University of Washington: A Resilient Future Starts Here. Online Master of Infrastructure Management and Planning. Apply Now.

Civics and Culture

Sunset out of an Intercity Transit bus window in Thurston County.

Op-Ed: Washington State Should Allow Riders to Serve on Transit Boards

Transit advocates are gearing up to pass House Bill 2191, which would allow Public Transit Benefit Authority boards across the state to create voting seats for transit riders. The bill came up just short last session.

Seattle CID Development Authority Expands into Beacon Hill, Fighting Displacement

Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda) is seeking to anchor communities of color in place in and around the CID, with Beacon Pacific Village its latest housing project.
An empty driver seat in a Metro bus with a highway overpass in the background

The View From Nathan’s Bus: Shawn Yim and Keeping Transit Safe

Nathan Vass shares his remembrances of fellow driver Shawn Yim, who was murdered during a late-night shift earlier this month. He also urges leaders to prevent future tragedies with robust interventions.

Holiday Video: The Problem with Public Hearings

All too often, public hearings increase costs and consume time without meaningfully impacting decisions. Uytae Lee of About Here digs into the history of the public hearing and its utility, and whether another paradigm is worth pursuing.

Holiday Video: Ghent Is Making Streets Safer For Kids To Bike and Walk

Streetfilms highlights how Ghent (Gent), a city in the Flemish north of Belgium, is making streets safe so that kids can walk and bike...

Sunday Video: Autonomous Vehicles Deserve Heavy Skepticism

Urbanist circles differ in how they see autonomous vehicles, particularly as they move toward wider adoption. Some see them being a tool that builds...

Op-Ed: Wallingford Can Build a Brighter ‘Seattle of the Future’

The Local Sightings film festival juxtaposed The Beacon, a film about a break-dancing studio fighting to survive in South Seattle, with a film about Wallingford grappling with change and potentially embracing a more inclusive, diverse future.
Single family homes with cars in the driveway and trees in the background.

Op-Ed: Presidential Election Hinges on Housing, Conceptions of the American Dream

Addressing our national housing crisis will require a drastic shift in how we think about housing in our society: it needs to become a basic human right — something we are all entitled to and therefore something our government works to deliver.