Archive for May, 2008

WHAT ARE People FOR?

[ What Are People For? cover illustration: Politics, Law, and Farming in Missouri by Thomas Hart Benson ] This collection of essays by Wendell Berry has the best book title ever. One of the essays is called “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer.” But then, how does he blog? On April 28 […]

Our Humble Neighbors To The North Are Also Leaving Us In The Dust

[ Dockside Green rendering: Busby, Perkins+Will ] In case you haven’t already, you can add Canada to the long list of countries that are actually building the type of large-scale, cutting edge green developments that we here in the U.S. seem only capable of talking about. Designed by Busby, Perkins+Will, Dockside Green, in Victoria, B.C. […]

The Viaduct Conspiracy

[ Seattle in 1925 ] As the stakeholder committee gets into it, viaduct buzz is noticeably notching up. Local urban designer David Sucher, who has been relentlessly predicting a retrofit for years, recently reiterated his view here, but what caught my attention was his assertion that the government has been intentionally misleading the public — […]

Almost What We Don’t Build Anymore

This is the Opal Condominiums at 16th and Pike, just a few blocks south of the older two-story apartment in discussed in this post. It has some obvious similarities. Why, in this case, did the developer not go with a townhouse 4-pack? The Opal is three stories, with six units and underground parking (the parking […]

Sit Me Down

This is the open space in front of the Federal Courthouse at Stewart and 7th in downtown Seattle. It’s visually engaging. But is it a place that gets used much by people? It doesn’t look like there are enough good places to sit down, which, as William Whyte observed, is a major impediment to the […]

Two Things Americans Say They Don’t Like

Sprawl and Density. This quip goes a long way towards summing up the gestalt of the Urban Land Institute’s Reality Check event, held April 30th on the UW Campus. See the Seattle Transit Blog for a detailed account of the event. ULI’s Ed McMahon made the above quip in his keynote address, and it was […]