March 13, 2021
A quick guide to the birds you’re hearing now in Seattle area
The birds most likely to capture our attention with their songs during early spring in the Pacific Northwest are not migratory visitors, nor exotic strangers, but good old perennial neighbors. Next month, we’ll get some migrants with beautiful songs, said John Marzluff, a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest…
Natural Resources & Environment
March 12, 2021
Nature & Health Speaks: Beyond Inclusive Design with The Eli’s Park Project
The Eli’s Park Project is committed to carrying on Eli’s legacy of love through a community-led renovation of the Burke-Gilman Playground Park. They are working with the community to create an accessible, inclusive, nature-based park where people of all ages and abilities can find play and peace. The reimagining and manifestation of this new, inclusive Burke-Gilman Playground…
Advocacy & Civic Engagement | Design & Building | Diversity, Equity & Justice | Health & Well Being
March 10, 2021
A conversation with Julia Nagele, the architect behind Seattle’s newest luxury residential tower The Emerald
Females in architecture aren’t that common, unfortunately. The New York Times reported in 2018 that, while half of architecture school graduates are women, women only make up 20 percent of licensed architects and 17 percent of partners or principals in architecture firms. Female architects, including Zaha Hadid, Jeanne Gang and Denise Scott Brown, to name a few,…
Design & Building | Economy & Development | Innovation & Technology
March 6, 2021
2021’s best cities to own an electric car
Originally written for LawnStarter. You likely have seen more electric vehicles on the road, at stoplights, and charging in grocery store lots and parking garages. But some U.S. cities have embraced the electric car faster than others. With huge differences in tax incentives, electricity costs, and charging infrastructure, the convenience of electric vehicle (EV) driving…
Climate & Energy | Economy & Development | Infrastructure & Transportation | Innovation & Technology
March 1, 2021
Seattle will use a UW-developed mapping tool to guide equitable vaccine distribution
As it strives to improve equitable vaccine distribution, the city of Seattle will use a new mapping tool to help it site future mobile and pop-up clinics and, eventually, mass vaccination sites. The map, developed by the University of Washington, lets the city compare, by ZIP code and census tract, communities’ COVID-19 positivity rates and…
Data Science & Spatial Analysis | Diversity, Equity & Justice | Health & Well Being
February 27, 2021
Post-pandemic cities: Fighting congestion in the e-commerce age
Congested city streets. Trucks fighting for curb space. Bottlenecks on beltways and bridge approaches as freight-laden semis rumble toward crowded urban centers. Pedestrians, cyclists, commuters, rideshare vehicles, and parcel-crammed vans—all contending with one another. This was the picture in many cities before the pandemic hit, fueled in part by the on-demand economy. An October 2019 New…
Economy & Development | Infrastructure & Transportation | Innovation & Technology | Land Use & Planning
February 26, 2021
New ‘ShakeAlert’ earthquake warning system to launch in Washington in May; drill next week
Washingtonians will soon have a new tool to be more prepared for the “really big one” — a major earthquake event. A new “ShakeAlert” earthquake early warning system will begin rolling out in both Oregon and Washington this spring with the ability to sent an alert to wireless devices, giving residents crucial seconds to prepare for shaking….
Health & Well Being | Innovation & Technology | Natural Hazards
February 24, 2021
Racial disparities prompt calls to repeal King County’s bicycle helmet law
In the fall of 2019, a white man spat on Edwin Lindo while he was riding his bicycle with a friend around Mercer Island. “It gets on my jersey and I’m like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening right now,’” he recalled. Lindo, who identifies as Central American Indigenous from Nicaragua and El Salvador, and his friend,…
Diversity, Equity & Justice | Health & Well Being | Infrastructure & Transportation | Policy & Law
February 22, 2021
The downsides of being a tech hub: Housing disruption and inequality
With the technology sector’s astronomical growth over the past two decades, there has been no shortage of cities vying to be the next Silicon Valley. But while there are many benefits to being a tech hub – from increased wealth to inflows of talent – there are downsides, too, including polarised inequality and increased pressure on…
Diversity, Equity & Justice | Economy & Development | Housing & Homelessness | Innovation & Technology
February 20, 2021
Systemic racism affects wildlife, too: A Q&A with an urban ecologist
What makes the country mouse different from the city mouse? Christopher Schell is a wildlife ecologist who has been curious about this dynamic his entire career. Though he specializes in coyotes instead of mice, the question remains the same. Schell, an assistant professor at the University of Washington Tacoma, is also part of a growing…
Diversity, Equity & Justice | Economy & Development | Natural Resources & Environment