I get lost in Emerald city often. During free time, I aimlessly venture around the city and marvel at its green infrastructure and parkways. Green roofs are scattered throughout the city, providing a sense of space for higher density communities. The infrastructure of bioswales, solar panels, and gardens incorporated within the residential streets of Seattle are only concepts I’ve discussed in my urban planning courses. Seattle is a beautiful city and I feel honored to have the opportunity to intern at Futurewise, an advocate for smart growth policy. As an intern, I often accompany the urban planner on “city walks”. Our target streets are located near Seattle University and we walk down major roads to critique and rank the quality of street corners and building facades. Last week, Futurewise organized a city tour and invited residents from the community to provide suggestions on how the city should be planned. The objective of these “city walks” is to retrieve public comment and later incorporate suggestions and advocate for policies that are heavily influenced and shaped by the voices of the community. My experience with these people was warm and genuine. Though diverse in their profession, their underlining concern is to create a safe and “pedestrian-friendly” community. They advocate for increased bike lanes, creation of woonerfs, increased transit flow, high-rise apartments and more landscaping. These concepts would ideally deter automobile traffic down this major road and create an urban city that produces a low carbon footprint: in other words, sustainable development.
I'm ecstatic to meet residents who are truly passionate about city planning because they are aware that cities are a major source of pollution and waste. With over half of the world’s populations living in cities, it is important to plan sustainably for the future as it’s expected that most cities will continue growing to accommodate for population growth. Futurewise acts as a watchdog and assures that cities are planning for the future and designing a comprehension plan that details development in housing and commercial areas. What makes a city sustainable is if they can provide an individual the resources that any other person would enjoy from a suburban or rural area; the essentials being transportation, food and water.
Imagine: a person commutes 45 minutes everyday from the rural towns outside Seattle to downtown Seattle. They also must drive 10 minutes to get to their nearest grocery store and they live on a half of an acre lot in a 1,200 sq ft. home. What if that person could live in downtown Seattle? Where the commute is no longer a 45-minute drive, but a 10 minute walk? The grocery store is no longer a 10-minute drive, but a 7 minute walk. You don’t live on a half of an acre, but you live in a 1000 sq ft. apartment and have access to a green roof and public transportation that takes you to any major park in the city? Too expensive to live in the city? Fortunately there are programs such as affordable housing that allows people to live in areas they could not normally afford otherwise. And what happens to that half of acre of land? Ideally, it is converted back to the natural environment that can support various ecosystems or be used to produce crops.
Although there are several issues regarding this lifestyle shift, this will be the reality for many people. Living in Seattle for the past 5 weeks and working in city planning and development has made me more optimistic with the issues revolving around population growth. I look towards cities as the solution to accommodate population growth because cities are high density areas that have the potential for sustainable development.
Ulises Munoz
Duke Student '14
I'm ecstatic to meet residents who are truly passionate about city planning because they are aware that cities are a major source of pollution and waste. With over half of the world’s populations living in cities, it is important to plan sustainably for the future as it’s expected that most cities will continue growing to accommodate for population growth. Futurewise acts as a watchdog and assures that cities are planning for the future and designing a comprehension plan that details development in housing and commercial areas. What makes a city sustainable is if they can provide an individual the resources that any other person would enjoy from a suburban or rural area; the essentials being transportation, food and water.
Imagine: a person commutes 45 minutes everyday from the rural towns outside Seattle to downtown Seattle. They also must drive 10 minutes to get to their nearest grocery store and they live on a half of an acre lot in a 1,200 sq ft. home. What if that person could live in downtown Seattle? Where the commute is no longer a 45-minute drive, but a 10 minute walk? The grocery store is no longer a 10-minute drive, but a 7 minute walk. You don’t live on a half of an acre, but you live in a 1000 sq ft. apartment and have access to a green roof and public transportation that takes you to any major park in the city? Too expensive to live in the city? Fortunately there are programs such as affordable housing that allows people to live in areas they could not normally afford otherwise. And what happens to that half of acre of land? Ideally, it is converted back to the natural environment that can support various ecosystems or be used to produce crops.
Although there are several issues regarding this lifestyle shift, this will be the reality for many people. Living in Seattle for the past 5 weeks and working in city planning and development has made me more optimistic with the issues revolving around population growth. I look towards cities as the solution to accommodate population growth because cities are high density areas that have the potential for sustainable development.
Ulises Munoz
Duke Student '14