CityStories / City Profiles / Small Cities / Redmond, Washington
Population: 50,680
- Bike friendly
- Mass transit
- Green building
- Native species yard care
- City of Redmond, WA Official Website
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Redmond, Washington
A suburb of green-frontrunner Seattle and situated between the Cascade Mountain Range and Puget Sound, Redmond is known as the Bicycle Capital of the Northwest and has 34 parks and more than 25 miles of trails.
Microsoft Corporation is by far the largest employer in Redmond, providing jobs for more than 39,000 people, or more than half of the corporation's global workforce. The company handles mass commuting by running one of the country's largest private bus systems for its employees, reducing an estimated 250,000 miles traveled a week in the area. On EPA's 2006 list of best workplaces for commuters, Microsoft ranked second behind only fellow technology company Intel.
The city is developing green building requirements for city buildings—including LEED certification and King County's Built Green program—and has a team dedicated to greening residential construction and remodels. Redmond's Conover Commons neighborhood was the first new community to participate in King County's Natural Yard Care program, with energy-efficient cottages made from responsibly sourced materials set in a Native Growth Protection Area.
Photo Credit: Megapolis2024/FlickrIt feels a bit strange to be sitting in the middle of one of the world’s wealthiest neighborhoods, and to be so thoroughly engrossed in...
No Cars But Plenty of Life on Broadway. Credit: Paul McRandleThe Natural Resources Defense Council's Smarter Cities project has named fifteen U.S. metropolitan regions...
Credit Shira Golding/FlickrNew York and Connecticut families with school-age children can breathe a little easier. Earlier this year, Governor David Paterson signed...
A recumbent cycle on Martin Olav Sabo Bridge Credit: Livewombat/FlickrDuring the recent bicycle tour of Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak stressed that in these lean economic...
The nation’s first major bikesharing program hit the streets in Minneapolis in June 2010, quickly followed by Denver, Washington, D.C. Boston and Toronto—with Seattle, Chicago,...
Credit:Courtesy of the City of BostonIn fall 2009 Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino established the city’s Complete Streets program with the words, “The car is no longer the...
Credit:DMFK/FlickrContrary to common perception, Boulder is not a bedroom community to Denver; it actually serves as a regional subcenter for surrounding cities such as...
Credit:NonsequitorlassBremerton lies in Kitsap County, Washington, just a ferry ride across the Puget Sound from Seattle. With its semirural population, the region is an...
Credit:Wikipedia CommunityIn the Champaign-Urbana metro region in Illinois, the focus of the transit district is on getting people out of their cars by offering a full...
Credit:Chicago Tourism BureauHome to one of the largest and oldest transit systems in the country, the Chicago metropolitan region has long been a national transportation...
Kids getting ready to bike home at this primary school in Utrecht, Netherlands. Ninety-five percent of the older kids bike to school at least some of the time. Credit:...
With the growing popularity of cycling in the Netherlands, finding a parking place for your bike is becoming more difficult, as seen here in the Hague. Credit: Jay...
San Francisco board of supervisors president David Chiu looks out on Java Island, a new neighborhood in Amsterdam where bikes and pedestrians (and boats) take priority...
Credit: Recompose/FlickrCourts have handed defeat after defeat to New York City in its effort to replace gas-chugging cabs with fuel-efficient hybrids. The latest blow...
Credit:FHKE/FlickrThe Pacific island of Oahu, Hawaii, boasts towering mountains, gorgeous ocean views, and a dense metropolitan region that keeps on growing. Oahu Transit...
Credit:AreaRapidTransitThe Lincoln metropolitan region can thank the unique characteristics of its central City of Lincoln for its place among NRDC’s top 15 Smarter...
Credit:Mary Logan BarmeyerFamous for urban sprawl, bumper-to-bumper traffic and seasonal smog, the Los Angeles region still has many challenges for integrating...
