image of data infographics from research publications

SPUR Publications

SPUR articles, research, policy recommendations, and our magazine, The Urbanist

Advanced Publications Search

Why San Francisco Should Stop Requiring Parking in New Housing

News /
Housing developers in San Francisco are currently required to provide a minimum amount of parking in new buildings. What if we eliminated those requirements? Then we’d see both lowered housing prices and more efficient use of urban land. Requiring parking brings too many new cars into the city, congesting streets, taking up space needed for more housing and harming the environment.

Six Principles for Pricing Driving to Reduce Congestion, Pollution and Crashes

News /
Cities and states are proposing policies that would discourage driving by charging for some the costs it imposes on others — namely congestion, pollution, heart and respiratory disease, greenhouse gases and deaths from collisions. It won’t be easy to start pricing something that’s been free for so long. To get the benefits without a backlash, SPUR offers six principles for fair and effective transportation pricing.

SPUR Community Shares Its Vision for the Bay Area in 2070

News /
Earlier this year, SPUR began planning its first ever regional strategy for the Bay Area, an aspirational vision of what the region could be like in the year 2070 and a roadmap for getting there. Here’s what participants in three community workshops shared about their values and vision for the region for the next half century.

2018 Silver SPUR Awards: How Anita Friedman Helps Children, the Elderly and Everyone in Between

News /
2018 Silver SPUR Honoree Dr. Anita Friedman’s record of public service ranges from leading the Bay Area’s Jewish Family and Children’s Services to serving as policy consultant to the State of Israel Ministry of Social Affairs. Her expertise includes social policy and programming for diverse populations; financing of health and human services; developing innovative business and social enterprise models; and Holocaust and genocide education.

2018 Silver SPUR Awards: How Greg Moore Leads One of the Country's Most Popular National Parks

News /
Under 2018 Silver SPUR Honoree Greg Moore’s leadership, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy has become one of the most successful nonprofits supporting the national park system, providing more than $500 million to park projects and programs since 1981 as well as receiving numerous national awards for excellence in interpretation, conservation and park improvement.

2018 Silver SPUR Awards: How Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins Creates a More Just Criminal Justice System

News /
2018 Silver SPUR Honoree Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is a social justice advocate, businesswoman and community organizer dedicated to making measurable change. She has lead a number of labor and social justice organizations, such as the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, Working Partnerships USA, Green For All and is a Co-founder of Promise, a de-carceration startup that works with government agencies to keep people out of jail.

How Has San Francisco Run Out of Money for Affordable Housing?

News /
San Francisco is running out of funds to build affordable housing, and the city will need to make changes quickly to fix the problem. How did this happen and what can be done? A combination of rising construction costs and new requirements is slowing down new development and curtailing incoming fees. SPUR has five suggestions for how to address the problem before it gets worse.

Lessons for Guadalupe River Park: Denver Plans for Economic Growth Along the South Platte River

News /
Major plans for new jobs, housing, BART and high-speed rail connections will reshape San Jose’s urban core. Amid this planned growth, the city has an opportunity to capitalize on one of its most treasured resources, the Guadalupe River Park. Denver's River Mile plan — a proposal to transform a downtown riverfront — offers lessons for turning an underused natural resource into an urban attraction.

Can the Reluctant Metropolis Embrace Enthusiasm for the Future?

News /
In his final public address, outgoing SPUR President and CEO Gabriel Metcalf shared his reflections on where the Bay Area has been and where it's going. To end our housing crisis and transportation woes, he argued, our reluctant metropolis must embrace its role as a world city and economic center.

Working Together to Help Solve Our Region's Problems

News /
Earlier this year, SPUR provided comments to improve a proposed vacant parcel tax measure (now Measure W) co-sponsored by Oakland City Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan. We greatly appreciate the time Councilmember Kaplan spent with us and the changes she made to the measure at our suggestion. The following letter from Councilmember Kaplan is a companion piece to the Oakland section of the SPUR Voter Guide.

Getting Local Land Use Approvals Right

News /
What can California and its cities do to bring down the soaring costs of housing? Land entitlement is one process that could be reformed to speed up the construction of new housing and reduce costs. At a recent SPUR forum, researchers and planners discussed how state and city reforms might (or might not) streamline the approval processes.

What Does Access Really Mean?

News /
What do we mean when we say a home, a street or a city is “accessible”? It’s more than a measure of the physical characteristics of the built environment, and it impacts a person’s overall sense of freedom and representation. At a recent SPUR forum, panelists discussed what architects, designers, planners and citizens can do to increase access in our cities.

Advancing Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in San Jose

News /
San Jose leads the nation in electric vehicle purchases. In the quickly evolving landscape of electric vehicle ownership, charging technology and future demand, what is the right level of charging service to provide in commercial buildings and multifamily housing? To discuss this challenge, and the market opportunity, SPUR recently brought together real estate developers with experts from PG&E, the City of San Jose and Tesla.

How Can We Create the Best User Experience at Diridon Station?

News /
Creating a great user experience at the redeveloped Diridon Station will be critical to whether people embrace the station and use transit. If Diridon’s transit services are going to compete with the automobile — or the next big transportation technology — the partners developing the station will need to focus on the user as the primary driver in their planning efforts .

Bay Area Cities Step Up Their Climate Commitments

News /
Among the most inspiring outcomes of the Global Climate Action Summit, hosted in San Francisco earlier this month, were the climate commitments made by governments and organizations around the world. Bay Area cities and agencies announced ambitious new goals that will wean the region off of natural gas and diesel and make way for a carbon-free future.

Why Bay Area Transit Fares Must Change Before the Upgrade to Clipper 2.0

News /
Clipper, the Bay Area’s transit fare payment system, is getting an upgrade and moving to a new technology platform, Clipper 2.0. If it happens before the big move, downsizing and streamlining fare policies between the region's 27 transit operators could save millions, make transit more affordable and increase ridership.

Lessons for Guadalupe River Park: How D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge Park Promotes Inclusion

News /
The proposed transformation of downtown San Jose opens up an opportunity to create iconic and welcoming public spaces where the community can gather. That's why SPUR has launched a major initiative to re-envision the Guadalupe River Park. We invited Scott Kratz of Washington, D.C.'s 11th Street Bridge Park to share lessons learned from the inclusive effort to realize the community’s ambitions for the project.