Urbanist
Issue 524 • June 2013
Should 280 be taken down?
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Three big urban planning moves that could transform San Francisco. -
Those hills come in handy when you’re training for a triathlon.
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The director of the San Francisco Zoo is wild about the city.
Issue 523 • May 2013
Grow. Eat. Compost. Repeat.
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How a stronger regional food system improves the Bay Area. Excerpted from the SPUR report "Locally Nourished." -
A traveling environmental planner rides Medellin’s Metrocable.
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San Jose’s Naglee Park Garage Bistro was once a blighted corner. Bill Souders turned it into a neighborhood gem.
Issue 522 • April 2013
Downtown San Jose
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The quest to establish an urban center for Silicon Valley -
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What makes a great public space? Few know better than Mary McCue, who, as President and CEO of MJM Management Group, has been working to create some of the best of them for over 20 years.
Issue 521 • March 2013
The Future of Water
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How Bay Area supply can meet demand in the 21st century. Excerpted from the SPUR report "Future-Proof Water." -
A designer urges the Bay Area to take a lesson from the London Tube and transform its transit experience into something inspirational.
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The architect, author, urban planner and father of New Urbanism reflects on the movement’s always compelling, ever-controversial, evolution and describes for us what he sees as its latest incarnation — “lean urbanism.”
Issue 520 • February 2013
On Solid Ground
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Land use planning for disaster recovery in the Bay Area. Excerpted from the SPUR report On Solid Ground -
A San Francisco muralist enlivens SPUR’s once-quiet corridors with a colorful celebration of urbanism.
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Not long ago, Patrick Otellini chose to ignore the unavoidable fact that San Francisco is well overdue for a major earthquake. Today, he’s the city’s director of earthquake safety.
Issue 519 • December 2012
2012: The Year in Urbanism
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After years of underbuilding, San Francisco is seeing a boom in new housing and commercial construction. -
In July, Congress passed MAP-21, a rare piece of bipartisan legislation to fund surface transportation for two years.
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Google has proposed a new vision for retrofitting its Mountain View campus as a dense and walkable urban place.
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The director of public policy for Airbnb is a self-described “urban planner moonlighting in the tech world.”
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San Jose's forward-thinking new general plan is a model for suburban cities looking to transform to an urban future.
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This was an exciting year for governance in California, as many hard-won reforms were finally implemented.
Issue 518 • November 2012
Grand Reductions
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Many ideas that have most influenced the shape of our cities have been expressed through simple diagrams that have become iconic distillations of values, policy agendas and ideologies -
Regulated, informal, sometimes illicit, sidewalk businesses and vendors bring vitality and life to urban cities, especially at the pedestrian scale.
Issue 517 • October 2012
Smart Cities
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The emerging movement of collaborative consumption is redefining the ways goods and services are exchanged, valued and created. -
Can we provide public goods more efficiently by pricing them to reflect real-time demand?
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A new emphasis is being placed on the availability of open data from governments but what use does this data have for citizens’ daily experience?
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A photographer observes that after the graffiti’s gone, new works of art emerge.
Issue 516 • August 2012
Learning from Los Angeles
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On a recent visit to Los Angeles, SPUR discovers the benefits — and challenges — of living in a county that encompasses over 4,000 square miles. -
Architecture critic Reyner Banham once quipped that he'd "learned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the original." Today, he'd ride light rail instead.
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Plans are in the works to transform what many think of as a concrete ditch into a sustainable, cultural resource for the region.
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A Trip on L.A.’s Rapidly Growing Rail Network
Issue 515 • July 2012
Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley
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For California, high speed rail isn’t just a worthwhile investment, it’s a necessary one. Here’s how we can pay for it. -
Another perk of high-speed rail? Seamlessly connecting two of California's most important economic clusters.
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On San Francisco's central and southern waterfront, evidence of an era gone by.
Issue 514 • June 2012
Re-Urbanizing the Bay Area's Edge
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While these ten cities may not be on everyone's radar, together they represent a tremendous opportunity for long-term growth in the region. -
Solving the problems of the Cities of Carquinez means embracing the subregion's economic, racial, and social diversity.
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An urban planner finally stops to take a look around — and not just a drive right through — a region in his own backyard.
Issue 513 • May 2012
Harvesting the City
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Expanding the use of public land for urban agriculture in San Francisco. Excerpted from the SPUR report Public Harvest -
San Francisco's brilliant branch libraries are a bright spot in the rapidly changing realm of books
Issue 512 • April 2012
Taking the Long View at Ocean Beach
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Dramatic erosion, rising seas and jurisdictional headaches have taken their toll; SPUR's comprehensive new plan offers hope for a better future -
How a desire to stay warm can shape our cities, for better or worse
Issue 511 • March 2012
Navigating a Better Future for Transit
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Improving transit by changing financing, fares, speeds, metrics, territory and maps. Excerpted from the discussion paper A Better Future for Bay Area Transit -
One mapmaker's vision for a single integrated Bay Area transit map. Plus, what a comprehensive regional transit system might look like.
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Sometimes, architecture really is for the birds.
Issue 510 • February 2012
Safe Enough to Stay?
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What it will take for residents to live safely in their homes after an earthquake. Excerpted from the SPUR report Safe Enough to Stay -
What role will the bicycle play in creating a more sustainable future for China? A landscape designer bikes from Beijing to Shanghai to find out.
Issue 509 • January 2012
The Urban Future of Work
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How denser, more urban workplaces will strengthen the Bay Area’s economic competitiveness -
Innovative high-growth companies look to urban-style experiences to energize their workforce
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An inside view of the opportunities for change that led us to open an office in Northern California’s largest city, San Jose.
