Site Report #4
Map of planned building areas. University Way (Seattle Washington).
A map of Unviersity District planed parks. University District (Seattle Washington). UD Park Planning, Parks and Recreation.
As of today, the U-District mainly consists of residential housing and shops aimed towards college students attending the University of Washington. These apartments and restaurants tend to the average poor college kid attending school. My block mostly consists of living space which takes up somewhere near 70% percent of land in the U-District. Some apartments and some old houses stand on my block as well as a general store and Government building. Currently block 12 on 11th and 42nd is somewhat run down, and definitely a poorer area in the U-District. There are currently plans to tear down most of the old houses and replace them with newer apartment complexes. Construction is planned to start late 2017 into late 2019 for all buildings to be completely replaced by newer ones. In a plan called the U District Green Streets Concept Plan created in 2015 many people wanted to improve the aesthetics and functional use of block 12 and the surrounding areas as well as making it a greener place. The person behind this idea wanted to improve many aspects of the area therefore improving the quality of life for the people living in it. This first image is showing the priority of "refurbishing" each block.
Additionally, a park is planned to be built very close to my block right in the area south of NE 45th Street and west of Roosevelt Ave NE. Christine Park is planned to be built in 2018 and will draw tourists near the area of my block, this will be hugely beneficial not only for businesses on my block, but also by attracting residents for the new apartments being built in that area at the same time. This is shown by the second image which is map of where the new parks are planning on being built as well as their area of influence to an extent. internationally this planning for this many parks being created is globally making washington and specifically Seattle one of the greenest cities in America as well as bringing us back to Washington's previous glory before colonization occured.
My block still has many very old houses on it and has been one of the most neglected areas in the U-District in terms of renovation. This might tell us that this will continue to happen that after these new apartments are built block 12 won’t be touched for a very long time. On the other hand, it could also have come to the attention of many people and be better maintained form now on. We should also take into account the growing population of the U-District and Seattle as a whole. This being the case it may call for block 12 instead of being on the outskirts of the “nice” part of town to now be included in it. As the population of UW increases the surrounding area will become more and more student centered, I can image this will increase the need for affordable living space as well as cheap restaurants and shopping centers in the area