Conventional Conforming: The Quiet Hurdle to Increasing Density
How Federal Subsidy of Loan Interest Rates Block Missing Middle Housing
Earlier in the pandemic, I was searching around Zillow. Looking at houses was a...
Harrell Hopes to Fill Downtown Storefronts by Easing Code Restrictions
In a bid to reactivate Downtown Seattle, Mayor Harrell has proposed easing code restrictions in hopes of filling vacant storefronts with newly permitted uses like crafting studios, greenhouses, medical offices, art installations, public restrooms, and research laboratories.
Op-Ed: Don’t Believe Corporate Elite Claiming to Fight for ‘Affordable Washington’
A corporate front group is pushing ads seeking to sap support for taxing the rich as the state faces a budget crisis. John Burbank points out the ads are misleading and argues the state must raise new revenue to avoid draconian cuts that will hit the working class hard.
Uber’s Hollow Promise For Cities
Uber has been in the news lately for offering cities a smidgen of their data on traffic patterns. Like so many things with Uber,...
Midweek Video: Why Do People Commute By Airplane?
https://youtu.be/BoxZuHl3caU
Super commuting was on the up and up prior to the pandemic. Why are people doing it, who is doing it, and what can...
Baltimore’s Harborplace: Elegy to a Dead Mall
Lessons from a one-time crown jewel of urban renewal.
Recently I got to be a tourist in my hometown. The hard part about going back...
Seattle Must Reject Austerity in Response to Covid Recession Budget Holes
The Urbanist joined more than 40 community organizations in signing a letter urging Mayor Jenny Durkan and the Seattle City Council to reject austerity...
Bring on the Clusterwohnungen
A few years ago, Seattle ran an interesting experiment on radically densifying low rise neighborhoods with microhousing--a typology of small, minimal units that provide...







