Ochsner, Jeffrey Karl. (2017). The Past and Future of Pioneer Square Historic Character and Infill Construction in Seattle’s First Historic District. Change Over Time-an International Journal Of Conservation And The Built Environment, 7(2), 320 – 343.
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Abstract
Seattle designated the Pioneer Square Preservation District, the city's first historic district, nearly fifty years ago. Over the past half century, the district has seen significant infrastructure improvements, a changing resident population, and an evolving mix of businesses. Although many buildings underwent interior alteration, the visible external character of the historic fabric has remained largely intact. The district's Preservation Board reviews a constant stream of small exterior restoration and rehabilitation projects, but it is the relatively few examples of new infill construction that have presented the most challenging questions as the board has had to balance the desire for new development and the activity it brings with the wish to protect historic character. Although the Pioneer Square District ordinance, the Secretary of Interior's Standards, and rules developed by the board all offer guidance, every new design presents questions about the exact meaning of terms like compatible and differentiated. Today, with Seattle's booming economy and growing population, more new projects of a larger scale are being proposed. As a result, the Pioneer Square Preservation District presents a singular case study demonstrating continuing efforts to protect the historic built environment while still allowing appropriate growth.
Idziorek, Katherine; Chalana, Manish. (2019). Managing Change: Seattle’s 21st Century Urban Renaissance. Journal Of Urbanism, 12(3), 320 – 345.
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Abstract
Evolution of the urban planning and historic preservation disciplines has resulted in an “uneasy alliance” in practice, one further complicated by the back-to-the-city movement and increased development pressure in older urban neighbourhoods. In Seattle, as in other U.S. cities, the pace, intensity and scale of redevelopment has caused dramatic spatial and social transformations. Although research has shown that older built fabric provides economic and social benefit for cities, neither regulations created by planners for guiding redevelopment nor strategies created by preservationists for retaining urban heritage have been successful in reconciling these different, yet interconnected, sets of values. We engage three Seattle neighbourhood case studies to clarify and evaluate policies, programs and strategies used by planners and preservationists for reimagining neighbourhood transformations. This work suggests a need for more creative, integrative collaboration between the two fields to simultaneously engage – and reconcile – social and economic tensions caused by urban redevelopment.
Keywords
Renaissance; Urban Planning; Biological Evolution; Historic Preservation; Seattle (wash.); Everyday Heritage; Seattle; Urban Conservation; Urban Renaissance; Redevelopment; Change Management; Neighborhoods; Regulation; Urban Renewal; Transformations; Cities; Preservation; Urban Areas; Planners; 21st Century; Cultural Heritage
Prakash, Vikramaditya. (2019). Dhāranā: The Agency of Architecture in Decolonization. Future Anterior, 16(2), 87 – 120.
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Way, Thaisa. (2019). What is the Urban Landscape and What Role in Urban History? Journal Of Urban History, 45(3), 595 – 600.
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Keywords
Urban; Landscapes; Modernism; Preservation; Architecture; Cities
Sprague, Tyler. (2010). Eero Saarinen, Eduardo Catalano and the Influence of Matthew Nowicki: A Challenge to Form and Function. Nexus Network Journal, 12(2), 249 – 258.
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Abstract
Matthew Nowicki befriended Eero Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy and was succeeded as Chair of the School of Design at North Carolina College of Design by Eduardo Catalano. Nowicki's influence is evident in subsequent work of these two architects. Themes of function, structure and humanism resonated differently in each. All three of these interconnected individuals were engaged in the same intellectual milieu, each manifesting his own architecture in a unique yet contextual way. Taken as a whole, their endeavors stand as evidence of the shifting understanding of what modern architecture was about.
Keywords
Eero Saarinen; Eduardo Catalano; Matthew Nowicki; Modern Architecture; Hyperbolic Paraboloids; Saddle Shapes
Abramson, Daniel B. (2020). Ancient and Current Resilience in the Chengdu Plain: Agropolitan Development Re-‘Revisited’. Urban Studies (sage Publications, Ltd.), 57(7), 1372 – 1397.
