To decarbonize cement, the industry needs a full transformation | Grist
There Are Better Ways to Build a Toilet
Designs at the Venice Architecture Biennale are rethinking the modern flush for a water-strained world.
Google Wallet Soon To Support ORCA for Fare Payment - The Urbanist
Google Wallet will soon support digital ORCA cards and allow for contactless payment via Android-powered mobile devices. That will save many Puget Sound transit riders the need for a physical ORCA card. Mobile payments have been a highly anticipated feature since the new ORCA system launched last year. Google will have the distinction of being
Getting into the Zone
Congestion Pricing is Coming to Manhattan. Will It Work in Other Cities?
New York: A New Bus Network for Eastern Long Island — Human Transit
by Scudder Wagg Suffolk County is a vast and variegated place covering the eastern two-thirds of Long Island, New York. It includes a range of historic towns like Babylon, Huntington, and Port Jefferson, many of which grew up around the Long Island Rail Road. The western two-thirds of the county is largely developed in an […]
Underground thermal energy networks are becoming crucial to the US’s energy future
Their advantages extend beyond reducing carbon emissions.
Are roundabouts really safer?
A transportation engineer explains how the circular intersections work, and why they're catching on across the country.
Seattle Must Pursue ‘Rapid Progress’ Option and Transform Its Streets - The Urbanist
Comment by October 31 to urge the City to improve the Seattle Transportation Plan. Seattle is mapping out the next two decades of transportation investments as part of its comprehensive plan process, and one transformative option is on the table. The City should not just study that option, but actually choose it in order to
Fix Zoning Via Self-Set Tax Package Buys
We have long known that self-set (i.e., Harberger) property taxes can not only lower the cost of making property trades, and discourage leaving properties idle, but can also serve as a substitute for eminent domain, wherein governments force sales at its-set prices in order to assemble large property packages. As with self-set taxes all properties have reasonable price offers, a buyer can suddenly buy a package at once.
Clean energy is officially “unstoppable” now
The International Energy Agency has a new forecast for 2030.
Op-Ed: How Washington’s Trains Can Arrive On-Time - The Urbanist
Indonesian Railways' rapid improvement offers hope for turning around floundering Amtrak Cascades service. Back in April I attempted to take the train from Tacoma to Portland. The day it was to depart, I was informed we would be placed onto a coach bus in lieu of a train. When I asked why, I was told
Hear that? It’s the sound of leaf blower bans.
As restrictions spread, neighborhoods are getting quieter — and cleaner.
To understand the future of forests in the warming world, look to the bur oak
Scientists in three states are comparing how three gardens of bur oaks are adjusting to a warming world and what it means for tree migration.
Model Village - 99% Invisible
For decades, society has dealt with people with dementia and other forms of cognitive decline by storing them away in unstimulating, medicalized environments. But around the world, a new architectural movement is starting to challenge that old paradigm. Designing environments where people with dementia can live as normally as possible, until the very end. 99%
Best Restaurants in Seattle According to a Local | The Emerald Palate
Find the best restaurants in Seattle. From the best Seattle restaurants for a date night to cheap eats, here are the places to eat right now.
A Polycentric Plan for Portland – The Antiplanner
Seattle Set to Return $7.3 Million Grant If City Council Doesn’t Act on Streetcar - The Urbanist
The City of Seattle will be required to return two sizable federal grants, both of which had already been awarded to fund the long-planned Center City streetcar extension between the city's two disconnected streetcar lines, if a local match isn't provided in the next few weeks to be able to advance the project. This news
Sunday Video: Freiburg Is A Lesson In City Building - The Urbanist
Freiburg im Breisgau is famous in planning spheres for its high rates of biking, walkable suburbs, and green ways of building. Mike Eliason has sung the praises here of the German Black Forest city for its Baugruppen housing approach and famed Vauban. Intriguingly too is that though Freiburg was originally a Medieval city, it was
Puget Sound Needs Weekend Sounder Train Service - The Urbanist
While Saturday and Sunday Link ridership is exploding, Sounder trains still don’t run on weekends. Sound Transit does not yet run regular Sounder service on weekends, but the agency should certainly change that given demand shown by strong weekend ridership on Link. By passing the Sound Transit 3 (ST3) ballot measure, Puget Sound area voters
Estonia’s capital made mass transit free a decade ago. Car traffic went up
It's a poignant lesson for U.S. cities that are considering going fare-free.
The lore behind Washington’s spookiest historic haunts
From Port Townsend to Pioneer Square, visit supernatural hotels frequented by ghost hunters from across the country this Halloween.
Mossback’s Northwest: Who’s behind the “P” in Seattle’s P-Patches?
In the 1970s, a bold idea in the Wedgwood neighborhood turned a failing farm into a movement of urban gardening.
Appeal Could Force Alki Elementary To Trade Classroom Space for Parking Stalls - The Urbanist
An appeal brought by neighbors threatens to delay construction and heap costs on cash-strapped Seattle Public Schools. Construction on a new Alki Elementary School in West Seattle has stalled. The former school, demolished this summer and now a vacant lot, sits quiet, with the process to issue a permit to start construction on a new
SwRI's modular dam design could accelerate the adoption of renewable energy
San Antonio TX (SPX) Oct 16, 2023 -
Southwest Research Institute has developed a new modular steel buttress dam system designed to resolve energy storage issues hindering the integration of renewable resources into the energy mix. The
Scientists lay out a sweeping roadmap for transitioning the US off fossil fuels
The National Academies of Science report includes 80 recommendations for how the U.S. can achieve its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Metro Flex’s Sammamish Service Area Expanding To Include Issaquah - The Urbanist
King County Metro is expanding its on-demand microtransit service, Metro Flex, to serve the Issaquah area. The expanded service begins on October 16 as part of a partnership with the City of Issaquah. The larger Metro Flex service area takes in swaths of Issaquah Olde Town and nearby neighborhoods, North Issaquah, and more of the
George Cove - Wikipedia
How a 100-year-old kidnapping set climate tech back decades
George Cove patented solar energy technology in the early 1900s. Then, after a mysterious kidnapping, his business shut down.
George Cove
Thematic Book Series: How to Downsize a Transport Network?
We have launched the second volume in a new series of books opening up Low-tech Magazine’s archive by theme.
Wind Blows
Excellent news for ratepayers, birds, bats, landscapes, and whales as offshore and onshore wind projects get scuttled