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Category: Cities

  • Making it easier to be a Shadow Driver

    This video from Mexico City shows two types of drivers: the Everyday Driver, who drives no matter how much it costs, and the Shadow Driver, who drives only when it’s the most convenient option. Imagine the benefits if we made it easier to be a Shadow Driver.

    This is the sort of easy-to-understand demo necessary to illustrate complex, counterintuitive concepts. I love the video: it's not flashy. Viral marketing like this should be part of every organization's toolkit. It could have been used more effectively to show alternatives to big road projects and a vision for more livable neighborhoods.

  • What it takes to transform a city

    It's exciting to see construction cranes popping up across Seattle's skyline. But it will take more than a handful of building projects to transform the city and make it sustainable.

    Seattle tower cranes, courtesy of craneblogger.comProjects such as housing in the parking lot of Seahawks/Sounders stadium and a new ferry terminal may make Seattle a "resilient city equipped to thrive in a challenging future," according to a local blog that I follow. Unfortunately most of the projects are on extremely long timelines and there's little political will to complete them to their potential.

    I'm optimistic about Seattle because the city is growing and attracting new human and economic capital. But we need to think bigger and act with a sense of urgency in order to seize on the opportunity.

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  • Are true Londoners extinct?

    This quote in The New York Times Magazine today struck me:

    London in 2012 is in significant flux, much less beholden to sepia-tinged notions of what it used to be and much more a product of its new arrivals.

    London is about one-third foreign born and shows it. What about Seattle and other American cities?

  • Keep an eye on Las Vegas

    Imagine if every city had a Tony Hsieh.

    ImagesThe founder of Zappos.com, the online retailer owned by Amazon.com, is spending $350 million of his own money to transform downtown Las Vegas into a hip urban area filled with entrepreneurs and creative types. Instead of expanding the Zappos headquarters in the suburbs, he's moving its local employees downtown and creating new infrastructure that should lure others to follow.

    The project will transform the city and could pay off both for the company and community. It hits home to me following news that Amazon itself plans to build a new 3 million-square-foot office complex in central Seattle, changing a neighborhood of mostly parking lots and low-slung buildings located between downtown and the South Lake Union neighborhood where the company is already housed in leased space.

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  • All must have a home

    The fact that thousands of Seattleites lack a safe place to call home on any given night is immoral. As a city, we must do better. During my campaign for city council I used the opportunity to advocate for what is right.

    343642376_e3ec5e9f89As a child in the Reagan era I remember seeing people living in the streets in downtown Seattle and wondering how our wealthy society could allow so many people to go without. In the years since, the structural problems that cause homelessness have grown more intractable and federal spending priorities have shifted. However, just because solutions are difficult doesn’t mean we should give up.

    Homelessness is symptomatic of a larger crisis of community that allows us to ignore the growing inequities around us even as we struggle to acquire more stuff, regardless of the impact on the environment or our quality of life. However, if we work together, we can provide homes for our neighbors and build a more livable city. We just need the political will to make measurable progress.

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  • Making better transit a top priority

    Better transit is key to making Seattle a more affordable and sustainable place to live and work.

    Seattle-Transit-TunnelSafe, reliable and easy transit options would allow people to get out of their cars and enable successful urban neighborhoods that have more residential density and thriving businesses. Since owning a car adds, on average, about $10,000 to a family’s annual budget, being able to enjoy Seattle without that expense would make a big difference.

    When I lived in New York, Osaka and Tokyo I used transit daily and saw

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