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January 29, 2010Eat on the Street! BY COLLEEN MCHUGH Streetfood is not new. In fact, since the existence of streets and the commoditization of food, streetfood has been an integral aspect of daily life for cultures around the world. That being said, it is undeniable that there has been a growing trend in San Francisco and other American cities towards selling a creative array of food – from Korean tacos to crème brulée – prepared on the street.Streetfood in China and the Netherlands [Images: Colleen McHugh]Tuesday’s...
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January 22, 2010Sustainability and Simplicity BY ELIZABETH HOLDEN As students rushed home for the day, SPUR members filtered in for a tour of the San Francisco Friends School. Built in 1906 after the earthquake and fire, the building housed Levi Strauss & Co. until 2002. Fundraising for the Friends School began in 2006, and classes commenced in September of 2008. Peter Pfau and Kami Kincaid of Pfau Long Architecture explained their process of renovation. With general contractor Plant Construction Company, the team designed the...
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January 20, 2010Woe is Parking. BY COLLEEN MCHUGH As someone who has lived in this city for virtually my entire life, there is one thing I know for sure – parking is a pain. Were I to calculate the total time I’ve wasted cruising for a parking space or the total amount of money I’ve spent in parking tickets, I might go insane. However, we are not just losing our time, money, and sanity in this parking climate. We are also increasing traffic congestion and, in the process, greenhouse gas emissions. But...
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January 7, 2010Is America in Decline? BY EGON TERPLAN, REGIONAL PLANNING DIRECTOR Not so fast says the Atlantic’s James Fallows in a new article on “How America Can Rise Again.” People have argued we were in decline since the earliest days of the republic. His prescription: Focus on maintaining our top universities to foster innovation and open immigration to keep people and ideas flowing into our country. From SPUR’s perspective, we would add – and invest heavily in high speed rail and other infrastructure that enables non-auto...
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January 5, 2010Learning from Washington D.C. BY BEN LOWE This past fall, a group of SPUR board members and staff traveled to Washington DC to learn from the urban-planning successes of our nation's capital; today, three members of that group presented their findings at a lunchtime forum.SPUR Deputy Director Sarah Karlinsky began the discussion with an overview of the Washington urban planning models from Pierre L'Enfant's plan of 1791 to and James McMillan's Plan of 1901 through modern-day endeavors to enliven the long-neglected...
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December 18, 2009Sea Level Rise, Way Worse than We Thought (Again) BY LAURA TAM, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIRECTOR A paper this week in what is arguably the world's most prestigious scientific journal, Nature, says that the last time the Earth warmed up as much as it will under climate change, sea levels rose about 8 meters. This means that global sea level rise over the coming decades may be about twice as worse as we thought. When we published two articles in the Urbanist last month on the topic of sea level rise, we reported that sea level rise might possibly be 5-7 m higher in 300 years, and very...
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December 18, 2009SPUR and streets on film! - posted by Colleen Deputy Director Sarah Karlinsky was featured in a short film this week on the future of San Francisco’s streets. Streetsblog San Francisco posted a video on Monday showcasing the Making a Better Market Street Project. The project envisions Market Street as a grand boulevard similar to La Rambla in Barcelona, the Champs-Élysées in Paris, or the more recently reconfigured public space in New York’s Times Square. As Sarah Karlinsky explains in the film, “[these cities] are really thinking...
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December 16, 2009Coming soon: energy efficiency loan program - posted by Laura SPUR's analysis of the cost-effectiveness of various options for local government to reduce carbon emissions has gotten around. Our evaluation showing that in San Francisco, a low-interest loan program to finance home energy efficiency retrofits would be more cost-effective than new incentives for renewable energy installations, was featured in an EPA presentation for local governments on how to use stimulus funding. The presentation is accessible on ICLEI's California Region site. And it...
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December 1, 2009Greening Paris BY ELIZABETH HOLDEN Fall programming concluded November 18th with bikes, parks and policy in the City of Light. Writer and lecturer Marilyn Clemens illustrated current trends in Parisian roadway and park design, which follow the geometry of the classical era, while also redefining the purpose of public space. The Alliance Française generously sponsored the event. Clemens reported walking as the most popular method of circulation, and the city of Paris plans accordingly for its pedestrians. From small alleys to the...
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November 24, 2009[Literature] in the City BY COLLEEN MCHUGH The Young Urbanist [Literature] in the City forum at SPUR on November 10th presented a lively discussion on this topic and other aspects of the history and culture of San Francisco’s literary community. Stephen Elliott of the San Francisco Writer's Grotto and editor of The Rumpus, writer and City Lights editor Elaine Katzenberger, and Filipino American poet and professor Barbara Jane Reyes joined the forum moderator, poet Matthew Zapruder, in an exploration of the relationship...
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