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Feb

16

I ♥ Copenhagen

Filed Under Cities, Copenhagen, Events, Innovation, Sustainability, Transportation, walking | 2 Comments

Upcoming Event: Seattle’s Public Life – How it Can Become the Most Walkable City in America

Hell_SoholtGreat City is pleased to co-sponsor the following upcoming lecture by Helle Søholt of Gehl Architects in Copenhagen!

Time: 6:00pm

Date: Tuesday, February 23rd

Location: Seattle Art Museum (Enter at First & University Street in Downtown Seattle near the Hammering Man Sculpture (the main entrance will be closed). Click for Map

Cost: Free

RSVP: Please RSVP via email to info@i-sustain.org or PublicLife@downtownseattle.org

Seattle has just completed the most in-depth study of public spaces Downtown ever conducted in a U.S. city. Don’t miss this free forum about how to turn Down­town into a world-class pedestrian-friendly experience.

The forum will feature findings from nearly three years of re­search in Seattle presented by Helle Søholt, managing partner of Gehl Architects. The City of Seattle and the International Sustain­ability Institute retained Gehl to audit Downtown’s streets, alleys and public places with students from UW’s Green Futures Lab.

The Copenhagen-based Gehl firm has worked on every continent and in more than 400 cities around the world. Søholt is a founding partner with Jan Gehl and has extensive experience world-wide in urban design including master planning, public life surveys, urban quality analysis, development of strategy plans, public space plans and the design of public spaces.

Sponsored By: AIA Seattle, The City of Seattle, The Downtown Seattle Association, GEHL Architects, Great City, The International Sustainability Institute, The Scan|Design Foundation, and The University of Washington Green Futures Lab

Feb

10

Great City Membership Event: Pre-Lecture Reception with Mark Johnson, of Civitas

Filed Under Design, Events, Membership, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

“In Search of Sustainable Urbanism: Systems and Territories”

Mark JohnsonA Great City Membership Event: Pre-Lecture Reception with Mark Johnson, FASLA

Location: Architecture Hall, Room 147,
Pre-lecture reception for Great City Members: 5:00
Lecture: 6:30 PM (More Info Here)
Date: Wednesday, February 17th
Hosted By Great City and the University of Washington Dept. of Landscape Architecture

Great City members are invited to attend a pre-lecture reception with Mark Johnson an hour and a half before the event. Snacks and Drinks will be included.

To RSVP, please email Paul Chasan at paul@greatcity.org.

To become a member, see: www.greatcity.org/contribute

Mark Johnson, FASLA, will discuss the development of both theory and projects, shedding light on the most current work and thinking about what it really takes to design cities for the next generation of urban life. His work is currently addressing significant waterfront regeneration in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, St. Louis and New York; projects that reveal his thinking on the systems that make cities healthy and the territories that we design for living.

Mark Johnson, FASLA, is a leading urbanist, designer of public space and strategist for the re-generation of core cities. He is currently leading the re-generation of the Northside of downtown St. Louis, the design of the North Embarcadero in San Diego, the design of Museum Park on the Miami waterfront and a revitalization plan for the waterfront on the Harlem River in Manhattan. As a founding principal of Civitas Inc., Mr. Johnson has led many complex projects that have had a transformative impact on cities: three riverfront parks in Denver; 20 years leading the redevelopment of Stapleton International Airport; a master plan for Balboa Park in San Diego; a waterfront plan for Memphis; and a corridor plan to connect historic neighborhoods along Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue. He recently completed the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, a project that immediately gained national recognition for its economic, social and environmental impact. With Civitas he has focused on the design of healthier, more livable and more sustainable cities for 25 years. His projects have been at the leading edge of both the theory and practice of urban regeneration and landscape urbanism, with major transformative interventions achieved across the country.

Feb

2

Fête Update & YIMBY T-shirts

Filed Under Brownbag, Events, Great City, Membership | Leave a Comment

Fête du Flâneur

This just in! Great City is pleased to announce we’ve secured the following silent auction items for our upcoming party, the Fête du Flâneur:

  • Breakfast and fresh, organic eggs with Councilmember Mike O’Brien
  • Rum and Cigars on the Porch with Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith
  • An annual passport to any of Cascade Bicycle Club’s events

We’ve got more silent auction items in the mix, which we’ll be updating as we get closer to the event. Oh, and it’s also going to be a great party!

On Thursday, February 25, Great City presents the Fête du Flâneur, a Fantastic Urban-Themed Party. The Fête, a fundraiser for the organization, will feature a limited-admission private reception with Great City founder and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, City Councilmember Mike O’Brien and Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith. Following the early reception will be a celebration of enlightened, if fanciful, urban living featuring music, open bar, hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, an address by Mayor Mike McGinn, crowning of the Great City–Cascade Land Conservancy Mustache Challenge champion, Flâneur-inspired art, dancing and DIY costumes…

For more event details and to purchase tickets, Click Here!

Brown is the New Black

The blogs are atwitter as fashionistas across the city are buzzing about the “must have item of 2010“ – The Official Great City YIMBY (Yes In My BackYard) t-shirt. With spring around the corner, isn’t it time to trade in that polar fleece pullover you’ve been lugging around? Our handsome, 100% organic cotton t-shirts are appropriate for the gym or the opera or anything in-between!

