Category: society

• What’s in a Station Area?

  

  Is a train really all you need to live a transit oriented life? (Hint: no)

  cityhikes

  March 24, 2026

  Seattle, society, train, transit, urban planning

  brt, bus, bus rapid transit, commuter rail, king county metro, land use, light rail, lrt, metro, psrc, railroad, sounder, tod, transit, transit oriented develop, transit oriented development, transportation, urbanism

• On Knowing Where You Are

  

  Ditching the GPS and embracing potentially getting lost.

  cityhikes

  January 24, 2026

  ai, pedestrian access, place, society, transit, urban planning, walk

  car culture, directions, getting lost, lost, Seattle, space, tech, travel, urbanism, walking

• Against Streaming

  

  Beyond the usual reasons and into the great beyond

  cityhikes

  January 6, 2026

  ai, society

  ai slop, music, spotify, sufjan stevens

• Sound Transit and the South End

  

  Looking beyond station sites for reasons to be skeptical

  cityhikes

  December 4, 2025

  Seattle, society, sound transit, train, transit, urban planning

  car culture, chinatown, land use, railroad, Seattle, sound transit, transit, transportation, urbanism, washington

• Train Station Reunions

  

  Feeling sentimental after riding Amtrak one too many times

  cityhikes

  September 18, 2025

  society, train, transit

  amtrak, railroad, security theater, train station, transit, transportation, travel

• Back to Work

  

  Re-entering the workforce, moving, and other things

  cityhikes

  August 18, 2025

  place, society, transit, urban planning

  bike, biking, commute, cycling, issaquah, Seattle, transit, transportation, travel, urbanism, walking

• What Makes a District Historic?

  

  The perils of wide-net historic preservation and the folly of Irvington

  cityhikes

  April 23, 2025

  place, portland, society, urban planning, walk

  broadway, historic-preservation, history, irvington, land use, neighborhoods, oregon, portland, real-estate, transportation, travel, urbanism, walking

• Public Transit and Rural Places

  

  How American ideas of rural land cripple rural transit, and why we need to fix it

  cityhikes

  February 25, 2025

  europe, intercity bus, small town, society, train, transit, urban planning

  agriculture, history, land use, news, oregon, post bus, public transit, public transportation, railroad, regional planning, rural land, sustainability, switzerland, transit, travel, urbanism

• Unpacking the Backpacking Pack

  

  Pondering nature, Indian removal, and what it all means in my life

  cityhikes

  October 22, 2024

  outdoors culture, place, society, train, transit, walk

  adventure, amtrak, backpacking, environmentalism, glacier national park, hiking, land use, national parks, national parks service, native american history, nature, nps, railroad, travel, walking

• On the Need For Social Change

  

  It’s not enough to fund transit, we also need to change society

  cityhikes

  August 28, 2024

  car culture, highway, interurban, odot, place, portland, society, train, transit, trimet, urban planning

  car culture, land use, new york city, oregon, portland, public transit, transit, tube map, urbanism