What You Don’t Understand About Seattle’s Light Rail Expansion May Doom the System

There is no spine. There is no Ballard to West Seattle extension. There is no one coming to save us. By 2042, Seattle should have...
SLI's 47+7 building in the U District. (Photo by Shaun Kuo)

The Potential and Pitfalls of Prefabricated Buildings

The City issued permits on January 17th for another new tower in Belltown, but this one was a little different. The developer, Sustainable Living...

Soft Opening for a Hard Won Trail

It’s been forty years since the first segments of the Burke-Gilman Trail opened, replacing parts of Seattle’s railway infrastructure with bicycle and pedestrian thoroughfares....
A half dozen hard-hatted construction workers work at a site between two midrise buildings on Ballard's Market Street.

Wilson Promotes Sam Steele to Lead Seattle Permitting Department

Mayor Katie Wilson is promoting inspections director Sam Steele to interim director of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, she announced Tuesday. Steele has pledged to streamline processes to make it easier to build housing and emergency shelter.
A view of a mountain in the distance behind a suburban neighborhood

Seattle’s Geologic Hazards Can Be Overwhelming, But Preparation Can Start Now 

“Seismic” buttons in Seattle’s elevators hide ubiquitously in plain sight. When I was new to the city last year, these buttons were a reminder...

Apartment Production in Seattle On Track to Decline Sharply in 2020

Construction of new apartments has reached a five-year low in Seattle, according to data compiled by RentCafe. While it makes sense that construction would...

NEOM Seattle – What the Saudi Megaprojects Would Look Like On Puget Sound

Since we last checked in on the megaproject/arcology beat, there has been some progress on the new NEOM linear city rising from the sands...

The Urbanist Podcast: The Far Reaching Impacts of the Concrete Worker Strike

In this episode, reporter Ray Dubicki and I were joined by Doug Trumm, Executive Director of The Urbanist, to discuss the concrete mixer driver...