From The Seattle Times: “Seattle, density doesn’t have to be a dirty word“
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Analysis of census data shows that Seattle — for the first time in its history — ranks among the top 10 most densely populated big cities in the U.S.
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Seattle’s population density has increased by nearly 10 percent since the 2010 Census. And if current growth rates continue, we’ll bypass No. 9 Los Angeles within five years. …
The densest part of Capitol Hill packs in about 55,000 people per square mile — comparable to Greenwich Village in New York.
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When density is done right (said Branden Born, associate professor of urban design and planning at the University of Washington), it gives people more of what they like, and less of what they don’t like, in their neighborhood — but he recognizes that hasn’t always happened in Seattle. In Ballard, for example, there are so many new projects they’ve changed the character of the neighborhood.
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Market Street in Ballard
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Born points out that density doesn’t need to look like downtown. He suggests a stroll through some areas of Capitol Hill, one of the densest parts of Seattle.
Broadway on Capitol Hill
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In case you were looking to compare Vancouver, the most recent reliable data is from 2011 when the city had around 13,880 people per square mile. The West End had 56,680 people per square mile, so a higher density than the densest part of Capitol Hill quoted here. Parts of Downtown had higher population densities.