This was a required deliverable I produced for the 2013 Designing Cities class from the University of Pennsylvania Design School offered through Coursera. The document was limited to 5 pages (not including cover sheet or notes) and to outline concepts for urban design solutions for a city.

1. ⑤
CITY DESIGN SOLUTIONS FOR
SEATTLE
 eric gould 
12 / 2013

2. ❶ INFRASTRUCTURE - TRANSPORTATION
BRENTWOOD SKTYTRAIN STATION, BURNABY, BC
Seattle’s number one pressingissue is increasing population density. One studyfrom
the Washington State Office of Financial Management suggests that the city will add
an additional one million more people by 2030. Existing traffic density, construction
progress for the Alaskan Way seawall and tunnel project that will replace the Alaskan
Way Viaduct, and King County Metro’s reconsolidated and diminished transit system in
combination are creating challenges to move vehicles and people around the city.
Elevated transit networks like SkyTrain inVancouver, BC, as well as additional light rail
and possible underground train options are greatly neededfor a cohesive city metro
transit plan.
Seattle Traffic at Dusk

3. ❷ PIKE PLACE MARKET: CAR-FREE
Seattle’s struggle with urban planningand design is an
ongoing one. A city flaneur visiting the Pike Place Market
must heed to a range of traffic seeking limited parking
(usually none) while enjoying one of the most famous
heritage sites in the Seattle. By taking a cue from
Copenhagen’s famous Stroget, a meandering pedestrian-
only retail spur in the city center, the Pike Place Market
could be a better experience for vendors and visitors as a
car-free market making exceptions to emergency services
and delivery vehicles.
.
❸ INFRASTRUCTURE: MOBILE URBAN UTILITIES
Inspired by Artist-Writer Douglas Coupland’sV-Pole, a conceptual prototype for
Vancouver (the “V” inV-Pole stands for “Vancouver”) that unveiled at the 2012 New
Cities Summit in Paris, a network of V-Poles could be peppered around the city designed
to supportwireless broadband, LED lighting, digital gateway access to community services
and wayfinding, as well as provide a point for EV car owners to recharge their vehicles.
Downtown neighborhoods like Belltown, the Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, SODO
and the International District / Chinatown would be suitable locations to offer these
communities thisinfrastructural element. More info about Douglas Coupland’s design at
v-pole.com.
.

4. ❹ COMMUNITY HUBS AND MARKETS
Around the city, there is a growing need for community hubs and a desire to establish year-
round public markets. Farmers markets doexist as a vital communityfunction around the
city, but vary according to weekday andweekend ineach neighborhood. Byestablishing
permanent structures to accommodate the fluctuating green grocer vendors with a mix of
community gardens – as in vertical garden design projects, for example – coexistingwith
complementary retail offers such as bakeries, deli markets, and florists, they can provide
communities with centralized services. Also, coworking hubs can be part of these
neighborhood communities and offer ways to recreate and work like Brooklyn Boulders
Somerville in Somerville, Massachusetts.
.

5. ❺ HERITAGE ARCHITECTURAL RESTORATION PROJECTS
Fifty-one years ago, Seattle World’s Fair architects in 1962 envisioned their Century 21 Expo as a
model for the city’sfuture. Where didit go so wrong? A return to “lost” World’s Fair heritage
architectural componentslike the Flag Pavilion and Fun Forest that offered public open space and
recreation can restore Seattle Center’s legacy missing today. Also, the misguided Washington
State Convention Center’s massive glass arcade over Pike Street diminishes daylight and should
be removed and restore open sky to the street. In a city that has grown up so fast in the past 50-
plusyears needs a cohesive vision to address current urban design problemsfacing Seattle today
before it can advance towards the next fifty.

6. CREDITS
Images: Compfight
Seattle SoundTransit Light Rail
Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/36226594@N02/5415978003/">Transportation for America</a> via <a
href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Seattle Traffic at Dusk
Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33392350@N00/6773689165/">sea turtle</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington
Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58440035@N05/6914126195/">dannymac15_1999</a> via <a
href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
Stroget, Copenhagen, Denmark
Photo Credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/87221579@N00/21172945/">PDXdj</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

7. Images: Various
Brentwood Skytrain Station, Rapid Transit Project Office, Burnaby, British Columbia, Image courtesy Perkins+Will,perkinswill.com
V-Pole Rendering 02 (Martin Tessler / Mathew Bulford), Image courtesy Meet the V-Pole, v-pole.com
MESH Norway, from Takinga Peek at MESH Norway, Oslo’s First Coworking Space by Xiao Mina, 16 September 2013, Photo: Alex Asensi, Image courtesy
Core77.com (http://www.core77.com/blog/case_study/take_a_peek_at_mesh_norway_oslos_first_coworking_space_25541.asp)
Brooklyn Builders Somerville coworking space and climbing rock, images courtesy Brooklyn Builders Somerville official site
(http://bkbs.brooklynboulders.com/spaces/collab-space-arrowstreet/) and Brooklyn Builders Somerville Facebookpage.
Urban Plan Rødovre Syd / WE architecture ,image courtesy WE Architects at ArchDaily.com(http://www.archdaily.com/126435/urban-plan-r%C3%B8dovre-syd-
we-architecture/)
Select Century 21 Exposition Postcard images – various:Aerial of the Century 21 Exposition at night with the Space Needle; Seattle Center Coliseum and Flag
Pavilion; Seattle Center Monorail, archival image source: Alamedainfo.com (http://www.alamedainfo.com/seattle_worlds_fair_1962.htm)