Urban Design Forum

The Urban Design Forum serves members and the community by bringing forward critical issues facing Puget Sound neighborhoods and cities, in order to inform, engage, and support advocacy by AIA Seattle members and others who share a concern for the quality of the built environment.

The Urban Design Forum hosts monthly panel discussions, case studies and presentations. Previous topics have included bicycle and pedestrian master planning, transit-oriented development, neighborhood planning and more.

As we look toward 2024 and all the exciting urban policy, system enhancement and public space redesign happening in our region, UDF is looking to reinvent itself and is welcoming new members as part of the UDF Planning Team or as UDF Members.

The UDF Planning Team consists of a group of folks that determine relevant urban issues to investigate throughout the course of the year, utilizing monthly meetings, happy hours and educational events as a means to connect with other UDF / AIA members and local urbanists to discuss the opportunities and challenges related to these topics. The outcome of these events provide insight to the AIA Seattle Public Policy Board, who develops urban policy stances for AIA Seattle. Roughly 3 events will be organized each year.

UDF Members are a group of folks interested in urban design that attend monthly meetings and events in order to provide feedback on the efforts of the UDF Planning Team. This role requires a lesser time commitment than the UDF Planning Team, while still providing space for interested parties to contribute to UDF. UDF Members are asked to attend roughly (6) of the (12) monthly planning meetings each year. Potential ways for UDF Members to engage include: social media posts or running UDF’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X or Youtube accounts, crafting monthly newsletter, event planning, determining discussion topics, advocacy research, etc.

Those interested, read below and/or reach out to the UDF Co-Chairs at: UrbanDesignForum@aiaseattle.org

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

The Urban Design Forum typically hosts events on the 4th Wednesday of the month, from 12:00pm to 12:30pm via Zoom, unless otherwise specified. To receive upcoming meeting and event details, subscribe to our email list. AIA Seattle members, allied members and sponsors are encouraged to join as well as other professionals in the design community.

Facebook: Urban Design Forum [seattle]
Twitter: @UDFseattle
Instagram: udfseattle

Living in Seattle is not a requirement for being a part of the UDF, as our monthly meetings are remote.

Thanks all for your engagement and hope to see you at an upcoming planning meeting or event!

The Urban Design Forum serves AIA Seattle’s mission, imperatives, and values.

RESOURCES

AIA Communities by Design
Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association
Urban Land Institute Northwest

DESIGN COMPETITION – REGION OF SHORT DISTANCES

In conjunction with YAF, the Urban Design Forum hosted a design competition for 2020. This competition sought ideas and proposals for incrementally reshaping our region’s automobile-centric areas towards walking and transit.

Check it out and sign up for updates.