November 27, 2023
RAC projects learning together, building momentum

Co-creation sessions with Duwamish Valley community members and stakeholders that focused on identifying priorities, values, and aspirations for community open space in their neighborhoods. (Credit: Maron Bernardino) After their launch in spring of this year, the two inaugural projects of the Research to Action Collaboratory have been making progress in key ways. Supported by Urban@UW,…
Advocacy & Civic Engagement | Climate & Energy | Diversity, Equity & Justice | Economy & Development | Health & Well Being | Natural Hazards | Natural Resources & Environment
November 7, 2023
Spark Grants Complete Collaborative Research on Artificial Turf, Food Bank Home Delivery, and Urban Streetwear

An electronic denim jacket, an artistic collaboration to depict Black residents’ urban experiences. (credit: Bret Halperin) Over the past year, three teams of researchers from the University of Washington tackled a host of urban challenges in our region with the support of Urban@UW’s Spark Grants. In September 2022, Urban@UW awarded $20,000 to each team in…
Advocacy & Civic Engagement | Arts & Culture | Diversity, Equity & Justice | Food | Infrastructure & Transportation | Land Use & Planning | Natural Resources & Environment
September 15, 2023
Environmental Protection Agency Delays New Ozone Pollution Standards Until After the 2024 Election

The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying plans to tighten air quality standards for ground-level ozone — better known as smog — despite a recommendation by a scientific advisory panel to lower air pollution limits to protect public health. The decision by EPA Administrator Michael Regan means that one of the agency’s most important air quality…
Climate & Energy | Data Science & Spatial Analysis | Economy & Development | Health & Well Being
September 13, 2023
Building Resilience in Children at the Start of the New School Year

As the academic year kicks off, parents and guardians across Seattle fill out last-minute paperwork, pack backpacks and lunch sacks, and remind countless children to set out their clothes the night before. While adults nudge children and teenagers to grab a sweater on their way out the door, many can forget to actively check in…
Diversity, Equity & Justice | Education | Health & Well Being
September 8, 2023
Armed with Traffic Cones, Protestors Are Immobilizing Driverless Cars

All it takes to render the technology-packed self-driving car inoperable is a traffic cone. If all goes according to plan, it will stay there, frozen, until someone comes and removes it. An anonymous activist group called Safe Street Rebel is responsible for this so-called coning incident and dozens of others over the past few months….
Infrastructure & Transportation | Innovation & Technology
September 7, 2023
You’re Doing It Wrong: Recycling and Other Myths about Tackling Climate Change

A slim majority of Americans think their individual actions can reduce the effects of climate change, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. But do they know which actions are the most effective? Not quite. The poll finds most people believe recycling has a lot or some impact on climate change. About three-quarters say…
Advocacy & Civic Engagement | Climate & Energy | Education
September 6, 2023
New York Is Full. And It’s the Housing Market’s Fault

Since last spring, roughly 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City. This is a city of immigrants, welcoming to immigrants, built by immigrants. People who were born abroad make up a third of New York’s population and own more than half of its businesses. Yet the city has struggled to accommodate this wave…
Diversity, Equity & Justice | Economy & Development | Housing & Homelessness | Land Use & Planning
August 25, 2023
Cities Aren’t Supposed to Burn Like This Anymore—Especially Lahaina

Rescue crews are still searching Lahaina, Hawaii, for survivors of the catastrophic wildfire that obliterated the town last week on the island of Maui. It’s the deadliest blaze in modern American history, with 99 people confirmed dead, surpassing the 85 that perished in 2018’s Camp Fire in Paradise, California. Crews have only searched a quarter…
Climate & Energy | Design & Building | History & Preservation | Infrastructure & Transportation | Natural Hazards | Policy & Law
August 23, 2023
Should Governments Be Blamed for Climate Change? How One Lawsuit Could Change US Policies

A landmark ruling saying Montana has a constitutional duty to guard residents from the harmful effects of climate change could have wider implications, environmental experts said. In a decision Monday lauded by activists as a potential turning point for the environmental movement, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley sided with young plaintiffs who claimed state policies…
Advocacy & Civic Engagement | Climate & Energy | Diversity, Equity & Justice | Health & Well Being | Policy & Law
August 18, 2023
King County Shows Off Salmon Habitat Where Once Stood a Hotel

The project started as a rundown hotel in a sea of asphalt. Now Chinook Wind is a wetland, a restored salmon habitat and a hook-shaped estuary where waters rise and fall with the tides and native plants blanket the shore. The transformation is almost as extraordinary as the one that turned the Duwamish River from…
Natural Resources & Environment | Water