Over the course of four generally sunny and lightly hydrated Seattle days, an assembly of some 150 makers and implementers of urban policy from near and far – architects, planners, and observers of sustainable communities – attended the AIA Livable Communities Conference in Seattle, affectionately known as WWW/Walking, Working Water. Four AIA Knowledge Communities – COTE, Housing, Regional/Urban Design, and Young Architects Forum – joined with the AIA Center for Communities by Design and AIA Seattle in planning and directing the Conference, with a program of workshops, presentations, and tours to bring forward successes and opportunities for achieving sustainable urban communities.

For AIA Seattle, the Conference served as a kickoff for AIA150 observances "On the Water" – elevating stories of architects at work with their fellow citizens to create sustainable communities that promote the health of residents and respect the relationship of habitat to water and other natural systems. AIA Seattle 2005-06 President Randy Everett AIA joined with AIA150 Seattle Champion Peter David Greaves AIA and CoChampion Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA in offering a supportive framework for Conference planning.

Conference activities got under way Thursday afternoon with "Waterfront Walking Tours" led by savvy guides who introduced visitors to the Seattle urban design culture, in explorations of downtown neighborhoods - SAM's Olympic Sculpture Park, Pike Place Market, and SAM Downtown with Alex Rolluda AIA and Val Thomas FAIA; Seattle Central Library / Seattle Civic Center / Seattle City Hall with Greg Hepp AIA and Steve Del Fraino Assoc AIA; and Belltown Housing with Lesley Bain AIA, Carolyn Geise FAIA, Jan Gleason FAIA, and Brian Steinburg.

Tours wound up at the Welcome to Our Place reception, hosted by Mithun at their Pier 56 offices. Mithun Principal/CEO Bert Gregory AIA (who served as AIA Seattle President 1997-98), with AIA Seattle 2006-07 President Walter Schacht AIA, 2007-08 President Lee Copeland FAIA, AIA NW+Pacific Region Director Jim Suehiro AIA, and AIA Washington President Peter David Greaves AIA joined Conference Chair Randolph Jones AIA, AICP in welcoming visitors and inviting their observations.

On Friday at Bell Harbor, Conference Chair Randy Jones convened an opening panel, offering a challenge to attendees to share insights about how to achieve truly livable communities designed around concepts of Walking Working Water – and invoking the spirit of AIA Seattle 1995-96 President Denice Hunt AIA, his colleague in Boston some decades back, whose memorial tree grows in the Bell Harbor courtyard, with a plaque citing "Denice Johnson Hunt's commitment to the enrichment of the Central Waterfront Project, the City of Seattle, and the rejuvenation of Seattle's historic waterfront."

Conference keynoter Neal Peirce, President of the CitiStates Group and a syndicated columnist whose urban commentary reaches readers across the nation, offered observations about new ways that governments at all levels and in combination have engaged in planning American's urban future, and citing imminent determinations of the future of Seattle's central waterfront as a critical community issue of local, regional, and national significance.

Workshops continued throughout the day, with presentations on policy and design achievements from cities throughout the US that have addressed critical issues regarding healthy, sustainable, and economically viable places. Planners, public officials, and architects from Seattle (including Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck FAIA), King County (with King County Councilmember Dow Constantine), and Washington (with Rep. Ed Murray, Chair of the House Transportation Committee) shared successes in passing and implementing "green" legislation, and offered prospects for a next generation of effort to sustain the drive toward livable communities.

On Saturday morning, Mobile Workshops took conferees to water-related communities throughout the Puget Sound Region: "Ballard/An Urban Neighborhood on the Water," led by David Cinamon AIA, Robert Miller AIA, and Mahlon Clements AIA; "Downtown on the Water: Bremerton," with Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman joining Walt Niehoff AIA and Steven Rice AIA; and "Bainbridge Island Housing/Cohousing" with Bruce Anderson AIA, Grace Kim AIA, Mike Mariano AIA, and John Thomas AIA.

Throughout the Conference, waterfront issues commanded attention – as conferees' routes and thoughts (and intensive media coverage, as new information including a study commissioned by the Center for the New Urbanism) brought Viaduct replacement options into question) brought them in contact with the possibilities and challenges for Seattle's central waterfront posed by the need to address the aging and unstable Viaduct. AIA Seattle Urban Design Committee CoChairs Lesley Bain AIA and David Spiker AIA acquainted visitors with the position "Creating a new Seattle waterfront" adopted by the AIA Seattle Board of Directors in July: "Permanently remove the Viaduct, and don't replace it" - which had formed the basis of their testimony before the Seattle City Council September 11, among other advocacy.

As the Conference edged toward closure, Randy Jones proposed adoption of a statement of support for the AIA Seattle position, which attendees applauded. Their expression took the form of a Manifesto: Walking Working Water. This manifestation of one AIA united around livability principles proved entirely timely, as on Monday September 18, AIA Seattle President Walter Schacht presented the joint statements to the Seattle City Council. Then on Friday September 22, AIA Washington Council added its endorsement of the statement, as the issue moved toward the desk of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire.

Preparing to head onward from their time with us in Seattle, Conference attendees raved about the beauties of Puget Sound communities and their potentials for achieving cherished urban ideals, with highly positive comments about their experience of the WWW program as well as of the natural and urban environment, the informative quality of the presentations and tours, and their sense of feeling entirely welcomed the AIA Seattle design community.

With thanks to ALL who helped conceive and achieve this remarkable urban confluence!

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