density have acted as if the Seattle City Council might suddenly lose its mind and increase zoning from the square's current squat 40-foot buildings to mile-high sky scrapers. Local land use politics being what they are, that’s not going to happen. But even if it did, the developers would only build what they thought they could sell. (...)
But what the Seattle City Council can do is allow developers to act in the interest of profit. Private profit isn’t a bad thing, but our process often behaves as if it is. Listening to local elected officials talk with derision about “private property interests” ruining our city would be laughable if it wasn’t such a serious and almost deliberate misreading of basic economics. When private interests are profitable, jobs are created. That’s equally true for small companies stamping out widgets or developers who create housing. When developers create successful and profitable projects, people are put to work, new tax revenue is generated, and our plans to sustainably support growth can succeed.
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crosscut roger_valdez seattle zoning land_use urban_development

Great idea:
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Have you ever wondered what happens behind closed doors in an executive boardroom? How about that dark street corner after 2:00am?

Using these questions as starting points, theater director Melanie St. Ours – who is also an actress and a teacher – is cooking up a long-term theater project to be housed in one of the empty storefronts of the Storefronts Seattle project.

“One Forbidden Thing,” as Melanie’s project is titled, will use community dialogues, story circles, and theater workshops to name places in Pioneer Square that feel unsafe, restricted, or forbidden. Through the process of creating original theater, participants will explore the ways that those forbidden places are tied to the community’s health, identity and future.
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seattle public_art storefronts

Great piece by 4culture about storefrontseattle.com putting artists and art into (currently empty) storefronts downtown. Times are tough and the retail landscape looks sh*tty, but that's no reason to give in to looking crappy all around. Also, a strong argument here for keeping arts funding where it belongs (with the arts) versus giving everything over to social problems:
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...given the current levels of state, city and county spending on the arts, even if every culture dollar was reallocated for housing, we would not end homelessness. One should not be pitted against the other. A civil society is characterized by its ability to adopt policies and make investments that alleviate suffering, while at the same time encouraging activity that breeds increased creativity and economic growth.

The arts have long claimed to be an economic engine. There is ample evidence that the arts, heritage and culture spur increased economic activity. Economic impact studies conducted in our region over the past fifteen years quantify the jobs created and spending that results from attendance at festivals and theater, music and dance events, not to mention the inherent personal benefits to be gained by gathering with your friends and neighbors for a shared cultural experience.
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art public_art retail storefronts 4culture seattle

Major earthwork public art project in Seattle and its exposure to (among other things) vandalism...
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The vandalism is occurring because we live in difficult times and because, for the very reasons the project was built, the neighborhood has been hit hard by the times. So we take a few steps back, paint out the graffiti, replace the handrails more securely, reconnect the lights. We work with law enforcement and enlist the power of the community through neighborhood watch programming to decrease opportunity for damage. Over the coming months and years Andy Cao’s earthwork landscape will fill out; the thyme will blossom, and a method will emerge that will allow the site to be respected and celebrated. Hopefully, Pillow Field’s abundance will be reflected in the community that surrounds it.
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seattle 4culture public_art andy_cao vandalism

An event in Seattle I'd love to have attended:
"From Vacancy to Vibrancy - the Creative Use of Space"
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What can the cultural sector do to benefit the long term economic picture of our community? Is there a way to bring space to artists and new life and capital to existing space? While the recession is on its way out, the construction boom that came before it left us with an overabundance of space. How are the development and business sectors coming together with individual artists and arts organizations to get creative and make lemonade? Are we creating the foundation for long term, mutually beneficial partnerships? Bring your own questions and ideas and join us!
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seattle creative_spaces vibrancy creative_cities creative_class

Wish I could attend this event:
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Old is the New Green:
Starbucks Center
Presented in Partnership with the Cascadia Region Green Building Council Seattle Branch.

This iconic building was built in 1912 by Union Pacific from Yesler Mill timber to house the Sears and Roebuck & Co. store. At 2.1 million square feet the LEED-EB certified building is the largest multi-tenant building in Washington State and helped to breathe life back into Seattle's SODO neighborhood.

Kevin Daniels, President of Nitze-Stagen and Daniels Development, will speak to the challenges of being a trail blazer in sustainable preservation and what made this project such a success. Don't miss the chance to get an insider view at what makes Starbucks' global headquarters a leader in green preservation.
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heritage sustainability preservation urban_renewal adaptability seattle architecture

This is a great move:
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"The ordinance will allow code exemptions for up to 12 buildings seeking certification through the Living Building Challenge (LBC). The exemptions will allow the buildings to meet LBC prerequisites that require techniques, such as onsite water treatment, that conflict with current land-use and building codes in Seattle (as well as in many other areas of the U.S.). City officials will use the review process to inform future code changes that could make the regulatory landscape friendlier to onsite water and energy strategies. "
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seattle planning regulation green_buildings living_buildings

