Urban Grain Fostering social and economic diversity through parcelization of large urban development sites. A test case in Seattle’s Central District.

Abstract

The scale of the built environment is the spatial manifestation of the scale of capital. Contemporary urban morphology expresses the economic conditions that produce it. Due to economies of scale, buildings with larger footprints erase lot lines and fill whole blocks The result is the erosion of the diverse, granular mixture of buildings that gives urban places their distinctive character. We need a different vision for the future of cities; this thesis proposes parcelization as a path to a more complex, adaptable and diverse urban fabric. This proposal seeks to introduce the concept of parcelization as an alternative to monolithic redevelopment of large urban sites. Parcelization consists of a master developer creating a block master plan and conveying sites to individual parcel developers. The principal advantages of parcelization are increased diversity of built form, human scaled development, and the ability of parcels to age separately, supporting economic and social diversity.