Urban Sustainability through Smart Growth

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This book investigates the urban geographies of “smart” metropolitan regionalism in the Greater Seattle area, focusing on the interplay between smart growth planning strategies and the spaces of work, home, and mobility. It examines Seattle within the broader context of the Puget Sound region's space-economy and multi-scaled policy framework, addressing the “intercurrence” of city-regional “ordering.” These concepts reflect the efforts to foster smarter regional development while highlighting the societal and institutional tensions that arise, particularly regarding social equity. Key themes include the historical path-dependencies of uneven economic and social development between Tacoma-Pierce County and Seattle-King County, current job patterns across wage levels, and the evolving spatial and social structure of residential changes related to class and race. Additionally, the book discusses transit trends and new urban spaces aimed at reducing highway congestion and car dependency. Greater Seattle is portrayed as a significant US urban region grappling with the quest for a more sustainable order. This historically-sensitive, theoretically-informed, and empirically relevant work appeals to scholars and students in regional planning, urban geography, political science, sustainability studies, urban sociology, and public policy.