Steinbrueck, Peter, 1957-
Individual, Steinbrueck, Peter, 1957-
- Biography
- Steinbrueck was born and raised in Seattle, and is the son of noted architect Victor Steinbrueck (1911–1985) and artist Elaine Pearl Worden. He graduated from Lakeside School, received his bachelor of arts degree in government from Bowdoin College, and a master of architecture degree from the University of Washington College of Built Environments. Before becoming an architect, he began his early working life at age 16 as a skilled carpenter, and later a building contractor. He is a distinguished Harvard Loeb Fellow with Graduate School of Design (2010).
Steinbrueck was a member of the Seattle City Council, first elected to the council on November 4, 1997, and immediately sworn in to fill an unfinished term. He was elected to full council terms in 1999 and 2003 and served through 2007. Steinbrueck served as council president during 2002 and 2003. He served as chair of the Housing and Human Services Committee in his first four years on the council, later the Parks, Education, and Libraries Committee, and in his final four years, he chaired the Urban Development and Planning Committee, with a portfolio of the city's long-term comprehensive planning, land use regulation, city design, and development standards.
In late 2012, Steinbrueck announced his candidacy for Mayor of Seattle in the 2013 election he came in third in a crowded race, but failed to move past the primary election. On November 7, 2017, Steinbrueck was elected as Seattle Port Commissioner, Position 4.
Steinbrueck has been a visiting instructor at the University of Washington’s College of the Built Environments, and is a frequent speaker, commentator, and writer on the emerging framework for advancing environmental sustainability of cities and regions. In 2009, Steinbrueck was named a Loeb Fellow in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where he completed an academic year 2009-10 of independent research focused on the environment, climate change and urban sustainability in the United States. Steinbrueck is a member of the Harvard Center for the Environment's Working Group for Sustainable Cities.
In 2007, after leaving his City Council position, Steinbrueck founded his own firm, Steinbrueck Urban Strategies, an urban planning, urban sustainability and urban design consulting practice.
Steinbrueck was elected to serve as a Commissioner (Position 4) for the Port of Seattle for the term of January 1, 2018 – December 31, 2021.