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Abstract
The Dujiangyan irrigation system, China's largest, is one of the world's most important examples of sustainable agropolitan development, maintained by a relatively decentralised system of governance that minimises bureaucratic oversight and depends on significant local autonomy at many scales down to the household. At its historic core in the Chengdu Plain, the system has supported over 2000 years of near-continuously stable urban culture, as well as some of the world's highest sustained long-term per-hectare productivity and diversity of grain and other crops, especially considering its high population density, forest cover, general biodiversity and flood management success. During the past decade, rapid urban expansion has turned the Chengdu Plain from a net grain exporter into a grain importer, and has radically transformed its productive functioning and distinctive scattered settlement pattern, reorganising much of the landscape into larger, corporately-managed farms, and more concentrated and infrastructure-intensive settlements of non-farming as well as farming households. Community-scale case studies of spatial-morphological and household socio-economic variants on the regional trend help to articulate what is at stake. Neither market-driven 'laissez-faire' rural development nor local state-driven spatial settlement consolidation and corporatisation of production seem to correlate well with important factors of resilience: landscape heterogeneity; crop diversity and food production; permaculture; and flexibility in household independence and choice of livelihood. Management of the irrigation system should be linked to community-based agricultural landscape preservation and productive dwelling, as sources of adaptive capacity crucial to the social-ecological resilience of the city-region, the nation and perhaps all humanity.
Keywords
Urbanization; Economies Of Agglomeration; Agricultural Ecology; Sustainability; Urban Planning; Land Use; China; Agglomeration/urbanisation; Agroecosystems; Environment/sustainability; History/heritage/memory; Redevelopment/regeneration; Cultivated Land; Countryside; Expansion; State; Rise; Modernization; Conservation; Integration; Earthquake; Agglomeration; Urbanisation; Environment; History; Heritage; Memory; Redevelopment; Regeneration; Population Density; Production; Farming; Agriculture; Decentralization; Autonomy; Food Production; Households; Landscape; Resilience; Rural Development; Food; Farms; Regional Development; Productivity; Economic Development; Case Studies; Agricultural Production; Biodiversity; Sustainable Development; Governance; Preservation; Crops; Flood Management; Irrigation; Permaculture; Radicalism; Socioeconomic Factors; Grain; Flexibility; Heterogeneity; Variants; Urban Areas; Irrigation Systems; Rural Communities; Bureaucracy; Landscape Preservation; Agricultural Land; Flood Control; Density; Infrastructure; Urban Sprawl; Livelihood; Farm Management; Rural Areas; Urban Farming; Settlement Patterns; Agribusiness; Market Economies
Launching the Inspire Fund: An early step for CBE’s Office of Research “For a small college, CBE has a broad range of research paradigms, from history and arts, to social science and engineering.” — Carrie Sturts Dossick, Associate Dean of Research Upon taking on the role of Associate Dean of Research, Carrie Sturts Dossick, professor in the Department of Construction Management, undertook listening sessions to learn about the research needs of faculty, staff and students across the College of Built…
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…
Ken Tadashi Oshima is Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he teaches trans-national architectural history, theory and design. He has also been a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and UCLA, and has taught at Columbia University and the University of British Columbia. He earned an AB degree, magna cum laude, in East Asian studies and visual and environmental studies from Harvard College, an MArch degree from University of California,…
My current Ph.D. research is investigating the history of transportation in the U.S. national parks. My research will explore from a historical and ecological perspective how to protect and preserve the park’s natural resources, while accommodating the public’s ability to visit the parks without causing irreparable harm. I believe a new strategy is required to address the critical transportation issues in these parks. I would like to formulate, develop, and evaluate a strategic model that explores alternatives to traditional modes of transport within national parks. There are three basic components of my research: conflict resolution, environmental ethics, and the ecological effects of roads (road ecology).
The main impetus for my decision to apply to the PhD program in the Built Environment, at the University of Washington is the opportunity to work in a program that offers me a unique opportunity to investigate the complicated problem of human-environment relationships. This will allow me to realize my belief that environments can be manipulated and planned to enhance the quality of people’s lives. I believe that significant impacts on the development of sustainable responses to environmental challenges can best be achieved through education and research.