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Crosscut articles of the past 10 days with the most clicks.

Real Estate / Land Use

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Let's not fool ourselves about 'walkability'

Posted Fri, Jul 3, 6 a.m.

Walkable neighborhoods take more than density and sidewalks. You have to create conditions where small stores can survive.

Making the best of a bust

Posted Fri, Jul 3, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Even in hard times, there are signs that livable Seattle can still make progress despite, or even because of, the challenges of the economy

Strains in the green-growth coalition

Posted Wed, Jul 1, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

The battle for candidate endorsements reveals some ideological divides between local environmentalists, developers, and independent thinkers who wonder if all urban growth is good.

Hidden treasures of Fremont

Posted Thu, Jun 25, 6 a.m.

By Barbara Stenson Spaeth

Fremont is a classic in-between neighborhood in Seattle, full of houses that reflect individual builders slowly adding homes of character over the past century. You just have to wander away from the main streets to find them.

Celebrating the Northwest's floating world

Posted Wed, Jun 24, 4 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Maritime advocates are looking to have Congress declare most of Washington's coastline, including Puget Sound, a National Heritage Area. It could be a boon for tourism, preservation, and the marine industry itself.

The Great Vancouver vs. Seattle Debate

Posted Mon, Jun 22, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Is the civic grass greener on the other side of the border? Two urban experts each make the case for the others' home town.

Cabin fever

Posted Thu, Jun 18, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Architect Wendell Lovett designed a nuclear reactor building and the home of a space-junketing billionaire, but it's his little San Juans retreat that says the most about him.

Doing density right

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 6 a.m.

By Matt Fikse

The residential megablocks of the past few years didn't work out financially or in terms of urban design. Here's a better idea, crafted to a Capitol Hill opportunity and inspired by an Amsterdam neighborhood.

Mud fight on the Skagit

Posted Thu, Jun 4, 6 a.m.

By Bob Simmons

Which is more threatened: wetlands or farmlands? And bear in mind that Skagit Valley farmland is perhaps the finest dirt in the world.

What Seattle should learn from Toronto

Posted Tue, Jun 2, 6 a.m.

By Anthony B. Robinson

The Canadian city, enjoying a renaissance, is pedestrian-paced and happy in its diversity. Seattle has urban islands, but in Toronto one fascinating ethnic quilt flows right into the next.

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Does 'smart growth' also create more sprawl?

Posted Wed, May 27, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Urban density, a Seattle and Portland mantra, is supposed to constrain sprawl, but a new analysis suggests that vital, dense cities produce bigger suburbs too.

Seattle's 'civic dementia,' and how to cure it

Posted Sun, May 24, 10:58 a.m.

By Knute Berger

We are losing our historic brain cells, one bungalow at a time. Much of what needs to be preserved isn't architecturally special by itself, but it has earned a right to stay with us, and the civic cost of wrecking and replacing is often too high.

The great Vashon Island library war

Posted Thu, May 7, 6 a.m.

By Daniel Jack Chasan

It's a small library near a small town, but it's turned into a pitchfork battle over urban land use. The lordly King County Library System is learning a lesson about messing with local parks boards.

Is Seattle's best mayor in Bremerton?

Posted Thu, Apr 30, 11:15 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Cary Bozeman may have insulted Seattle's leadership, vision, and downtown icons with his blunt critique of the city, but he's mostly right.

The incredible shrinking city!

Posted Mon, Apr 27, 6 a.m.

By Knute Berger

Many of the world's cities are shrinking, and some urban planners say that's a great opportunity to redesign and re-green urban spaces. Forget smart growth. The new trend is "smart decline."

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Stim Bullitt, last of the Seattle heroes

Posted Mon, Apr 20, 4:24 p.m.

By David Brewster

Stimson Bullitt, broadcast executive, enlightened developer, and 'man of parts,' dies at 89, leaving a remarkable family legacy. His watchwords: Be stubborn in the big things. Never boast.

Saving our region: Nice plans, but...

Posted Thu, Apr 16, 6 a.m.

By Douglas B. MacDonald

A candid look at the efforts to preserve Puget Sound and surrounding lands discovers inconvenient truths. Population growth is not going where planned. Studies replace courageous action on Puget Sound. And land use loopholes invite blockbuster developments in rural areas.

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A desert town's dusty soul

Posted Fri, Feb 27, 6 a.m.

By Daniel Jack Chasan

A feisty newspaper that carried on the Edward Abbey tradition in Moab, Utah, is closing. It's a sign, along with too much good coffee, of change in the West.

An architecture critic tries building his own home

Posted Tue, Feb 24, 6 a.m.

By Lawrence W. Cheek

Can a man who makes a career out of critiquing the professional work of others find happiness in a home of his own design? And what's with that tiny bathroom?

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