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March 7, 2011Thoughts on GOOD Design (and Good Design) and Social Responsibility POSTED BY JULIE KIM GOOD Design Bay Area: Challenge #6 from SPUR on Vimeo.In the spring of 2004, I was a grad student at UC Berkeley, and about half way toward a master's degree in architecture. I'd already been having doubts about the program, and my future as an architect, when I didn't get my first pick for a class and ended up in a blobitecture studio with a visiting professor from Columbia who had made a name for herself designing, uh, plastic-looking blobs based on forms supposedly found in...
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March 4, 2011Weekly Snapshot POSTED BY ANIKA JESIIn Venezuela Housing Crisis, Squatters Find 45-Story WalkupVenezuela's 45-story "Tower of David," a skyscraper which began construction in the height of the economic boom, was once a symbol of the country's entrepreneurial spirt. Now, following the financial crisis, the uncompleted tower is home to more than 2,500 squatters.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/world/americas/01venezuela.html?_r=2Silicon Valley's Public Transit Will Become More Tech-FriendlyIn an attempt to...
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March 2, 2011Treasure Island Moves Forward to Planning Commission Plans for Treasure Island are moving forward to the Planning Commission in March. SPUR is a big supporter of this plan, which will create 8,000 units of housing, 30 percent of which will be affordable, and 450,000 square feet of retail space; rehabilitate historic structures; create 300 acres of open space; and add new ferry service. We especially like the way in which the proposed new development is clustered around the new ferry terminal, as opposed to dispersed across the island. Interested...
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February 28, 2011Pay-As-You-Drive Auto Insurance Comes To California POSTED BY STEPHEN TUBeginning this month, Californians will have a new option for auto insurance. It’s called Pay As You Drive (PAYD), and it could save money and reduce our impact on the environment at the same time.Traditional auto insurance policies charge customers in a lump sum and do not price risk according to driving volume. There have been attempts by insurance companies to incorporate driving volume into insurance rates, but these types of plans are based on estimated mileage only. In contrast,...
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February 28, 2011Weekly Snapshot POSTED BY ANIKA JESILiberation SquaresIn light of the recent revolutions in Egypt and the Middle East, public squares are once again emerging as the epicenters of social change. http://urbanomnibus.net/2011/02/liberation-squares/ Frank Lloyd Wright for the 21st Century A new exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum examines the modern day implications of Frank Lloyd Wright's organismic model of architecture, and envisions how he would react to the inefficient and unnatural suburbs of today. http://www....
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February 22, 2011Ocean Beach Word Cloud POSTED BY JAVIER DEL CASTILLO Click to enlargeA “word cloud” or “weighted list” is a way of portraying the text in a document so that the higher the incidence of a word or term, the larger its font will be. After SPUR interns Sarah Favrot & Javier del Castillo spent a great deal of time and effort transcribing the many responses and comments of the January 15th Ocean Beach Master Plan openhouse, they thought it would be fun to turn all that information into something a little less dense and...
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February 21, 2011The Weekly Snapshot POSTED BY ANIKA JESINew CarSharing Association Aims to Reduce Car Ownership Eighteen car-sharing companies from around the globe recently formed the official "CarSharing Association" as a way to come together under the common goal of reducing car ownership and encouraging sustainable forms of urban mobility. http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/thecityfix/20676/new-carsharing-association-aims-reduce-car-ownership Federal Restructuring of Fannie and Freddie Ignores Underlying Cause of Crisis Author...
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February 21, 2011Budget Wars in Washington—Will Infrastructure Investment Make the Cut? POSTED BY JENNIFER WARBURGThe next several weeks in Washington promise to offer extremely important insights into the future of public transportation spending in this country. Watershed moments are ahead for most every item on the SPUR agenda. Here’s a quick primer of why and of what’s at stake for advocates of smart growth: In October 2010, we anticipated that infrastructure spending would anchor the legislative agenda for 2011. Such nuts-and-bolts spending has often provided an area of...
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February 17, 2011New PPIC Report Argues for Jobs, Not Homes, Near Transit By Egon Terplan, Regional Planning DirectorThe Public Policy Institute of California has just released a new series of reports assessing how prepared California is to implement Senate Bill 375, a state mandate to reduce driving through better land use planning. One report focuses on the connection between transit and jobs. The other focuses on the tools planners can use to reduce driving and the willingness of local officials to use them. The reports are also summarized in a single report, which was presented and discussed at an...
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February 14, 2011Weekly Snapshot POSTED BY ANIKA JESIWith Detroit in Dire Straits, Mayor Invites Big Thinking In order to take on the challenges posed by a shrinking population, lost revenue and tight budget, Mayor Bing of Detroit is making an open call for any plans, proposals and theories on how to cure the ailing city. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/07/AR2011020705338.html Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change In an interview, urban planner Peter Calthorpe talks about his new book Urbanism in the Age of Climate...
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