[mhays]

The U District used to have a tract over 40,000. If you zoned into the blocks, that was mostly due to Greek Row. In the last census, they reduced that tract quite a bit. Meanwhile they added to the main campus tract despite a lack of housing construction (the tsunami of new dorms hit after 4/1/10). It appears to be a different method of counting non-permanent housing.

The other tract that lost substantially was the Downtown area that includes the King County Jail. Same thing presumably.

True, the angle of the photos makes us look denser than it seems on the ground. Plenty more room to grow. But as the photos suggest, the rate of change is enormous in some neighborhoods. Even 2011-2014 is a big change, and 2011-2016 based on projects now underway is getting to be epic. Starting with the 11,000+ added housing units in a greater Downtown area of maybe 2,500 acres.