Building Homeownership Opportunities in the 15-Minute Neighborhood
A Seattle Case Study
What Is A 15-Minute Neighborhood?
In a 15-minute neighborhood, all daily needs are met within a 15-minute radius. The most frequent or vital needs are accessible by walking, and more infrequent needs are met by cycling or by public transportation. Facilities and services are primarily by and for the local community. Accessibility within the 15-minute neighborhood is met equitably concerning age, socioeconomic status, ability, race or ethnicity, or any unforeseen barrier.
![5 Pillars of a 15 Minute Neighborhood The five pillars of a 15 minute neighborhood are Community, Equity, Security, Proximity, and Enjoyability](https://sites.uw.edu/studiolegacy/files/2023/06/5-Pillars-of-a-15-Minute-Neighborhood.png)
![An image showing middle housing typologies. These include Duplex, Fourplex, Courtyard Buildings, Townhouses, Multiplexes, and Live-Work](https://missingmiddlehousing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MMH_Diagram_Landing_Page-2.jpg)
Diagram of Missing Middle Housing Types. Source: Opticos Design, Inc.
How Can We Build an Equitable 15-Minute Neighborhood?
Based on ten weeks of work to determine what makes a 15-minute neighborhood, our team was tasked with understanding how this model could fit within the Seattle context. Seattle’s Urban Village model creates an ideal environment for a 15-minute neighborhood, but it is lacking in homeownership opportunities. The majority of new builds in Uban Villages are rental-focused apartment complexes, but there is a notable lack of middle housing typologies. These typologies allow for density while creating fee-simple homeownership opportunities at a lower cost than a typical single-family home.
How Can The City of Seattle Enable Affordable Homeownership?
Our team worked for the remaining ten weeks to understand how Seattle’s zoning impacts the ability to build middle-housing homeownership opportunities. Scroll through the PowerPoint below to see the outcome of this study.
Want to Learn More?
The entirety of our team’s work can be accessed below:
Contact Us
![Image containing the 13 graduate students who worked on this project](https://sites.uw.edu/studiolegacy/files/2023/06/15-minute-neighborhood-team.png)
August Janow: janowaug@uw.edu
Chelsea Lee: chel0123@uw.edu
Dalton Huey: hueyd@uw.edu
Himani Aggarwal: haggar@uw.edu
Jessica Bonner: jessrb@uw.edu
Jo Baldwin: baldwm3@uw.edu
Julia Sullivan: jrps@uw.edu
Kakai Bojang: kakaib@uw.edu
Nathaniel Maloney: njm0299@uw.edu
Nicole Palczewski: palczn@uw.edu
Pamela Lim: pamlim@uw.edu
Samantha Cornejo: scornejo@uw.edu
Sierra Topp: stopp@uw.edu