‘Urban villages,’ 20 years later: Encore presentation in West Seattle tomorrow night

The “urban villages” neighborhood-planning strategy from the ’90s paved the way for much of the development you see today. As part of the city’s process to map the next 20 years, former City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck and his consulting firm presented a study in January looking at how the plans have played out, closely examining some of the designated urban villages around the city, including The Junction and vicinity, as well as Westwood-Highland Park. If you couldn’t make it to the downtown presentation but are interested in the topic, tomorrow night you get a chance to find out about it without leaving West Seattle, as Steinbrueck is a guest at the Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting – 6:30 pm Tuesday at the Senior Center of West Seattle (Oregon/California), all welcome.

4 Replies to "'Urban villages,' 20 years later: Encore presentation in West Seattle tomorrow night"

  • hannah March 16, 2015 (2:05 pm)

    From my perspective and someone who was actively involved in the 90 with the neighborhood planning there have been many success but liberties taken with the level of density, the lack of transition into single family homes, the designs of the apartments etc have no integrated into the neighborhoods as it was clearly articulated as a priorty
    Seems like we have moved away from the design and sprirt much to the demise of what was asked for and promised

  • sophista-tiki March 16, 2015 (6:07 pm)

    Urban Village of the Dammed

  • Seattlite March 16, 2015 (6:53 pm)

    Totally agree with you, Hannah. I was against the Urban Village concept from the beginning. The aftermath of overdevelopment and inadequate roadways was extremely poorly planned. West Seattle, Ballard, Greenwood, etc., are putting up with the same planning mismanagement.

  • WS since '66 March 17, 2015 (7:11 am)

    Some fought the Urban Villages when first unveiled. Now people want to live where they can walk a few blocks for a cup of coffee, shopping, etc. It is a fact that homes near Urban Villages have seen their values raise more than areas farther away from a UV. Once again the naysayers need a new crystal ball because the old one isn’t working.

    Many people are conflicted and don’t even know it. “Affordable housing” (which means more supply than demand) vs low density (which means more demand than supply) greatly affects the values in any given area. Remember in our capitalist system you can’t have both.

    That said which would you rather have affordable housing or lower density

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