People Centered Design in Smaller Cities: Rediscovering the Small-Town Roots of the 15-Minute City
How can the 15-minute city work in suburban and rural contexts? Join us to learn how communities beyond Seattle are becoming more vibrant, livable, and sustainable.
Throughout most of American history, cities and towns were built incrementally, with a fine-grained diversity of adaptive places and built at the scale of people – much like the neighborhoods envisioned today in “15-minute cities.” But recent decades have been different, encouraging large, homogeneous developments built all at once to a finished static state, optimized for the scale of the personal motor vehicle. Looking back on this “suburban experiment,” we have witnessed its detrimental effects on our health, our social connections, our environment, our finances (both public and personal), and our quality of life.
In this session, we’ll explore how smaller cities and towns are reviving traditional development patterns that nurture vibrancy and sustainability in their communities, and how their success can be adapted to neighborhoods within cities and towns of any size.
This event is part of AIA Seattle’s 15-Minute Seattle: Creating Livable Places for All series.
People Centered Design in Smaller Cities: Rediscovering the Small-Town Roots of the 15-Minute City
Monday, June 21 | 4:00 – 5:30 pm PT | Online
Presenters:
Rodney Rutherford – Kirkland
Rodney Rutherford leads Strong Towns of Washington State (StrongWA.org), a coalition of people nurturing strong and resilient communities across the state, inspired by the ideals of Strong Towns (strongtowns.org). He grew up in the Renton Highlands and lived in various Seattle neighborhoods throughout his 20s. Since moving to Kirkland’s Rose Hill neighborhood in 2008 he’s served as a neighborhood association chair, represented neighborhoods in creating Kirkland’s Housing Strategy Plan, and organized LiveableKirkland.org to facilitate constructive civic engagement in support of “15-minute” neighborhood ideals. He was appointed to Kirkland’s Planning Commission in 2019.
Cary Westerbeck – Bothell
Cary Westerbeck is a practicing architect and small developer based in Bothell. He recently completed a mixed-use fourplex in downtown Bothell, acting as architect, owner, developer, and contractor. Born in Tacoma, Cary grew up in Woodinville and has lived in various Eastside cities and three Seattle neighborhoods. Cary earned his M.Arch at UW Seattle in 2004. Inspired by the principles of Strong Towns, he founded Bothellites for People-Oriented Places (BoPOP) to facilitate constructive civic engagement in support of “15-minute” neighborhood ideals. Cary serves on the Bothell Planning Commission and as a board member of Habitat for Humanity Snohomish County.
Additional panelists pending.
Questions?
Contact Kirsten Smith, Manager of Policy and Advocacy at AIA Seattle
