Where is the Family in Multi-Family?

Mar 12, 2010 at 10:30 am
Room # 402

Presented by: Catherine Benotto, Weber Thompson

Session Description:

A key component of Smart Growth has been the inclusion of housing to mixed-use urban areas, where infill sites provide proximity to jobs, retail, cultural facilities and transit. But a closer look at the types of housing built in Seattle's urban centers reveals that the vast majority is geared to young singles, young couples and empty nesters. Where are the children?

Seattle has fewer households with children than every other major US City and about half of the King County average. Healthy communities include children, and a City's future is dependent on them. Not providing options for families in urban areas leads to sprawl elsewhere.

Bringing families into multifamily housing in urban centers requires a number of design, planning and policy decisions that work together from the individual building and the street level to the larger neighborhood scale. Each decision is critical to the health and vitality of our City.

Speaker Bio:

Catherine Benotto, Weber Thompson

A principal at Weber Thompson, Ms. Benotto is an Architect, Landscape Architect and Master Planner who directs the firm's Community/Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Departments, as well as their Sustainability Management Team. She serves on the Seattle Planning Commission and is a former chairman of the City of Seattle Design Review Board for West Seattle. She has lectured extensively and written numerous articles on Sustainable Community Planning, LEED for Neighborhood Development and Low Impact Site Planning.