Here’s a picture of our Program Coordinator, Paul Chasan, sporting his new shirt:

How do you get one? The shirt is available to Great City members at the $100 level and makes the perfect Valentines Day gift for the urbanist you love.

To become a member and order your t-shirt, Click Here!

To become a member and order your t-shirt, Click Here!

Note to existing members:

We know that many of you have been patiently waiting for you shirts to arrive. We’ll be sending them out to you this week If you have any questions about sizes or want to chat logistics, please contact Paul Chasan, paul@greatcity.org.

Upcoming Brownbags

February 11th – FOLKpark / Uptown Loop
12:00 – 1:30 pm
GGLO Space at the Steps
1301 First Ave, Level A

February 25th – Where’s the Family in Multi-family?
12:00 – 1:30 pm
GGLO Space at the Steps
1301 First Ave, Level A

March 25th – The Eco-Laboratory: Weber Thompson’s Answer to Urban Agriculture and the 2030 Building Challenge
12:00 – 1:30 pm
GGLO Space at the Steps
1301 First Ave, Level A

Join Great City

To become a member of Great City, see our website for member levels and methods of payment. We appreciate your support!

Jan

21

Fête du Flâneur

Filed Under Events, Great City | 1 Comment

An Urban(e) Party hosted by Great City

partyInvite

TO PURCHASE TICKETS, CLICK HERE

On Thursday, February 25, Great City presents the Fête du Flâneur, a Fantastic Urban-Themed Party. The Fête, a fundraiser for the organization, will feature a limited-admission private reception with Great City founder and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, City Councilmember Mike O’Brien and Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith. Following the early reception will be a celebration of enlightened, if fanciful, urban living featuring music, open bar, hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, an address by Mayor Mike McGinn, crowning of the Great City-Cascade Land Conservancy Mustache Challenge champion, Flâneur-inspired art, dancing and DIY costumes.

What: Great City’s Fête du Flâneur

When: February 25th, 2010

Where: Melrose Market, 1535 Melrose Ave, Seattle (On Capitol Hill between Pike and Pine Streets just East of the freeway. click for map)

VIP Reception: 6:00 pm – 6:30 pm

  • With Special Guests: Mayor Mike McGinn, Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith and City Council Member Mike O’Brien
  • VIP Tickets: $145.00
  • Includes all drinks

General Admission: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm

  • Open to the Pulbic
  • General Admission Tickets: $45.00
  • Includes all drinks

Event Details

  • 6:00 – 6:30 pm VIP reception with Great City’s founder, Mayor Mike McGinn and former board members, Deputy Mayor
  • Darryl Smith and Council member Mike O’Brien
  • Silent Auction
  • Inspired art and DIY costumes
  • Performance Art
  • An address by Mayor Mike McGinn
  • Overview of Great City’s 2010 Work Plan
  • Hosted bar and snacks

About the Theme:

The “Fete du Flâneur” takes its inspiration from a mid-19th Century movement in Paris which celebrated walking the city and reveling in the street life. Here in Seattle, we have an opportunity to make our streets engaging and active for walkers, bikers, shoppers, school children, and everyone in between – the flâneur movement has arrived!

Event Sponsors:

Gold ($2,500 and greater)
Jabe Blumenthal, Cascade Bicycle Club, Cascade Land Conservancy, CleanScapes, Dunn + Hobbes LLC, Eagle Rock Ventures LLC, GeoEngineers, GGLO, SvR Design Co., Vulcan, Doug and Maggie Walker

Silver ($1,000)
Charles R. Wolfe, Attorney at Law, The Fearey Group, The Freehold Group, McCullough Hill, ReadWagoner, Jessie Israel, Via Architecture

Bronze ($500)
The Pike Brewing Company, Rainier Plaza LLC

TO PURCHASE TICKETS, CLICK HERE

Jul

24

aLIVe: a Low Impact Vehicle exhibit

Filed Under Events, Public Art, Transportation | Leave a Comment

BACKGROUND
The Low Impact Vehicle project aims to retrofit our transportation system around the human body, instead of 40-ton trucks. This would reduce the amount of land needed for streets and parking, allowing us to reclaim land for vegetation to improve our watersheds. Other benefits include carbon reductions for manufacturing and operations; improved public health; and social justice. Most of all: improved mobility for both freight and people.

The first phase of the LIV project will kick-off on August 22 in Seward Park. A Low Impact Vehicle exhibition (aLIVe) invites artists, artists, architects, landscape architects, engineers, inventors and designers of all types to create visions for the future. Areas of exploration include vehicles designed around the human body; streets designed for people; and communities built around the need for trees and unpaved spaces, clean air and clean water. The purpose of aLIVe is to present new ideas in various formats such as prototypes, designs, works in progress and to also present metaphorical art to stimulate a conversation that will help us change our culture, one mind at a time. We’re looking for everything from prototypes to poetry.

Hosted by Great City. 4Culture, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Seattle Parks, greenmuseum.org and SvR Design are all early sponsors. The art critic Jen Graves has written about aLIVe and posted a podcast http://podcasts.thestranger.com/invisible/

Also, there’s an aLIVe Group on the Seattle Network: http://seattlegreatcitynetwork.ning.com/group/alive. It includes an “illustrated guide.”

"Nicole Kistler's All-Terrain" Low Impact Vehicle will be one of many items on display at the exhibit

"Nicole Kistler's All-Terrain" Low Impact Vehicle