Culture
Pioneer Square's takeoff: Be there or be left out
Call it the Tom Douglas Effect: Moves by smart investors are leading to more businesses jumping in.
Mark Hinshaw
Mark Hinshaw, FAIA, is an architect and urban planner. He was an architecture critic for The Seattle Times and is the author of many articles and books, including Citistate Seattle (1999).
Latest work
Politics
Will Seattle's new wheel keep things turning on the waterfront?
With tunnel construction bearing down on downtown, will the newly-opened Ferris wheel be enough of a waterfront porch light to draw Seattle's tourist swarms?
Seattle & King County
Urban walkability: the new driver in real estate values
Property values in Redmond and Seattle's Capitol Hill used to be equal. The desire for urban density, walkability, and access to parks has now tilted values decisively in city neighborhoods' favor.
Culture
America's foolish detour into shopping malls
These land-devouring, car-dependent malls were invented 60 years ago, with Seattle among the pioneers. Now they are in terminal decline. There was a better idea in Kansas City, but unfortunately it was eclipsed by our mania for malls.
Seattle & King County
A vexing debate over saving Harborview Hall
The handsome old building is slated to be demolished to create a needed open plaza for the hospital complex. But must the choice between saving a building for unneeded medical purposes and having a small park? Here's a better way.