Civics and Culture

Sunday Video: Who Really Designs Cities?

https://youtu.be/gsh_d3ypnBU Using Cities: Skylines as a comparative, Dave Amos looks at the nuts and bolts of who really plans and manages cities in America. It’s...

Op-Ed: Vote Yes For I-732

Editor’s note: On Monday we published a "Vote No On I-732" argument by Rebecca Saldaña. Today the second op-ed of our two-part series...

Holiday Video: A Brief History of Police Impunity in Black Deaths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RYdItBIuOU America is supposed to be the land of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but for so many Americans, particularly Black Americans, this...

How Urban Observation Can Ghost-Bust Places

In Seattle, last week, I looked across the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Olive Way, into McGraw Square, and towards the Westin Hotel, noting a Seattle urbanism...
A photo of tower style housing with lots of plants

The Urbanist Podcast: An Ambitious New Plan to Create Social Housing in Seattle

In this podcast episode, Ray and I discuss the current proposed ballot initiative to create a public development authority (PDA) that would be tasked...

Is Seattle’s Climate Action Plan A Plan Of Inaction?

On Wednesday, Mayor Jenny Durkan reaffirmed Seattle’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, and unveiled the climate mitigation plan, Seattle Climate Action. She promised to...

Op-Ed: Wallingford Can Build a Brighter ‘Seattle of the Future’

The Local Sightings film festival juxtaposed The Beacon, a film about a break-dancing studio fighting to survive in South Seattle, with a film about Wallingford grappling with change and potentially embracing a more inclusive, diverse future.

Balducci Proposes Moving County Elections to Even Years to Increase Participation

A proposal to switch King County elections to even years will get its first public hearing at the June 1st Committee of the Whole...