From urban renewal to contextual planning

Urban renewal, the result of top-down planning by government entities with extraordinary land use powers, left deep political and physical scars in San Francisco. In response, a variety of efforts to assert community control and preserve the physical qualities of the city defined development politics for a generation or more. Redevelopment Agency Director Fred Blackwell, Planning Director John Rahaim, architect Bob Herman, Steve Nakajo, executive director of Kimochi, Inc, and Regina Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation, discuss this troubled chapter in the City's history.