03 May First Thursday – Integrated Seattle Alleys

Event details:
Thursday/May 5th, 5-9pm
In the alley WEST of Occidental (behind 314 1st Ave S)

Alleys are an important part of our city network, providing space for trash, service trucks, underground parking access, deliveries, and fire access. While alleys serve many valuable and irreplaceable functions, they are often wrongly ignored in the day to day city life of Seattle citizens! Alleys can become places for recycling centers and bike storage. They have the potential to foster small business owners and cafés, provide shelter from the elements, create settings for festivals and nightlife, and strengthen the city experience and identity of Seattle. These small but mighty spaces could play an important role for the city, as places for the public, ecological corridors, and community builders.

Over the summer of 2010, we set out to learn more about Seattle alleys and also the alley projects around the world. To be able to propose change, we first needed to discover what was currently happening in alleys. We visited a few hundred alleys in Seattle, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, London, and Cambridge, taking notes all the while. Armed with our research and data, we are evaluating the current role alleys have within different parts of the urban environment in order to understand and build on the potential. Our goal is to provide urban inspiration for people looking to influence cities all over the world.

Our alley research began as a project sponsored by the Scan Design Foundation, UW Green Futures Lab, and Gehl Architects. We heart alleys and are truly excited to work with and invigorate these great urban spaces.

After months of labors of love, we have finished a report on alleys that can be found here: http://greenfutures.washington.edu/pro-publicspaces.php.
Check us out at: http://integratedalleys.tumblr.com/