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Urban Microcosm
By Jeff Hou

Urbanism is typically associated with

largeness in scale, size, and ambition,
e.g., megalopolis, sprawl, and XL. Daniel
Burnham’s famous line—“Make no little
plans. They have no magic to stir men’s
blood and probably will not themselves
be realized” (Moore 1921), best
characterizes the vision and imagination
that urbanism tends to instigate. Even
the recent discourse of landscape
urbanism tends to envision and advocate
a kind of connectivity beyond the scale of
individual sites.

Cities do often develop in large

scales. The population of today’s
metropolis exists usually in the
magnitude of millions if not tens of
millions. Even smaller municipalities
can together form large corridors of
sprawling urban, suburban, and exurban
areas. At a global scale, networks of
goods and services continue to expand,
linking cities and regions closer together
(though their residents can live further
apart). But, while today’s cities and
a
networks may be large, some aspects class that attempts to investigate these small tidbits of urban experience. The
of life go on at a small scale—on the assignment was designed for students to view and experience the city with new
streets, in the parking lots, in/between parameters. It involves documenting a “micro-urban” phenomenon through
buildings, in passing sights, touches, photography and writing. The term “micro-urbanism” describes spaces, events, and
and smells. It is these phenomena and other phenomena that exist outside the conventional categories of urban spaces and
encounters that provide cities with their programs, that include parks, plazas, buildings, and infrastructure. They exist at a
everyday dynamism and experiences. scale often overlooked by the conventional discourses.
‘Seattle Micro-Urbanism’ is an As recorded by the students, these micro-urban sites/sights could be
assignment in my Urban Landscapes manifested as gums on a wall, a posted sign on a car, a construction site, or a
gathering of strangers. They are predominately ephemeral—things that come
Rather than a nostalgic look at the past,
these micro-urban observations provide a
clearer view of how individuals and groups
instrumentalize the urban landscape.
A / Robert Morris’ 1979 earthwork “Johnson Pit
no. 30” in its original state B / johnson Pit no. 30
today C / johnson Pit no. 30 D / johnson Pit no. 30 E
/ johnson Pit no. 30
B instability of the city as it undergoes
C Riisa Conklin’s “Smoking Ban
and go. They may be insignificant and
trivial. Nevertheless, these bits of
sights, sounds, and encounters embody
the complexity of our everyday urban
landscape. Understanding of these
phenomena gives us insights to the life
and pulse of the city.
Rather than a nostalgic look at the
past, these micro-urban observations
provide a clearer view of how individuals
and groups instrumentalize the urban
landscape. They reveal both tactics and
strategies that are carried out in cities
on an everyday basis. Rather than simply
“pet architecture” that exist as self-
contained anomalies in the urban system
(Tsukamoto 2002), these micro-urban
instances often defy the conventional
boundaries of space and time. urban landscape that reflects the
The following images highlight five
selected samples of student work from
the class in winter 2007. In “Seattle’s
Public Market,” Margaret Chang
documents how streets are appropriated
for a seemingly mundane activity—
advertising of goods and services.
Through sign cards and sandwich
boards, the streets are transformed into
a true space of free market. Though the
selection may not be as comprehensive
as Amazon.com or Craig’s List, they
enliven the streets and add a little
serendipity to the everyday lives of urban
dwellers.
Unlike the sign cards that may come
and go, some specific locations may
be deposited with enough messages
and stuff over time that they become
a place of special significance. Carrie
Barnes’ “Collective Mischief, Urban
Layering” documents one such
infamous place in Seattle—a place
created through incremental acts of
D
individual contributors, unplanned and
unsanctioned.
In Andria Orejuela’s “Site
Construction: Planning the Unplanned,”
the omnipresent construction sites in
Seattle form a special kind of temporary
economic growth and renewal. The
fences, railings, etc., become the
apparatus or stage set for negotiating
the ongoing and changing lives in the
city.
In Eric Streeby’s “Urban Clues
along the Burke-Gilman,” the popular
trail serves as a different kind of
interpretative trail featuring artifacts left
purposefully and sometimes accidentally
by its users. Through the individual acts,
the trail is transformed by discreet and
sometimes not-so-discreet narratives.
Activates the Urban Landscape” explores
how the act of smoking on streets,
sidewalks, and alleyways unexpectedly
triggers the social energy long missing
in the urban landscape. So, though
smoking may be hazardous to your
health, it injects a much-needed dose of
energy into the public life of a city.

