seattle posts, articles, and infographics | Sustainable Cities Collective

How your zip-code is as important as your genetic-code for childhood obesity

April 11, 2012 by Adam Davies
with 470 views

The western world is getting fatter. It’s hard to ignore the spiralling rates of obesity in developed countries such as the UK and US, where more than one in four of us is now clinically obese. But perhaps even more alarming is the speed at which our children are becoming dangerously fat. More than one-third of children... [read more]

Exporting Green to China

April 3, 2012 by Rich Maltzman
with 71 views

An interesting little story in the China Daily a few days ago caught our attention. It was about Seattle and Chongqing (whose name is written in Mandarin in the image in this posting). These are sister cities. You can read about the relationship between Seattle and Chongqing – which began in 1983 – here.But back to our... [read more]

TOD: Incentivising Time over Dollars

March 15, 2012 by Rachel May
with 229 views

“No matter the cost of gas we need to get to work and each minute shaved off the commute is a minute-golden and fat and glowing- added to our real lives, the life that begins after work, at home, in the bars and restaurants, with the children and the bills and the dog.” T. C. Boyle, The New York Times.My ideal self-narrative goes like... [read more]

A High-Tech Corporate Giant Strengthens a Walkable, Transit-Accessible Neighborhood

March 14, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 302 views

Despite being all-in with blogging and social media, I’ll confess to some ambivalence toward electronic media that displace bricks-and-mortar retail experiences. Whether it’s Apple’s iTunes dealing the final death blow to music stores or Amazon’s retail ubiquity finishing off bookstores, I find myself wondering whether it’s all worth it. [read more]

Addressing America's Intersection Repair Problem

March 9, 2012 by Matt Landry
with 116 views

This is a piece I wrote to promote intersection repairs in my neighborhood in Seattle and to expose intersection repairs to a broader audience. Intersection repairs increases community building and can have an effect on neighborhood safety. [read more]

Is bioremediation without public funds possible?

March 6, 2012 by Erica Bush
with 106 views

The growing interest in compact neighborhoods, walkability and all things connected to sustainable living has brought a new vision of urbanity. From a personal standpoint I am no longer looked at wide-eyed and with pity when I say I grew up in a city without a car, but with something closer to admiration. For example here in the Puget... [read more]

Livability reconsidered, locally defined

March 5, 2012 by Michael Kaiser
with 789 views

Density is not livability, and livability is more than shops and cafes. Livability is a complex issue. One man’s livability may be another man’s claustrophobia. [read more]

Places Develop People

March 4, 2012 by Jim Russell
with 192 views

Photo by paukrus via Flickr

For talent migration, tolerance doesn't matter. The idea that London is a winner in the vote-with-feet competition because of its cosmopolitan disposition is amusing. No city is immune to parochial attitudes:But London in 2012, like most other global cities, is in significant flux, much less beholden to sepia-tinged notions of what it... [read more]

Innovation in Town-House Design will Strengthen Urban Neighborhoods

February 27, 2012 by Kelly Hogg
with 466 views

A growing trend in Seattle’s multi-family housing market is the construction of town-houses. Whether loved or hated, town-houses have become more prevalent throughout Seattle’s neighborhoods in the last five to eight years, aiding the city in its important goal of increasing density within residential neighborhoods. Many... [read more]

Learning From the ‘High Line’ Next Door

February 16, 2012 by Chuck Wolfe
with 327 views

Do you ever wander your city and dream about restoring it's old parts? Then this beautiful piece by Chuck Wolfe is for you. [read more]

Will Seattle Swallow Its New Waterfront Park Design?

February 15, 2012 by Brian Kalthoff
with 245 views

Former Seattle Mayor, Charles Royer, is commonly credited saying that Seattle is a city that knows how to chew, but does not know how to swallow—and if it does swallow, it retains the right to regurgitate whatever it has swallowed. Never has that perception been so accurate as to decribe the process surrounding replacing the... [read more]

A Model of Integrated Design: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus

January 19, 2012 by The Dirt ASLA
with 371 views

In the heart of Seattle, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the wealthiest private foundation in the world, with assets of more than $34 billion, opened a new campus with little fanfare last year. Winning a rare LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, the building is a model of integrated design.... [read more]