Comments on: Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 1

By: Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 3 | SeattleSeattle.com

Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 3 | SeattleSeattle.com — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:51:54 +0000

[...] liveblogging from AIA Seattle’s Designing for Livability: Sustainable Cities conference today. Part 1 and Part 2 were posted earlier today. This is the last post from the [...]

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:04:38 +0000

Thank you!

And except for that block of 1st with parking garage on both sides. The whole city would be better if that wasn’t there.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:58:23 +0000

I like the area around the retail core and the market too. Though the best parts about both are the older buildings and pedestrian activity.

By: Zach Shaner

Zach Shaner — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:50:58 +0000

New mega-eco-whatever-developments have an uncanny ability to be stale and soulless, and despite themselves they end up looking like downtown Bellevue or Lakewood Colorado’s hideous BelMar. Ben, you’re spot on to argue for mixed-age neighborhood buildings. It’s no wonder why, in my opinion, the best parts of downtown Seattle are where over the course of a few blocks Pioneer Sq. morphs into the Financial District.

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Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:19:06 +0000

[...] Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 1 – Seattle Transit Blog [...]

By: JoshMahar

JoshMahar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:29:06 +0000

Certainly, I think what you get at is key. We need to prioritize investments in pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users when it comes to our public investments, but at the same time we can do all this and decrease VMT without any changes to our building stock. Not that it would be ideal, but I guess my point is that I find it problematic when mega-project New Urbanist developments are seen as the answer for creating better urban environments. Its much more about how we engage with the urban space than its actual physical form that makes a great city.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:24:45 +0000

I agree. We need small changes, not big ones. Tweaks, single building additions, not whole new developments all at once.

I don’t think making these changes slowly is really that necessary, though – you can build and widen a hell of a lot of sidewalks in a very short time. You can build a lot of light rail. You can close streets to traffic, you can put in bike lanes.

Hell, a lot of the work here is just stopping highway growth.

By: JoshMahar

JoshMahar — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:58:13 +0000

Not too mention that chances of building an entire neighborhood are few and far between without massive displacement.

I’ve been to South Waterfront and I’m not sure I would call it a neighborhood. Its got a nice little boardwalk area with some interesting retail but it feels incredibly mundane and, frankly, boring.

I think planners tend to love the idea of creating from scratch but in reality, creating livability/walkability/sustainablity in cities should focus on lots and lots of small projects over a very long period of time. I know many would say that we don’t have this kind of time but I think without doing it this way you risk failing on a much larger scale.

By: Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 2 - Seattle Transit Blog

Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 2 - Seattle Transit Blog — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:15:34 +0000

[...] Designing for Livability Liveblog Part 2 by Ben Schiendelman This is more liveblogging from AIA Seattle’s Designing for Livability: Sustainable Cities conference today. Part 1 is here. [...]