—setting urban design policies
Urban design policies can help create and preserve Seattle’s “sense of place”—the look and feel of the city. Over the next 20 years, as we add more housing and businesses in Seattle, good urban design principles can enhance the beauty of Seattle’s natural areas and urban areas too.
DPD has studied these principles from other cities and worked with a dedicated group of volunteer architects and designers from the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. As part of this year’s Seattle Comprehensive Plan amendment cycle, the Mayor and Council will be considering the kinds of urban design policies that will keep Seattle beautiful. These policies will be informed by citywide “patterns”—like how the city’s buildings and streets relate to water or topography, how neighborhoods have evolved around greenbelts or vistas, and how iconic views frame our shared experience of the city.
These new urban design policies can serve as the basis and guide for the appearance of future development. DPD’s new policies will be informed by our draft background report, Urban Design Seattle, about the historical and modern patterns that have shaped Seattle’s human and natural environment.
Recently, DPD’s draft policies were featured in an exhibit at the Design in Public festival in South Lake Union. Over 250 citizens used an interactive map display to show us the places they thought were particularly beautiful and important to Seattle’s design character.
We’re interested in your opinion too. How do you think we should use design keep Seattle’s “sense of place”? Send us an email, DPD_CompPlan2030Vision@seattle.gov, or post a comment on Facebook, www.facebook.com/Sea2030, with your ideas.
The next steps for this proposal are to submit the recommended design policies to the Mayor and City Council later this year. A public hearing will be held sometime in the first quarter of 2013. To stay informed about our project, please sign up at www.seattle.gov/dpd/planning/compplan/, or contact:
Kristian Kofoed
Senior Urban Planner
(206) 233-7191
kristian.kofoed@seattle.gov