Design Perspectives By Clair Enlow

December 18, 2002

Can transit planners find a winning formula?

Better cities are the result of many decisions that grow organically from a combination of good luck and big, key decisions. In Seattle, we have a lot of good luck in the form of views, temperate weather, an energetic populace, corporate wealth and a large supply of professional design talent.

But something happens with regional transportation decisions. The voters are asked to make them, but when it comes to capital investments, the questions are so confusing and the answers so ambiguous that when the election is over, there’s still no decision. The monorail is the exception, a close but clear grasp at a city system that is limited but comprehensible.

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Previous columns:

• New urban design challenges ride in on monorail, 11-27-2002
• Neighbors gather to transform, uplift Courtland Place, 10-23-2002
• In Cuba, the future of the past seems assured, 09-18-2002
• Local designers expand vocabulary of architecture, 08-21-2002
• A/E diversity means freedom to pursue dreams, 07-17-2002
• Today's land use rules give as well as take, 06-26-2002
• Can art be the basis for expanding architecture?, 05-22-2002
• Community design movement comes of age, 04-17-2002