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New Tool Created by CBE Researchers in partnership with Charles Pankow Foundation

CBE researchers worked with the Charles Pankow Foundation to develop a new Building Owner Assessment Tool (BOAT). Team members included CBE Dean Renée Cheng, FAIA; Associate Dean for Research Carrie Sturts Dossick, Ph.D, P.E.; and Laura Osburn, Ph.D. Other team members included Lingzi Wu, Ph.D. Daniel Dimitrov, and Xianxiang Sean Zhao. The tool was developed in partnership with the American Institute of Architects and the Integrated Project Delivery Alliance. The Building Owner Assessment Tool (BOAT): Helping You Understand Your Culture and Its…

Urban Infrastructure Lab Report on High-Speed Rail

The Urban Infrastructure Lab researchers have released a report on a Cascadia region high-speed rail project. College of Built Environments faculty Jan Whittington and Qing Shen were authors on the report, along with 3 Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Urban Design and Planning students (Siman Ning, Haoyu Yue, and Chin-Wei Chen), and a Master of Urban Planning candidate (Richard McMichael). This report examines the successes and lessons learned from existing high-speed rail projects in Europe and Asia, including 50 hours of interviews…

UW Urban Design and Planning lead study on post-pandemic commuting in downtown Seattle

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how people connected to work. Some were able to telework, others had to be at a jobsite. While remote and hybrid work have emerged as common practice, it’s unclear what these trends mean for downtown Seattle commuting. To help businesses and transportation agencies understand the “new normal,” academic expertise from Urban Design and Planning were tapped to develop and lead a study that gains better insights. Launched by the Mobility Innovation Center, in partnership with Commute…

Rachel Berney and Jeff Hou contribute to new book on social justice in urban design

“Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City” (MIT Press 2022) features a collection of chapters and case studies that apply a social justice lens to the design of urban environments. Sixteen contributors, including Rachel Berney of Urban Design & Planning and Jeff Hou of Landscape Architecture, examine topics ranging from single-family zoning and community capacity building to immigrant street vendors and the right to walk. The book is open-access and can be downloaded from MIT Press here.

AIA publishes “Equity in Architectural Education” co-authored by Dean Renée Cheng and Laura Osburn

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently published a supplement to the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice titled “Equity in Architectural Education.” Renée Cheng, dean of the College of Built Environments, served as the project lead for the research and writing team, which included Laura Osburn, research scientist in construction management. The supplement argues that organizational culture is critical to achieving goals of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and is intended to inspire discussion within individual institutions, and among thought leaders…

Jeff Hou and co-editors publish book on emerging civic urbanisms in Asia

In Emerging Civic Urbanisms in Asia: Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei beyond Developmental Urbanization, Jeff Hou, Professor of Landscape Architecture, and co-editors Im Sik Cho and Blaz Kriznik, explore the ways that citizens are increasingly involved in shaping their neighbourhoods and cities, representing a significant departure from earlier state-led or market-driven urban development. These emerging civic urbanisms are a result of an evolving relationship between the state and civil society. The contributions in this volume provide critical insights into how…

Andy Dannenberg and co-editors publish an updated & expanded book on making healthy places

In Making Healthy Places, Second Edition: Designing and Building for Well-Being, Equity, and Sustainability, planning and public health experts, Andy L. Dannenberg, Affiliate Professor of Urban Design & Planning, along with co-authors Nisha D. Botchwey and Howard Frumkin bring together scholars and practitioners from across the globe in fields ranging from public health, planning, and urban design, to sustainability, social work, and public policy. This updated and expanded edition explains how to design and build places that are beneficial to the…

Gregg Colburn’s new book presents opportunity to ‘rethink housing’

Gregg Colburn, Assistant Professor of Real Estate, co-authored a new book titled Homelessness is a Housing Problem, alongside journalist Clayton Aldern. The new book explores the factors that drive homelessness, and the cultural and economic shift that can ultimately benefit all — housed and unhoused. Colburn believes housing market conditions — specifically, high housing and rental prices, and low vacancy rates — exacerbate economic and personal challenges for society’s most vulnerable. And it’s the housing market, aided by the private…

Ann Marie Borys publishes book on American Unitarian churches

Ann Marie Borys, Associate Professor in Architecture recently published a book titled American Unitarian Churches: Architecture of a Democratic Religion. The Unitarian religious tradition was a product of the same eighteenth-century democratic ideals that fueled the American Revolution and informed the founding of the United States. Its liberal humanistic principles influenced institutions such as Harvard University and philosophical movements like Transcendentalism. Yet, its role in the history of American architecture is little known and studied. In American Unitarian Churches, Ann Marie…