To see the full array of projects in the
overlapping categories of convergence,
events, flows, furnitecture, hidden,
imprints, in-between, messages, refuge,
sites, and transactions, please visit
http://microseattle.wordpress.com/.
Seattle Public Market
By Margaret Chang
Location: Various
The Public Market of Seattle is not
located on 3rd Avenue and Pike Place
but on the streets of Seattle. The main
purpose of streets is to carry automotive
traffic throughout the city; however,
people have found an alternative use
for streets. Every day, people use public
streets as an informal market place
for goods and services. Used cars with
hand lettered “for sale” signs can be
found parked on major city streets. For
rent housing is also marketed on the
street. The generic appearance of the
“for rent/sale” signs and the handwritten
text indicates that the people using
the streets to market these goods are
not professional retailers. People have
capitalized on the opportunity to use
major public city streets as storefronts
that are rent free, have high visibility,
and can be utilized that any time of day.
However, buyers may find these “street
stores” difficult to navigate. Since the
street is not a defined marketplace,
goods and signage are not limited to
one location nor are sellers obligated to
F H
place their goods in a single place for a
designated period of time. Used cars for
sale can wander up and down the street;
for rent signs can appear and disappear
overnight.
There does not appear to be any
regulation of these market activities on
the street. The selling of cars can occur
on the street as long as the owners
abide by the parking restrictions for the
streets. The “for rent” sign in one of the
photos remained on the street corner
undisturbed for the course of a whole
weekend. If there are any city restrictions
on what may or may not be placed on
the street curb, they do not seem to be
enforced.
Collective Mischief, Urban Layering
By Carrie Barnes
Location: Post Alley at Pike Place; Gum wall @1428
Post Alley
The site is a stretch of Post Alley
starting 30 feet south of Pike’s Place and
extending for the next 1/2 block. It is quite
a slim passageway, at points as narrow
as 15’. It is a one way, cobblestone street
accommodating single cars, but each
time I’ve visited there has been only
pedestrian movement. The portion of
the block closest to Pike’s Place actually
passes through the side of a building,
creating a dim, sheltered tunnel. The site
is interesting due to two distinct features:
a mural of gum on the east side of the
G
street by the Market Theater; and on the
west side, underneath and emerging
from the protected tunnel, is a long wall
covered in years of accumulated posters
and paste-ups.
Both of these features are
interesting because they represent the
self-expression of multiple authors;
a group process creating textured
and varied landscapes. The walls are
a layered record of the site’s history,
as passersby and local artists alike
contribute spontaneously stuck gum
wads or carefully drafted paste-ups. The
combinations and juxtapositions created
with the paste-ups and the spectacle
of the long gum mural contribute to
the neighborhood’s eclectic character,
inspire wonder and delight, and add to
the street theater of human interaction.
Site Construction:
Planning the Unplanned
By Andria Orejuela
Location: Various
The urban construction site is an
intriguing and revealing micro-urban
form. It is a literal manifestation of the
organic nature of the changing urban
landscape, illuminating the priorities
and needs of the city as determined by
the economic forces driving its planning.
It is also a changing entity, which forces
adaptation both in and around it. It
catalyzes temporary changes in mobility

and mobility as a temporary micro-
space, which accompanies and facilitates
the processes of building, rebuilding,
demolition and alterations played out
in the urban realm. These changes are
vernacular pathways, which illuminate
the organic, unplanned nature of urban
growth and transformation.
The construction site shapes
movement by presenting itself as a
temporary obstruction derailing former
human and ecological usage patterns.
Fences, railing, cones, signs, overhead
structures, underground upheavals,
plastic siding, and the layered nature of
f
the site-mass-matrix itself change and
create new movement, transportation,
sheltered spaces, entries, seating, and
visual access.
The construction site is a stage
where the human processes are enacted
and tailored. The habitual performance
of the human social experience including
work, rest, eating, and using the
bathroom is displayed on this public
stage within a stage.
Formed as temporary assemblage
of resources including space, proximity,
labor, and material the construction
site articulates the planned changes
that occur in the city on a macro-level,
and the unplanned changes that are
expressed in the micro-sphere.
I K
Urban Clues along the Burke-Gilman
By Eric Streeby
Location: the Burke Gilman Trail
Along a 3.5 mile stretch of the Burke
Gilman Trail that extends from the
intersection of 15th Avenue and Pacific
Street on the west end of the UW
campus to a location 2.5 miles north
of the UW Intramural Activity Center, a
careful observer can identify numerous
small-scale human alterations to the
landscape. This collection of small-scale
interventions takes the form of stickers,
spray-painted stencils, and artifacts.
These artifacts, when examined as
a whole, can be seen as examples of
everyday urbanism, landscape narrative,
and a landscape of events.
Smoking Ban Activates the Urban
Landscape
By Riisa Conklin
Location: Various
Seattle’s nighttime personality has
dramatically changed since the smoking
ban of 2005. It quite literally pushed
people out of their interior hideaways
and onto the city streets. The places for
movement in, out and along are now
becoming places where people stop, stay
and socialize.
Initiative 901 passed overwhelmingly
in November 2005, requiring Seattle’s
public places and workplaces to be
entirely smoke free. The law also
prohibits smoking within 25 feet of the
doorways, windows and air intakes of
F / bar code tattoo G / Michael Heizer’s 1970 H /
Michael Heizer’s 1970 I / Michael Heizer’s 1970 J /
Michael Heizer’s 1970 K / Michael Heizer’s 1970
these protected places. The implications
of this new law are particularly
interesting in terms of how it has
manifested itself in the urban landscape,
immediately transforming the sidewalks,
alleys and otherwise static places into a
new active terrain.
Some business owners have
responded to the ban with new amenities
for their smoking clientele. For example,
in an effort to offer a sense of comfort
for the smokers, the Stumbling Monk
on East Olive Way provides moveable
seating and ashtrays on its sidewalk.
Some businesses have even built exterior
structures that extend 25 feet from their
back door complete with landscaping and
heat lamps like Linda’s on East Pine and
The Beacon Hill Pub on Beacon Avenue
South.
I documented smokers in the Capitol
Hill and University District and Downtown
neighborhoods on both weekday and
weekend nights who, despite their
grumblings of the ban, generally agreed
that they run into more people and
engage in more conversations due to the
change.
References
Moore, Charles (1921). “XXV “Closing in 1911–1912””,
Daniel H. Burnham, Architect, Planner of Cities, Vol-
ume 2. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin.
Tsukamoto, Yoshiharu (2002). How to Utilize Pet
Architecture. In Tokyo Institute of Technology Tsu-
kamoto Architectural Laboratory & Atelier Bow-wow,
Pet Architecture Guide Book, pp. 8-9. Tokyo: World
Photo Press
byline for Jeff Hou