In the last decade, the Farmer’s Market has become a welcome and ubiquitous addition to Seattle Neighborhoods.The Neighborhood Farmer’s Market Alliance counts seven markets within Seattle’s boundaries, with demand for additional locations.The University District Farmer’s Market, located in a parking lot on the corner of University Way and NE 50th St. is one of the oldest of the markets.It was founded in 1993, and has since become an integral part of the University District community.Open on Saturdays, year-round, the U-District Market hosts between 30 and 60 vendors, depending on the season.During the week, when the market is not open, the location is a pay parking lot, serving local businesses and students.On Saturday morning, when school is not in session, the market takes over. This adaptive use of space activates the area throughout the week.
Like many markets, the U-District market begins at 9 am, and closes at 2pm.When I visited the site only a half an hour after it opened, the market was already packed.It was surprisingly foggy and quite cold, around 35 degrees, but those in attendance had bundled up and were shopping with gusto.The U-District market hosts vendors selling a variety of products: soap, wine, prepared foods, meat, flowers, and cheeses, to name a few.All of your food shopping for the week can be purchased in one trip.
The U-District market is located in an area with a strong existing community network.Within a one block radius of the market is the University District branch of the Seattle Public Library, a P-Patch, the University HeightsCommunity Center, stops for popular bus lines, and residences.This connectivity creates a community campus which enables neighbors to interact with one another, learn, and participate in community functions, all actions which help a build strong, healthy, and successful neighborhood.
We use the term “ad hoc urbanism” as a way to interpret and construct our understanding of the urban landscapes as the outcomes of our individual and collective adaptations. The purpose for creating the Guidebook is to bring attention to aspects of our everyday environment that are important parts of the urban experiences but are often neglected by mainstream design discourses.
Landcape Urbanism
This Guidebook is the final project of Professor Jeff Hou's Landscape Urbanism class of the Landscape Architecture Department at the University of Washington's College of Built Environments.
In this class students examine the multiple and competing forces that influence the making of urban landscapes. It addresses urban design from a landscape perspective that views the urban environment as a continuum of movements, processes, and change. In examining the multiple forces shaping urban forms and processes, it investigates different paradigms and visions of cities, contestations of meanings and understandings, the social and political process of placemaking, and phenomenology and imaginaries of cities. Cases around the world including the U.S., Pacific Rim, Europe and Latin America are introduced to contrast and compare design practice with the everyday realities of urban landscape. While exploring the broader contexts of urban processes, the course also explores specific design strategies and devices that could begin to negotiate the competing social and spatial forces in urban landscapes.
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