The waterfront. Just taste it. If we were to grade the value of words within any city anywhere, I bet the word waterfront would score really high and taste better than most others. Of course there is words like park, city library, a good school system, marina, university, healthy tap water, concert hall, public transportations, shopping, prominent hospital, safety and landmark building, but waterfront… there is nothing like the waterfront.
In Umeå the waterfront is facing the fast streaming Umeå River traveling to the Bothnian Bay. In Seattle the waterfront overlooks Elliot Bay, the city-close part of Puget Sound connected to the dramatic Pacific Ocean. Watching the world map it’s obvious only a few places are lucky holding this high scored word in its dictionary. This remarkably valuable asset within its city boundaries. Both Umeå and Seattle do. Yet it seems like the waterfronts have come to be more of a pricy problem than a priceless resource. We have seen decades of discussing, debating and reconsidering over this in both cities. Why? Well, I guess priceless has a price to it.
The Seattle waterfront is covering 26 blocks, the one in Umeå is about a 8-block stretch. Due to the redesign of the area, Strandgatan, the main street that cuts off the city center from the river in Umeå, is closed and will be until 2014. Final decisions about design and function of Strandgatan in the future are yet to come. In Seattle a busy and loud two level highway on tall concrete legs, The Alaskan Way Viaduct, is radically dividing downtown from the bay. Here though, the decisions are made. Finally I should say. The Viaduct is going to come down and a tunnel will replace it. Sounds like the only right thing to do? Well, it took a public vote only this August and the voices are still at a high pitch and probably will be for a very long time. Seattle is, in that sense, is a loud place. So is Umeå. Which makes me feel equally at home and comfortable in both places.
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