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Meeting in the Middle... of the Street!

Friday, May 29 | 4:25 - 5:15pm
Location: Gala Rooms 3-4

Speakers: Shannon Glass, ASLA, Public Space Management Program, Project Coordinator, and Shane DeWald, Senior Landscape Architect, City of Seattle Department of Transportation |Street Use & Urban Forestry

Description:
Seattle, one of the fastest-growing large cities in the country, is bursting at the seams with development activity.  As every square foot of land increases in cost and value to investors, the pressure is on in the private sector to increase the payback.  NOT SO FAST!  The City of Seattle is onto this winning scheme, and striving to spread this prosperity into the public realm. The public right-of-way, which accounts for 27% of land surface within the city limits, offers highly valuable space to Meet in the Middle.  Our streets offer potential for great places to be, not just corridors for people and traffic to move through. SDOT’s Urban Forestry Division and Public Space Management Program are the lead actors in this public action thriller.  We are working directly with communities and developers to help them reclaim residual space, convert streets into parks, and bring abandoned land back to life!
Learning Objectives:
  • Understand how SDOT has been working with businesses, community organizations, and individuals to make it easier to enliven public spaces, support vibrant streets and neighborhoods, and promote economic vitality.
  • Learn how SDOT is identifying opportunities to empower communities to take ownership  of underutilized rights-of-way through initiatives such as parklets, shoreline street ends, and pocket parks.
  • Recognize the public health and safety benefits of optimizing the use of public urban land as a high end tangible outcome of investment.
  • Understand how landscape architects can facilitate change in policy, governing , and stewardship of the public realm.

Speaker Bio: Shannon Glass, ASLA, Public Space Management Program, Project Coordinator, City of Seattle Department of Transportation |Street Use & Urban Forestry

Shannon works for the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Public Space Management Program, where she coordinates a wide range of public realm activation and community-based initiatives.  She is a member of the University of Washington Department of Landscape Architecture Professional Advisory Council.  She holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the UW, and an Associate of Applied Science in Horticulture.

Co-Speaker Bio: Shane DeWald, Senior Landscape Architect, City of Seattle Department of Transportation |Street Use & Urban Forestry

Shane is a Senior Landscape Architect, serving 25 years for the City of Seattle, and a BLA graduate of the University of Idaho.  Her career highlights include award-winning LID projects to calm traffic, create green communities, and connect neighbors.  Currently, she works on transportation projects in downtown Seattle and promotes innovative design that protects trees and ensures the future health and sustainability of the urban forest.