We are imagining what the heart of Seattle could look like in 20 years. We collected your visions for Greater Downtown both big and small, and crafted a set of Big Ideas to inspire the future of public places, shared streets, and better ways to get around Seattle’s 10 greater downtown neighborhoods! Let’s imagine the future together.

Over the last six months, you’ve shared your experiences and creative ideas online, at our public open houses, via our community Advisory Group, and through pop-up events and focused conversations. View a full list of all the community events we’ve held so far. We’ve taken what we heard from you to create our project Vision and Values, which guide the project.

View our Big Ideas above, using the photo slider! These Big Ideas will be further refined and included in the vision plan for the future of greater downtown, which we plan to finalize by this summer.

What’s next?

We’re close to finalizing a set of Big Ideas to shape the future of public space in Seattle’s 10 greater downtown neighborhoods. We plan to publish the final Imagine Greater Downtown vision plan this summer. That’s just the beginning – this vision will serve as a guide for inclusive public places, and ways to get there, over the next 20 years.

Thanks to the members of the Advisory Group who offered thorough feedback, amazing support, and helpful guidance throughout the entire process. We are grateful for your time, commitment, and dedication for creating a vision for our streets—both as places for movement and public life—to ensure that the future heart of Seattle is a place we all love.

Learn

Imagine Greater Downtown is all about people

Today there are more than 90,000 people living and almost 300,000 people working in Seattle’s 10 greater downtown neighborhoods. By 2035 there will be close to 138,000 residents and 320,000 jobs.

Within greater downtown 40% of land is used for streets and sidewalks and 6% is public park space – the rest supports buildings or other functions.

As we continue to grow, how will we use our streets, sidewalks and public spaces to create great places for people of all ages and cultures to play, interact or just hang out? How will people get to where they need to go, and what will our streets look like? We need your help in coming up with ideas big and small.

Illustration showing trees and a bench representing 6 percent of public park space and an illustration of a person walking on a sidewalk with a car driving by representing 40 percent street and sidewalks.

Today

RESIDENTS

JOBS

2035

RESIDENTS

JOBS

Job source: Washington State Employment Security Department Covered Employment, then adjusted to include ‘non-covered’ jobs.
Population source: Washington State Office of Financial Management, Small Area

Project and outreach timeline

2018

Summer

Project begins and website launches

Find key issues and opportunities

Community outreach

Education about the project
Idea collection
Identify opportunities for participation

Fall - Winter

Identify and refine Big Ideas and Transformative Moves

Community outreach

Pop-up field outreach
Targeted engagement
Public workshops
Feedback on big ideas and transformative moves

2019

Winter

Prioritize big ideas and key moves

Community outreach

Pop-up field outreach
Targeted engagement
Public workshops
Feedback on big ideas and key moves

Spring

Imagine Greater Downtown Vision Drafted

Summer

Website update

Post Vision Plan

Someone Imagined

Ferries on Puget Sound

1888 - The first ferry to set sail on Puget Sound, the steamboat City of Seattle.

Someone Imagined

Alaskan Way Viaduct

1953 - The elevated highway along the waterfront was built. Its scheduled 2019 demolition will allow new waterfront connections.

Someone Imagined

Seattle Center

1962 - The Seattle Center, Space Needle, and Monorail were constructed for the World’s Fair which attracted 2.65 million visitors.

Someone Imagined

Cherry Blossom Trees

1997 – Community members in the Chinatown-International District planted flowering cherry trees along Jackson Street.

Someone Imagined

Rainbow Crosswalks

2015 – Rainbow crosswalks were painted on Capitol Hill at six intersections of Pike/Pine between 11th Ave and Broadway.

Someone Imagined

2018

Your idea here!

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Imagining the Big Ideas

Curious to learn what the public has shared so far that has helped shape the Big Ideas? Review comments submitted through our Imagination Map and Gallery below!

Imagination Map

Thank you to everyone who shared ideas via our imagination map. We used these suggestions to help create our draft Big Ideas for greater downtown. Click on the bubbles on the map below to read many of the suggestions that were submitted and share your feedback on the Big Ideas they informed!

For a better mobile experience, visit the map at Social Pinpoint to share your ideas.

Imagination Gallery

Use the Choose File button below to send your graphic ideas, drawings and photographs.

Basketball in Occidental Park

Downtown Seattle bike lane

Downtown pop-up park

Murals show cultural history of the neighborhood

Public plazas encourage people of all ages to gather and play

Public swimming pavilions in Elliott Bay

Affordable, urban housing for first time buyers on public land

Pedestrian walkway lined with cafes and restaurants offering outdoor seating

The best playground in the heart of downtown

A suspended cyclist and pedestrian roundabout.

Re-prioritize downtown streets for PEOPLE rather than cars

Encourage diversity of place, distinctive neighborhood character

More public spaces for teens and young adults to hang/lounge (parks)

Spati Crawl

A decent place for every one to live - unless you address the homelessness issue, any form of improvement is first cosmetic

Paint is not infrastructure. Sharrows are cute but are not as good as diverters. We have thousands of miles of roads and so few dedicated bike lanes. More bike-only infrastructure, please!

A "home base" with water fountain, bench, toilet, and sink

Make the city parks (Freeway Park) safe to cross in the evening/night

Grades Ideas: Safety

Grades Ideas

Grandes Ideas

Grades Ideas

Implement a congestion tax, and with no cars in downtown - Seattle will be known nationally as the most walkable place to live. Then convert downtown parking to housing!

Create more places for people to gather and honor heritage

Create more places for people to gather and honor culture

Light up streets, like Khreshchatyk street in Kyiv, Ukraine

Spaces to gather and celebrate heritage

Create a ciclovia like they have in Latin America

Connect

Imagine Greater Downtown is a partnership between the City of Seattle, King County Metro, Downtown Seattle Association and Sound Transit, in collaboration with the Port of Seattle and the Washington State Department of Transportation. Sign up for the mailing list to receive project updates.

Past events

Open House

Thursday, February 28, 2019 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Seattle City Hall, Bertha Knight Landes Room plumbed and fitted by https://www.drpipes.com/wa/king/seattle.html
Missed the open house? View the display boards here.

Open House

Thursday, October 18, 5:30-7:30 PM
Seattle City Hall, Bertha Knight Landes Room
Missed the open house? View the display boards here.

Advisory Group Meetings

Thursday, November 8, 6-8 PM
Waterfront Space

Thursday, September 20, 6-8 PM
Waterfront Space

Thursday, July 26, 6-8 PM
City Hall

Advisory Group

The Imagine Greater Downtown Advisory Group is made up of nearly 30 community members. Advisory Group participants were selected based upon the unique interests, backgrounds, and perspectives they bring to the conversation. The Advisory Group is working with the partner agencies to make sure that Imagine Greater Downtown considers and reflects the many communities that live, work, and play in downtown Seattle.

Draft Big Ideas are Here!

What’s next?

Learn

Imagine Greater Downtown is all about people

Today

2035

Project and outreach timeline

2018

Summer

Project begins and website launches

Community outreach

Fall - Winter

Identify and refine Big Ideas and Transformative Moves

Community outreach

2019

Winter

Prioritize big ideas and key moves

Community outreach

Spring

Imagine Greater Downtown Vision Drafted

Summer

Website update

Someone Imagined

Someone Imagined

Someone Imagined

Someone Imagined

Someone Imagined

Someone Imagined

Your idea here!

Imagining the Big Ideas

Imagination Map

Imagination Gallery

Connect

Past events

Open House

Open House

Advisory Group Meetings

Advisory Group

Previous Meeting Materials

Contact us

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