Love the sound of this panel (for a 2010 May conference in Seattle):
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Occupant behavioral change is key to the success of high-performance buildings in all areas, including energy, water usage, and livability. This session will focus on strategies to “recommission” occupant behavior. Participants will be tasked with imagining the future for occupants and providing creative solutions to solve the framed problems. Some examples of discussion questions: Should tThe changing nature of work, including increased capability to work in a multiplicity of spaces throughout the day with remote connection to people and information, . s. How should this impact the way we condition, furnish and use office space? ? Should conditioning be based on occupancy levels? 2. Should the building’s heating system always be required to keep the building at 72 to 75 degrees, or should the indoor temperature fluctuate with the seasons? Does occupant knowledge about the building’s performance lead to behavioral change to reduce energy or water use? What are other assumptions about ‘the way things are done’ that are increasing a building’s environmental burden? This will be aThe session is intended to be creative, foreword-thinking session, with an emphasis on out-of-the box ideas.
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judith_heerwagen seattle conference cascadia living_future environmental_psychology green_buildings

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Seattle's Privately Owned Public Open Spaces: A Walking Tour
8/26/2009: Councilmember Nick Licata defines POPOS: Privately Owned Public Open Space. Under Seattle city zoning laws, building developers can engage in zoning tradeoffs that may allow them to build bigger or higher, if they provide a specified amount of space for public use. Landscape architect Guy Michaelson, representing Seattle Architecture Foundation, leads a walking tour highlighting POPOS buildings, historic landmarks, public art and other public amenities. For more information on POPOS and monthly tours offered by SAE, visit:seattle.gov/council/issues/public_space.htm, seattlearchitecture.org
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seattle urban_amenities urbanplanning urban_parks architecture

This is a 69-page PDF, self-explanatory title, prepared on behalf of the City of Seattle by Hamer Center for Community Design, Penn State U. Haven't had time to read through yet, but the table of contents includes: Introduction; Principles; Design Process; Case Studies; Components & Materials; Model Deconstruction Specification; References.

dfd design design_for_disassembly seattle buildings pdf

Fabulous short video clip of Monica Guzman explaining how to be an awesome news commenter

local_news blogging business_model newspapers ignite seattle monica_guzman news o'reilly

For future reference: Berger's article about a report by architectural firm RMJM, which identifies America's top 10 best-designed cities. His article focuses on the aspect of heritage preservation, which factors into RMJM's weighting and criteria, and he notes that Portland seems to beat out Seattle.

From there, Berger segues into whether or not (or to what extent) citizens are "pleased with their urban architecture," and observes that only LA residents are "less happy with their city" than Seattlites. (I'm not sure how he manages the leap from heritage preservation to 'being pleased" by contemporary/new architecture, but there you have it.)

Anyway, the really useful thing about this article is that Berger lists the 7 categories RMJM used to answer the question, "what makes a design-savvy city?", and also summarizes each aspect (with commentary of his own, in italics). All in all, the list makes a great framework for thinking about urban design.

urban_design urbanplanning seattle crosscut knute_berger heritage preservation designsavvy

- great video, some interesting info.

seattle youtube local_news blogs bloggers west_seattle_blog hyper_local

- note the ref to the "instant journalist" blogging software: this could be really useful for setting up a MC blog...??

crosscut local_news blogs hyper_local seattle neighbourhoods

danb comments on Paul Krugman's recent NYT column, which he wrote while in a Berlin mid-rise/ low-rise neigjborhood. I posted a comment back about amenities, and whether it's possible to create architecture w/ amenities when you're building on small (10K) city lots and trying to stick to low-rise (or low mid-rise at best). File under "commentary."

hugeasscity density seattle paul_krugman james_kunstler commentary low_rise mid_rise high_rise

"Puget Sound is a funnel. Anything that we do at the top end of the funnel comes out at the bottom end." Sometimes painful reading, this article looks at the effect of bad wastewater runoff management and its deleterious effect on the environment. "Barbie Doll" housing colonies are the worst offenders, not least because old bylaws & regulations haven't kept up (or up to date) with new developments in treatment and approach.

seattle puget_sound sprawl growth planning water run_off

- great article by Eric de Place on why so many new TH developments are so ugly. As his lede says, "How parking laws make housing expensive. And ugly."

sightline_daily seattle urban_design urbanplanning cars parking architecture

4culture and other arts orgs in Seattle / King County have teamed up to create an online site where you can find out what's going on in the arts, site-specifically, so to speak. They have a forum (albeit still under construction), but the Schedule part seems functional, and has an "attend this" feature -- quite cool.

sitespecific seattle 4culture local_news

Sparked in part by the designation of a "googie" (a Denny's diner) as a heritage landmark structure (a designation that the deep-pocketed owner, the Benaroya company, is going to fight in court), Berger reports on subsequent repercussions and discussions among "representatives from the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Historic Seattle, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and others." The comments thread is pretty interesting, too, and there are parallels to what Victoria is facing in its considerations around "landmarking" modern buildings.

architecture crosscut heritage historic_preservation knute_berger seattle

"When a Seattle writer tried to recruit some north-of-the-border help in her fight against cancer, she learned how different our countries really are." Seattle cancer blogger Jeanne Sather writes about the differences between Canadian and American health care (including, especially, cost, and access to). Her blog, The Assertive Cancer Patient (http://www.assertivepatient.com/) provides real time details and updates.

breast_cancer canada cancer crosscut health health_care jeanne_sather seattle usa