Saving Seattle's Neighborhood Authenticity Through Better Buildings

Who knew that James Howard Kunstler was so horrified by the Baltimore Convention Center? When the author of The Geography of Nowhere thinks about walking its western perimeter, a block's journey next to a wall of sturdy brick and glass, he says he wants to "run shrieking from the street."

Kunstler gives his thoughts on how ugly buildings are degrading American life in a new documentary pondering the fate of Seattle's South Lake Union, a developing waterside area that's home to sloops and schooners, biomedical facilities and Amazon's sprawling campus. (Also the S.L.U.T.) Filmmaker and Seattle resident Eric Becker has assembled a brain trust of architects and urban thinkers to opine on the growth of the neighborhood, which seems headed down one of two paths.