Seattle 2025-2026

UW’s Livable City Year (LCY) program is partnering with the City of Seattle to support applied, community-centered planning work as part of a collaboration between the Office of Planning & Community Development (OPCD) and UW for the year 2025-26. This partnership is intended not only to advance current city priorities but also to lay the groundwork for sustained future engagement between the University of Washington and the City of Seattle. The LCY-OPCD partnership will focus on projects related to neighborhood planning, affordable housing, transit and mobility challenges, and waterfront planning across the city.

North Aurora Community Planning

City Project Leads: Anneka Olson and Katy Hama
UW Department: Urban Design and Planning
Faculty: Saida Sobhani (Wi) and Ray Gastil (Sp)
Quarter: Winter and Spring 2026

The office of Planning and Community Development is developing a community action plan for the communities along the North Aurora corridor (from 85th to 145th). This plan is part of a larger, cross-departmental City of Seattle effort that is placing an integrated spotlight on North Aurora communities to plan and implement short- and long-term improvements along the corridor. As part of this project, graduate students from 506 will first understand existing conditions related to land use, urban design, economy, community safety, and transportation on North Aurora corridor and surrounding neighborhoods. Students from 507 will then use this existing data to develop policy, design, and provide programmatic recommendations for the North Aurora corridor related to themes identified above.