Issue 508 • December 2011
The Year in Urbanism
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San Francisco adopted two major plans this year. Will we see more of these in the future? -
How a temporary project turned a series of vacant lots into a destination for food, art and culture.
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New legislation makes it legal to grow and sell produce in San Francisco and Oakland
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How ranked-choice voting affected San Francisco's municipal elections in 2011.
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Has San Francisco finally gotten its student-assignment system right?
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Issue 507 • October 2011
SPUR's 2011 Ballot Analysis
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Analysis and recommendations for the November 2011 ballot -
Issue 506 • September 2011
Solving San Francisco’s Parks Funding Crisis
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Funding public parks in a challenging financial climate -
Issue 505 • August 2011
What Can China Teach Us About Growth?
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SPUR's city trip to Shanghai offered some tough but important lessons for American planners. -
What can the Bay Area learn from China's regional approach to economic planning?
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Can Shanghai’s high-tech subways and high-speed trains trump its growing love affair with the car?
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Is Shanghai the city of the 21st century?
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The Shanghai Municipality includes 17 districts as well as the city center. At 23 million people and 2,450 square miles, it is more comparable to the Bay Area than to San Francisco.
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Issue 504 • July 2011
Can Market Street Be Great Again?
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They thrived together, then declined together. Now these key neighborhoods are primed for a joint revival. -
The story of San Francisco's main drag embodies the history of the city itself.
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Strategies for a vital economy in San Francisco's central district
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Cities across the country are using arts districts as a redevelopment tool. Here’s why the best ones work.
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Physical changes at street level can not only make a street work better — they can transform it into a great public space.
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Issue 503 • May 2011
Is the Bay Area Ready for Climate Change?
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Adaptation strategies for the San Francisco Bay Area -
Issue 502 • April 2011
Planning for a Changing Coastline
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Thanks to sea-level rise, a beloved public place already busy with uses becomes even more complex -
Issue 501 • March 2011
Good Government in a Time of Austerity
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How can San Francisco deliver core city services in an era of finite resources? -
Issue 500 • February 2011
How to Green San Francisco's Existing Apartments
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What will it take to green the buildings we already have? -
Issue 499 • January 2011
2010: The Year in Urbanism
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What happened and what it means for the Bay Area
Issue 498 • November 2010
High-Speed Rail and California's Future
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How smart land-use planning can reshape California's growth -
Issue 497 • October 2010
SPUR's 2010 Ballot Analysis
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Analysis and recommendations for the November 2010 ballot -
Issue 496 • September 2010
Do-It-Yourself City
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Testing the grounds for social change -
Issue 495 • August 2010
Learning from San Jose
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Comparing two Bay Area cities by the numbers -
Can smart land use boost ridership?
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Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley
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San Jose planners have a choice: let the city grow out, or up
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San Jose's plan to capture more jobs
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Issue 494 • July 2010
After the Disaster
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How are we going to rebuild our transportation system after a disaster? Excerpted from a SPUR report
Issue 493 • June 2010
Are Cities Overplanned?
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Why planning needs design once again -
Issue 492 • May 2010
A Balancing Act
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Controller Ben Rosenfield talks about economic booms, busts and their impact on the city budget -
Analysis and recommendations for the June 2010 ballot
Issue 491 • April 2010
2009-2010 Annual Report
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Our vision for a San Francisco and a Bay Area at its best, and the steps we should take to get there
Issue 490 • March 2010
Water
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A look at San Francisco's urban water plan -
Issue 489 • February 2010
Learning from S.F.
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On the bright side: What's working at the SFMTA -
A new paradigm for citywide health care
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An emphasis on placemaking and focused growth
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A look at how our region developed over time
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Taking action by taking space
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Rebuilding after Loma Prieta
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How we support thriving neighborhood retail (and where we could do better)
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A look at San Francisco's model recycling policies
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Issue 488 • January 2010
Learning from D.C.
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Three centuries of city planning in Washington, D.C. -
What can we learn from mass transit in D.C. suburbs?
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Lessons from DC's regional rail system
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The revitalization of downtown, greater downtown and Center City
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Geography, population and how we get around
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Issue 487 • November 2009
Sea Level Rise
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How will we adapt to rising tides? -
SPUR weighs the advantages and disadvantages of seven strategies to manage sea level rise.
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Issue 486 • October 2009
SPUR's 2009 Ballot Analysis
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The city's new budget director talks about his department's role in shaping good policy -
Analysis and recommendations for the November 2009 ballot
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Issue 485 • September 2009
Job Sprawl and the New Suburbia
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A look at opportunities for megaregional planning across the U.S. -
Opportunities for megaregional open space
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How can we slow the decentralization of work in Northern California?
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Issue 484 • August 2009
Housing in the Downturn
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Rebounding from a cyclical recession -
A greener path ahead
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Will investors ever return?
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Components of housing price and development costs in San Francisco
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Issue 483 • June 2009
SPUR Urban Center Grand Opening
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How the past became the future -
What, exactly, makes a "great city"?
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Telesis and the Modernist agenda
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Armed with knowledge of the past, how do we move forward with our own urban agenda?
Issue 482 • May 2009
42 Options to Reduce Global Warming
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San Francisco can fight global warming through smart changes to local policy. What can we do to lead the way? -
Analysis and recommendations for the May 2009 ballot
Issue 480 • March 2009
Making Downtown Work
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Bringing work back to the city -
Issue 479 • February 2009
When Is a Building Safe Enough?
Issue 478 • January 2009
Secrets of San Francisco
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Where to find our city's POPOS — privately owned public open spaces -
