Plans and Policy
Will Seattle Embrace Multiplexes in Single Family Zones Despite Weak Proposal?
Seattle needs to allow more housing in today's single family zones if it's serious about its housing crisis. Strict multiplex size restrictions need to go from the Mayor's growth plan.
Seattle Police Contract Passes Despite Limited Accountability Measures, Budget Hit
With a 24% raise and backpay, Seattle police officers are collectively earning an extra $96 million in compensation from the City in 2024. City leaders hope to spur hiring, but the contract did little to increase police accountability and blew a bigger hole in the City's quarter-billion-dollar budget deficit.
Op-Ed: Boost Seattle’s Growth Plan to Solve the Housing Crisis
The path forward is clear: a revised and ambitious Comprehensive Plan that should reform zoning rules and housing policies to allow more homes of all shapes and sizes; and incentivize affordable housing and homeownership.
Policy Lab: Shifting Transportation Habits with Cold, Hard Cash
From e-bike rebates to congestion pricing, policy should incentivize healthy, eco-friendly choices. These six ideas can achieve a dramatic mode shift away from driving and toward transit, biking, walking, and rolling.
Urbanists Rally to Sway Seattle Growth Plan
Comment on the draft Seattle Comprehensive Plan by May 20. Housing advocates have urged the City to adopt the "Housing Abundance Map" rather than keep exclusionary zoning.
Why Climate Advocates Should Be Urbanists
Land use policy is a powerful tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change. So why isn’t it a bigger part of the policy debate? This four-part 'Land Use and Climate Change' series explores that question.
How King County’s Basic Income Program Could Fight Poverty and Increase Safety
Research has showed the promise of guaranteed basic income programs to interrupt the cycle of poverty, and participants in King County's pilot program told The Urbanist that it had helped them improve their circumstances.
Op-Ed: Building the Seattle We Want with the Growth We’ll Have
Seattle's proposed 20-year growth strategy could certainly use improvement. Here are suggestions to promote housing abundance, fight exclusion, and curb climate pollution.