A construction project in Seattle. (Photo by Natalie Bicknell Argerious)

Covering development for a city like Seattle gives The Urbanist a unique view into the spots where development concentrates. Even so, it’s useful once in a while to step back and ask what this means for a neighborhood. When does a bunch of houses turn into a unique place? And how much can city policy steer that?

In this episode, Managing Editor Natalie Argerious and I talk about developments coming to the area east of Market Street and whether that’s something novel or an appendage of Ballard. Natalie offers views of new nodes in Lynnwood and Yesler Terrace. And we deeply disagree on the utility of Urban Villages. (hint: in French, they would go by the name Le Garbage) And we ask for your help considering where places are starting to turn from a weird intersection into the next named spot to be. Join us!

The Urbanist Podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, Buzzsprout and other streaming services if you’d like to add us to your queue.

Article Author

Ray Dubicki is a stay-at-home dad and parent-on-call for taking care of general school and neighborhood tasks around Ballard. This lets him see how urbanism works (or doesn’t) during the hours most people are locked in their office. He is an attorney and urbanist by training, with soup-to-nuts planning experience from code enforcement to university development to writing zoning ordinances. He enjoys using PowerPoint, but only because it’s no longer a weekly obligation.