The Green Futures Lab engages citizens to develop plans for authentic, equitable and sustainable communities and landscapes.
Metabolic Matters
What is biochar and how can it help designers address the unique challenges of urban landscapes as well as regional and global issues such as biodiversity loss and climate change? How can designers use the concept of metabolism to cultivate systems of biological, cultural and economic function that lead towards climate stability and resilient systems...
Capitol Hill: Public Spaces + Public Life
Lauren Wong, MLA ’19 + Peter Samuels, MLA ’20 Capitol Hill is a neighborhood whose varied urban character in the built environment speaks to its multi-narrative history. Its dense residential and commercial corridors were largely formed by the showrooms and repair shops of “Auto Row,” which have been split into a diverse collection of small...
City of Edmonds Revisioning Plan
The GFL worked with the City of Edmonds to create plans for the expanding role of its neighborhood centers as more active and vital parts of the community. The GFL engaged the community in workshops and forums to study and re-envision the neighborhood commercial areas of Westgate and Five Corners, and developed a form-based code...
Woodinville Vision 2035
The GFL facilitated a visioning process for the future of a 17-acre site in the center of Woodinville. The GFL team led a design charrette with citizens and professionals, and refined ideas into two alternatives that incorporate sustainable design standards from the Living Futures Community Challenge, LEED for Campus, and One Planet Living frameworks. Volume...
Porous Public Space: People + Rainwater + Cities
How can design help us to regard stormwater as a resource rather than waste? How can the celebration of water bring people together in public space? How might a heightened awareness of water– positioned in its unique geophysical context–promote an urban life culture with an authentic sense of place? Interns Roxanne Lee and James Wohlers...
Urban Play Handbook
Play brings people together, stimulates creativity, alleviates stress, and cultivates delight to both the participant and the viewer. Play can also break down social barriers that often prevent diverse groups from interacting and equitably sharing public space. Therefore, providing opportunities for play in the urban public realm is an essential tactic for creating lively, just...
Lake Forest Park 100-year Legacy Plan
As a member of a professional consulting team, the Green Futures Lab led the public process for developing a 100-year green infrastructure plan for the community of Lake Forest Park. The Lab facilitated a Green infrastructure festival to solicit community input, a Green Legacy design charrette to engage the public in planning their green infrastructure...
Seattle’s Neighborhood Greenways
The City of Seattle is working to enhance transportation options in the city and Neighborhood Greenways are becoming an integral part of the process. Reducing vehicle speeds and traffic volume is necessary for Neighborhood Greenways, but by creating inviting space for non-motorized users, Neighborhood Greenways can also bring about larger scale neighborhood and environmental improvements....
Public Spaces | Public Life Studios
The Public Spaces Public Life studio in the College of Built Environments combines international study experience with multi-disciplinary collaboration on local projects in order to explore planning and design solutions for Seattle’s public realm. Before the studio, students travel to Copenhagen, Denmark to visit the office of the renowned Copenhagen firm Gehl Architects and see...
Open Space Seattle 2100
This collaborative project asked leaders from civic, environmental, business and community groups to create a comprehensive open space vision to guide Seattle’s urban development over the next 100 years. The urban watershed-based process included a city-wide design charrette with 23 teams led by local professionals and UW students. The 200-page final report documented visions and...
Burlington at the Crossroads
In 2013, Burlington, WA—a small agricultural city located in the Skagit Valley north of Seattle—engaged an interdisciplinary team of graduate students and a faculty advisor from the University of Washington Green Futures Lab (GFL) to generate ideas for a Comprehensive Plan update. City planners and the GFL convened numerous public workshops, forums, and presentations to...
Regional Open Space Strategy (ROSS)
The Puget Sound basin is facing significant ecological and economic pressures, which are predicted to be further exacerbated by our rapid population growth and increasing intensity of climate change impacts. These stresses affect water quality and supply, fish, farm and forest production, flood and other environmental hazard vulnerability, economic opportunities and quality of life, and...
