SPUR Planning Policy Area

Planning

Our goal: Add new jobs and housing where they will support equity and sustainability, and make neighborhoods safe and welcoming to everyone.

SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:

• Ensure that communities are safe, inclusive and equipped to meet all residents’ daily needs with a diverse mix of businesses and services.

• Prioritize investment in and access to parks, nature and public spaces as a driver for social cohesion and economic opportunity.

• Ensure that regionally significant neighborhood plans in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland advance equity, sustainability and prosperity.

 

Read our policy agenda

SPUR Report

Model Places

Over the next 50 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is expected to gain as many as 4 million people and 2 million jobs. In a region where a crushing housing shortage is already threatening quality of life, how can we welcome new residents and jobs without paving over green spaces or pushing out long-time community members?

SPUR Report

A Downtown for Everyone

Downtown Oakland is poised to take on a more important role in the region. But the future is not guaranteed. An economic boom could stall — or take off in a way that harms the city’s character, culture and diversity. How can downtown grow while providing benefits to all?

SPUR Report

The Future of Downtown San José

Downtown San José is the most walkable, transit-oriented place in the South Bay. But it needs more people. SPUR identifies six big ideas for achieving a more successful and active downtown.

SPUR Report

The Future of Downtown San Francisco

The movement of jobs to suburban office parks is as much of a threat to the environment as residential sprawl — if not a greater one. Our best strategy is to channel more job growth to existing centers, like transit-rich downtown San Francisco.

SPUR Report

Getting to Great Places

Silicon Valley, the most dynamic and innovative economic engine in the world, is not creating great urban places. Having grown around the automobile, the valley consists largely of lowslung office parks, surface parking and suburban tract homes. SPUR’s report Getting to Great Places diagnoses the impediments San José faces in creating excellent, walkable urban places and recommends changes in policy and practice that will help meet these goals.

SPUR Report

Secrets of San Francisco

Dozens of office buildings in San Francisco include privately owned public open spaces or “POPOS.” SPUR evaluates these spaces and lays out recommendations to improve existing POPOS and guide the development of new ones.

Updates and Events


SPUR supports the Sequoia Station transit-oriented redevelopment in Redwood City

Advocacy Letter
SPUR's Project Review Advisory Board endorses the Sequoia Station proposal as it is currently envisioned. This is a key site for transit-oriented development in the region, and this proposal shows great potential to create an exemplary station area in Redwood City and to support the city’s broader visioning process for the Transit District and central Redwood City.

Leading With Public Space: The Case for Guadalupe River Park

News /
We are excited to announce that, through investment made by the Knight Foundation and in partnership with the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, SPUR will embark on a three-year research and planning project for Guadalupe River Park. Our work will focus on understanding the park’s current challenges, investigating what is possible, raising community understanding and awareness, and inspiring a conversation around the power of place.

A Bolder Vision for Downtown Oakland

News /
After years of work, the City of Oakland is close to completing a specific plan for downtown Oakland. While the current draft is a great improvement over earlier drafts, SPUR believes that the plan needs to be more visionary and that it should encourage both jobs and housing — and put them in the right places.

SPUR Supports San Jose City Council decision to allocate Measure T funds to preserve Coyote Valley

Advocacy Letter
On November 6, 2019 the San Jose City Council held a special session to approve the sale of private land in Coyote Valley using Measure T funds. The approval to sell this land allows for North Coyote Valley to be permanently designated for open space and agricultural use. SPUR supports this decision as Coyote Valley serves as a critical natural resource in the South Bay.

SPUR Comments on proposed spatial layout for Diridon Station

Advocacy Letter
SPUR weighs in on the proposed spatial layout for Diridon Station at the City of San Jose City Council meeting. SPUR supports the staff recommendation on: elevated station platforms, creating two concourses with four entrances, the revised concept for the northern segment that shifts the stations platform south, maintaining the existing corridor to the South and not creating a rail viaduct structure over I-28-/87 interchange.