Stephen Fesler
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.
With nearly 100 years of urban activity for public trade and assembly, Pike Place Market is a mark of deep civic pride for Seattleites. The market nearly met its end on numerous occasions: in 1950, a plan was hatched to turn it into a giant parking garage; in 1958, the Municipal Market...
Who says transit can't be fun? Every once and while, mapheads put together some creative, nerdy maps like the Game of Thrones world à la Google Maps and neon tubes of the London Underground (aka The Tube). Transit App is jumping into the fun with a fantasy schedule of the Hogwarts Express. Seriously.
You can...
Top 10: The current ranking of US cities as the most walkable.
Shell No: The reason why Shell's Polar Pioneer is allowed to dock in Seattle, for now.
Making room: A Dutch city makes room for its river and readies for a new identity.
Bus to Link: Seattle Transit Blog writes how the bus...
Pronto is getting a new station in Yesler Terrace at 12th Ave and E Yesler Way. This station represents the first expansion of Pronto's service area. It isn't much, but it will be a welcome addition to people east of Downtown and south of First Hill. It also serves a...
Vulcan Real Estate has teamed up with Runberg Architecture Group to develop plans for two central blocks in Yesler Terrace. Known as Block 2E (123 Broadway) and Block 3 (120 Broadway), the sites comprise 2.7 acres in the city's most notable social housing community. Vulcan purchased the properties back in October from...
The Denny Triangle is a hotbed for highrise construction with over a dozen different projects are either already planned or under construction. A new project, Crescent Heights, could end up delivering not one, but two new towers within the neighborhood if all goes according to plan. Designed by architecture firm...
Between 2012 and 2013, Seattle was the nation's fastest growing big city ($). Headline after headline since cheered this revelation, and it may very well still be true. For most long-time Seattle residents and even many newcomers, that narrative isn't particularly fresh at this point. Why? Because they're still witnessing a boom as...
Editor's Note: For more great photography of urbanism, follow The Urbanist and Stephen on Instagram.
In a recent trip, I traveled south to California for a weekend getaway with friends. We spent our time evenly between the bustling and romantic seaside cities of the Central Coast and the majestic hinterlands and rustic...