May is Bike Month! Schemata has formed a team to compete in the commute-challenge, and is consistenly ranking among the top teams.

Bike Month has been a great opportunity to share cycling knowledge amongst ourselves here in the office. Below, our resident bike-nut John Feit shares the finer points of handlebar geometry with Peggy Heim (with a scale, no-less).

Another new commuter in the office, James Underwood, has recently updated his ‘trusty steed’ for Seattle’s tough hills. Check out that snazzy steel:

Bike on, Biking Bullfrogs!

On March 23^rd, members of Schemata Workshop attended the Housing Development Consortium (HDC) 4^th Annual Luncheon; HDC is a professional association and advocate for providing affordable housing in King County. Schemata Workshop is a sponsor and member of HDC and we are advocates for their cause. At the luncheon we were fortunate enough to have Angela Glover Blackwell, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PolicyLink, as the keynote speaker. Her speech was so inspiring that we were compelled to take notes summarizing the key components to create communities of opportunity.

First, Angela described the St. Louis, MO community where she grew up and how the neighborhood children played together in the front yards and streets without fear of danger. A community where her mother anxiously watched, perched out on the front porch, as she made her way to the corner store for the first time. It was an economically diverse community of doctors and lawyers living next to the single parent receiving food stamps. It was a community that fostered opportunity.

However, not all of our society experienced the same upbringing as Angela and members of our society have children that run the risk of not succeeding to their full potential. As Angela said, in these economic times, this is the first time that children are not expected to have the same opportunities as their parents. In addition, she emphasized that one’s housing determines so much more than we think. It determines the type of education and healthcare one can receive; also it determines what types of jobs are available. Those who work on housing and housing policies are indirectly working on health, education and job policies as well.

After painting the picture…

Friday was the Congress for New Urbanism’s regional Summit sponsored by the Cascadia chapter.  I was involved with CNU almost a decade ago and it was very much a cult of personalities.  New Urbanism gained much of its notoriety through strong personalities involved with the movement.  So it was refreshing to be in a room full of architects, planners, urban designers who were intently focused on creating complete cities in Cascadia.¹

The theme for the day was Envisioning Resilient Communities and featured panel discussions such tools for measuring sustainability, the role of frequent bus service in shaping development patterns, and green infrastructure (namely rainwater management).

The keynote was delivered by Patrick Condon, a professor in Landscape Architecture from University of British Columbia.  He spoke about the Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities – the title of his latest book.  The seven rules are:

1. Restore the ² city.

2. Design an interconnected street system.

3. Locate commercial services, frequent transit, and schools within a five-minute walk.

4. Locate good jobs close to affordable homes.

5. Provide a diversity of housing types.

6. Create a linked system of natural areas and parks.

7. Invest in lighter, greener, cheaper, and smarter infrastructure.

There were two tours offered- one of Bothell, highlighting the transformation of this suburban community; and the other of the Seattle Waterfront, highlighting the conditions, challenges, and concepts for the new waterfront.

The day concluded with a PechaKucha-style presentation featuring two of Schemata’s own – Joseph Readdy and Grace Kim.  Joseph shared the CNU’s Sustainable Street Network Principles, which…

National Park(ing) day in front of the office of Schemata Workshop was a great success! Toddlers from a nearby daycare brought a great energy early on in the day, leaving playful sidewalk chalk artwork in their wake (not to mention the extra cookies from their snacktime, which powered the staff through the morning work).

The brown-bag lunch saw many passers-by sitting at the picnic tables under the shade of umbrellas. It was great to experience this temporary streetscape culture on the north end of 12^th Ave while chatting over lunch.

Later on we were visited by two fellows making a pilgrimage via bicycle of all the Park(ing) Day parks in the area, as provided by Feet First, who also help facilitate the street permit applications and signage and cone rental. More info about that great organization here: http://feetfirst.info/

Again, thanks to our friends at Ragen and Associates for providing landscaping http://www.ragenassociates.com/ , and Eltana Wood Fired Bagels for providing the Happy Hour Bagels! http://eltana.com/