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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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November 20, 2009Windfall for All BY BEN LOWE Study after study has shown that cities prioritize development that lets visitors and residents walk, bicycle, or take public transit to get around, people are healthier and have far less negative impact on the environment. Now, a new study by TransForm entitled Windfall for All demonstrates another benefit to developing livable communities: people who do not use cars to get around spend far less money on transportation than people who do. Citing AAA estimates, the report shows that...
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November 16, 2009Picturing Climate Change: Special Event! BY LAURA TAM, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY DIRECTOR This Wednesday, join the Alaska Conservation Foundation for an evening with National Geographic photographer James Balog. Mr. Balog, an award wininng photographer for over 25 years, will share his groundbreaking work to capture the reality of climate change by photographing the world’s shrinking glaciers. Through time-lapse footage, Mr. Balog will share his efforts to design equipment, underwrite, and produce one of the world’s most convincing records of climate change. For more...
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November 12, 2009Planning for the San Francisco Bay, Wayne Gretzky Style BY JORDAN SALINGER How fast do you have to be to outrun rising tides? According to Will Travis, of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission this is a challenge that the Bay Area faces. Travis informed and entertained a large crowd at a forum at the Urban Center this past Tuesday, covering a wide range of issues including environmental justice, adaption strategies, importance of tidal wetlands, and his thoughts for the future of the bay.Climate change poses a severe threat to the San Francisco Bay....
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November 10, 2009Emerald Cities: How are Cities Advancing the Shift to a Green Economy? BY EGON TERPLAN, REGIONAL PLANNING DIRECTOR [Image: Green roof in Toronto from urbanneighbourhood] How can cities best position themselves in the green economy? What is the role of manufacturing in urban areas? How can a city best choose an economic development strategy given its size and unique economic history? How should federal policy support policy innovation among cities? Join us for an evening discussion with nationally-recognized visiting writer and professor Joan Fitzgerald. She will give us a preview of her new book, Emerald...
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October 30, 2009XERO Dallas BY BEN LOWE On October 29, architects David Baker and Amit Price Patel of David Baker + Partners Architects and David Fletcher from Fletcher Studio presented Xero Energy, their winning entry in the Re:Vision Dallas competition. Sponsored by Urban Re:Vision of San Francisco, the competition asked designers to propose a fully sustainable city block.The proposal envisions an array of energy-conservation and -generation methods used in concert to reduce the overall energy "footprint" of the building...
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October 26, 2009Living West: Presentation and Book Signing with Sam Lubell BY JULIE KIM Don't miss this presentation by Sam Lubell, editor of the California edition of The Architect's Newspaper and author of Living West: New Residential Architecture in Southern California, published this month by Random House. The details: Tuesday, October 27, 6 pm--presentation and book signing SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission Street, SF Free for SPUR members; $5 general admission See below (or here) for more info. See you tomorrow night!A dense concentration of design talent, uniquely...
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October 26, 2009This Week at SPUR: World Renowned Climate Scientist Ken Caldeira BY JULIE KIM SPUR is thrilled to welcome Ken Caldeira, head of the Carnegie Institution for Science's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, to the Urban Center for a lunchtime forum.The details: Wednesday, October 28, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Free for SPUR members. General admission is $5. Location: SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission St. (between New Montgomery & Third). Renowned for his groundbreaking research on ocean acidifcation, Caldeira's been in the news this month for publicly...
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October 23, 2009SF Battles the Yogi Berra Parking Problem BY BEN LOWE Yogi Berra once posited about a restaurant suffering a perceived decline, "Nobody goes there anymore -- it's too crowded." San Francisco parking faces the same dilemma: high parking occupancy and low turnover make parking in San Francisco a headache as drivers are forced waste upwards of 45 minutes orbiting for a space, adding to traffic and burning gasoline.To combat this problem, the SFMTA is considering two proposals: SF Park, an initiative to use parking technology to...
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October 23, 2009Lawn Chairs in Times Square BY BEN LOWE At a SPUR lunchtime forum yesterday, President of the Times Square Alliance (TSA) Tim Tompkins spoke about the evolution of Times Square over the past several decades. For decades, New York fought the uphill battle of making Times Square cleaner, safer, and more inviting, only to find themselves with a new set of challenges: the area has become so popular, particularly with tourists, that the sidewalks and plazas had far exceeded capacity, and locals worried that the area was losing its...
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