It looks like the the city of SeaTac is building TOD at Tukwilla Station (press release [pdf]). This will be less than ideal for Link users, having to walk through Link’s parking lot to get there. Remind me again why we wasted valuable pedestrian space at a station with parking?

I’ve been reading Suburban Nation (available at the library once I turn it back in), which has inspired me to come up with a few ideas for Seattle. One section discusses how to bring some of the successful features of malls to downtown. Malls always have anchor stores on opposite sides of the mall, requiring at least two walks through the mall past every store to see both anchors. However, cities put parking right at major destinations (arenas, convention center, etc.), completely ignoring this potential foot traffic.

Here’s the idea. With Link and Sounder we have less demand for parking at our stadiums. How about removing the North parking lot (which is single-level anyway) and put in small-footprint 5-story buildings complete with pedestrian-only streets? Instead of walking from Link or Sounder through a (boring and dangerous) parking lot, we could be walking past dozens of stores and restaurants. When there’s no game, this becomes transit oriented development and extra shopping for downtown.

On top, put offices or condos. Who wouldn’t want to live or work a block from transit?

(second image is my attempt at laying out what this would look like. ok, so I’m no architect, but it’s a start.)

Without exception, these walkable areas were the most enjoyable areas of a city and most of the locals didn’t seem to even own cars. Outside of these walkable areas there was much sprawl and traffic, as we experience here. Inside the walkable area were restaurants, small grocery stores, and shops on main roads and very high density housing on minor roads and above the shops. The furthest you’d ever need to walk on a daily basis is around 10 minutes away. Train and ferry stations generally land in or near this part of town, allowing the residents to travel throughout Europe quickly and easily. I sat in the Dubrovnik town square with a few thousand Croatians cheering together for their soccer team, projected on a screen next to an ancient clock tower.

How did the Croatians tackle the tough decisions to make these cities so enjoyable? They didn’t. Every one of these areas were built by the Romans. Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Split, Korcula, Hvar, (etc.) started out as Roman palaces, were built out further as medieval castles, and were inherited by modern times as car-free centers simply because cars won’t fit in the narrow streets.

Can we re-invent these cities here? Can you imagine Pike’s market without the line of cars through the middle? Dense areas with lively streets an easy walk from transit? Maybe even a small dense car-free area at the Beacon Hill Link station? I think it’s worth a try.