Overcoming Resistance to Density and Desegregation in Seattle: Developing a Model for High-Density Integrative Transit Oriented Development

Abstract

Since the civil rights activism of the late 1960s, Seattle has moved toward greater equity along racial lines, but a variety of factors are still holding the city back from full integration. Socioeconomic constructs based on the discriminatory laws of the last century have combined with the persistence of racial biases and resistance to integration in affluent neighborhoods to keep segregation alive in Seattle. Furthermore, the low density nature of Seattle's urban environment has exacerbated the problems of segregation and obscured the wealth gap from affluent communities. The lack of viable public transportation has only reinforced the city's strong residual patterns of racial segregation, restricting access by lower-income racial minority populations to higher quality housing, city services and cultural attractions. In my thesis, I propose a high-density transit-oriented development (TOD) project that seeks to promote a more racially integrated urban environment through well-established principles of successful urbanism and innovative residential mixing strategies. I have selected a full block site within the Roosevelt neighborhood of Seattle which is slated for development as a part of the construction of Roosevelt's light rail station. This site is ideal for a mixed-income, mixed-use, TOD program because it is a zero displacement site in a development ready neighborhood that is already somewhat socioeconomically diverse. My proposal includes residential clustering ideas to promote successful neighboring amongst a variety of resident populations, commercial functions that support job training and novel models of community learning exchange, and a combination of public and private space to facilitate both resident neighboring and neighborhood interactions.