ABSTRACT
The city of Seattle experienced rapid postwar growth until the 1960s, when the trend reversed. By 1980 more than 60,000 people had left the city, most choosing a suburban location. This scenario mirrors that found in large cities throughout the northern United States; unlike many snowbelt cities, however, since 1980 Seattle’s low income neighborhoods have experienced an influx of new, more affluent residents while retaining the pre-existing low income population. Evidence shows that this reversal of two decades of out-migration was the result of revitalization planning and implementation efforts that are characterized by city-resident cooperation, with the local government and the voters providing extensive citywide support for resident-led microplanning, housing, and other improvements within low income neighborhoods, coupled with heavy incentives to encourage income and use mixing throughout the city.
