While climate change affects us all, it will have a more severe effect on people of color and the poor.  Join us for a presentation by UC Berkeley's Rachel Morello-Frosch, co-author of The Climate Gap (2009), followed by a panel discussion of  what Bay Area businesses and organizations are doing to reduce the disproportionate impacts of climate change. Panelists include educator Michele Rodriguez, Emily Kirsch of the Ella Baker Center and Erica Mackie, co-founder of Gridalternatives. Join us for a reception beforehand at 5:00.  Co-sponsored by the Northern California chapter of the American Planning Association. (AICP credits pending.)

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free for SPUR and APA Northern California members General public $5

A survey of utopian urbanism, 49 Cities provides a remarkable insight into the contemporary metropolis and our efforts over time to make cities more controllable, monumental, organic, taller, denser, sparser or greener. Join us for this opening program with 49 Cities curator Dan Wood, architect and ecological designer Sim Van der Ryn and Jennifer Wolch, dean of the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, who will discuss and debate their varied approaches toward a common goal of achieving a healthier, more resource-efficient world. We’ll conclude with a wine-and-cheese reception in the storefront gallery, where guests will vote on their favorite utopian vision.       

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

$10-$20 sliding scale admission for SPUR members and general public. Register here.

Join us for an evening of architectural conjecture, urban speculation and landscape futures with BLDGBLOG author Geoff Manaugh. Released last year, the BLDGBLOG book compiles Manaugh's famous genre-defying insights into five chapters—blending history, design, urban exploration, science fiction, climate change and city planning with a keen interest in how humans shape the built environment. Whether you're a fan of the blog or book, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to members $5 for non-members

The quest for sustainability will increasingly concentrate development in cities, generating a greater fusion of old and new styles of architecture, especially as policy incentives are implemented that encourage major additions to existing buildings. Charles F. Bloszies, AIA, author of a forthcoming book from Princeton Architectural Press exploring this trend, will join preservation architect Charles Chase of Architectural Resources Group, Anne-Catrin Schultz, author of Carlo Scarpa--Layers (Menges, 2007) and real estate broker Dan Cressman of Grubb & Ellis in a discussion of the complex issues involved. Moderated by Tim Culvahouse, editor of arcCA. Co-sponsored by AIA San Francisco.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to AIA and SPUR members $5 for non-members

After the initial devastation of a natural disaster comes the long process of rebuilding communities in the affected areas. In this evening symposium, SPUR welcomes a few San Francisco natives to talk about their recent disastery recovery efforts and plans in Haiti. Kate Stohr of Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit design services firm, will talk about their involvement in the struggling nation's long-term recovery. They will be joined by Mary Comerio, Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, who spent two weeks in Haiti assessing damage, coordinating with other agencies and advising on transitional housing. The discussion will be moderated by SPUR Board Member Laurie Johnson, a disaster planning consultant with experience in Kobe, New Orleans, Grand Forks and other cities worldwide.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

$10-$20 sliding scale admission for SPUR members and general public. Register here.

The impacts of climate change have raised grave concerns in national security and humanitarian communities. Shifting weather patterns have disrupted food and water supplies and have taken a tremendous human toll around the world while raising diplomacy, security, and humanitarian challenges for the United States. Join our panel with retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Dr. Paul Clarke, conflict and mass-atrocities expert Michael Kleinman, former NGO overseas worker, April Rinne, Director of WaterCredit for Water.org and the San Francisco Chronicle’s David R. Baker as moderator. Reception to follow.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to members $5 for non-members

Part of San Francisco’s cultural flair includes an openness toward sexual freedom. How has this come to be? Kick off Pride week by joining moderator Carol Queen of the Center for Sex and Culture, Nan Boyd of SF State’s Women and Gender Studies Department, Madison Young of Femina Potens gallery and Demetri Moshoyannis of Folsom Street Events.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to members $5 for non-members

Nineteenth-century San Francisco went from a rough-and-tumble boomtown to a Victorian city with cosmopolitan ambitions. Its development was controlled by a small group of oligarchs: miners, industrialists, financiers and real estate speculators who hoped to forge a world-class metropolis in a single generation, enriching themselves in the process. Join panelists Chris Carlsson, social historian; Chris VerPlanck, architectural historian; Jeannene Przyblyski, artist, historian and professor at the San Francisco Art Institute; and exhibition curator Benjamin Grant.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to members $5 for non-members

For over 40 years, Dorothy Erskine worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support housing for the poor, rational urban and regional planning, preservation of farmland and the creation of parks and open space. A new biography explores Erskine’s life and career, including her motivations, inspirations and achievements as one of the Bay Area’s foremost civic and environmental activists in an era when few women held similar roles. With author Janet B. Thiessen. Co-sponsored by Friends of Dorothy Erskine and Greenbelt Alliance.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to SPUR members RSVP (required) to events@spur.org

The disaster of 1906 lent new urgency to existing debates about the future of San Francisco. How would the city grow and compete with rivals? What should be the role of the voting public, political parties, government officials, planners, business and labor? Out of these debates and associated social conflicts would rise a new city and a unique San Francisco version of American progressivism and urban form. Join panelists William Issel, professor of history emeritus at San Francisco State University; Richard Walker, chair of the California Studies Center at UC Berkeley; and exhibition curator Benjamin Grant.

654 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-4015 [ map ]

Free to members $5 for non-members