Credit:New HavenMore commuters walk or bike to work in New Haven, Connecticut, than in anywhere else in New England. One of the first planned cities in the country, New...
Credit:Wikipedia CommunityThe New York metropolitan region has one clear historic advantage when it comes to efficient transportation—population density like nowhere else...
Credit:Kyle Gradinger/FlickrDon’t see the link between transit and food? Philly does. The City of Philadelphia and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority...
Credit:Portland Bureau of Transportation“In Portland it’s almost like cars don’t exist, right? They ride bikes! They ride double-decker bikes! They ride unicycles! They...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.The 11 new school buses in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin don’t look particularly special. They’re painted the same yellow, carry the same kids and...
Credit:Courtesy of the City of San FranciscoIn San Francisco, “we put transit first, ahead of the passenger car,” says Bridget Smith, acting principal engineer and...
People across the country were surprised last year when Bicycling magazine named Minneapolis America’s “#1 Bike City”, beating out Portland, Oregon, which had claimed the honor...
Credit: Kevin H/FlickrRecently ranked the most tightly packed metropolitan region in the nation, the National Capital Region (4,000 square miles in the District of...
Credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr./FlickrSalt Lake City has the ignominious distinction of ranking as the country’s seventh most polluted city by short-term particle pollution,...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.Partly rural, partly urban, and close to Sacramento without being under city jurisdiction, the Yolo metropolitan region (which encompasses...
Playbook for Green Buildings and Neighborhoods
The Playbook website provides local governments with guidance and resources to rapidly advance green buildings, neighborhoods and infrastructure. Strategic action in these sectors promotes economic development, builds healthier communities, strengthens energy independence, and supports climate protection.
Green Building: LEED for Neighborhood Development
The LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development. Learn more.
Green Space: Pesticide Bans
Text of New York's Child Safe Playing Fields Act
Text of Connecticut's ban on pesticide use on school grounds
Transportation: Bicycling
Cities for Cycling: National Association of City Transportation Officials project to catalog, promote and implement the world's best bicycle transportation practices in American municipalities. Includes several best practices sheets.
Cycling in the Netherlands: Guide to bicycling policies in the Netherlands (pdf)
Fietsberaad: Dutch cycling knowledge center
Bikeability: UK Cycling Proficiency Test
"At the Frontiers of Cycling: Policy Innovations in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany." World Transport Policy and Practice, Vol. 13, No. 3, December 2007, pp. 8-57
"How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road: To Boost Urban Bicycling, Figure Out What Women Want." Linda Baker. Scientific American, October 2009.
Bikes Belong: Research Resources
Designing Cities for Bicycle Transportation
Chicago Bike Lane Design Guide (pdf)
Los Angeles Bike Plan Draft, Chapter 5: Technical Design Handbook (pdf)
Minneapolis Bicycle Facility Manual (pdf)
New City York Street Design Manual
New York City's Ninth Avenue Bicycle Path and Complete Street, for ITE (pdf)
Portland Bikeway Design Best Practices, Appendix D
San Francisco Bicycle Plan Update: Supplemental Design Guidelines (pdf)
San Francisco Shared Markings Study (pdf)
London Cycling Design Standards, Transport for London (UK)
Cycling Guidelines and Practical Details Issue 2, Sustrans (UK)
Collection of Cycle Concepts, Danish Road Directorate (Denmark)
Learn More
Change Your Commute, Change Your City
Plug and Play: A Q&A with Luke Tonachel on Electric Cars
On Earth: These Roads Were Made for Biking
Greening Advisor: Public Transportation
Clean, Low-Emission, Affordable, New Transportation Act (CLEAN-TEA)
Minute, Morning, Month: Save energy and reduce stormwater runoff. Install a green roof.
Save energy and reduce stormwater runoff. Install a green roof.
LEED for Neighborhood Development
Minute, Morning, Month: Protect water quality. Put in a rain garden.
NRDC Greening Advisor: Planting native and drought-tolerant species
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