A Field Guide to California Urbanism
May 16, 2019California might be the most mythologized landscape in existence, from the glossy pools and palm trees of reality TV to the neurosis-inducing freeways and subidivisions of film and literature. But little has been said about urbanism as one of the state’s contributions to the world. A Bay Area writer launches a project to catalog the phenomenon that is California urbanism, one trope at a time.
Policy Proposal: Jump-Start Development Near Transit with Temporary TOD
May 16, 2019The passage of Assembly Bill 2923 means Bay Area cities must change their zoning to accommodate development on land that BART owns around its stations. Long-term plans for building housing will take time. In the short term, using the methods of tactical urbanism could give development near stations a jump start while allowing them to grow and change over time.
San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas
May 2, 2019As the climate continues to change, communities will need to adapt the San Francisco Bay shoreline to rising sea levels. But the Bay’s varied landscapes and overlapping jurisdictions make a coordinated response challenging. The San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas proposes a new regional planning framework by dividing the 400-mile Bay shoreline into 30 distinct geographic areas that share common physical characteristics and adaptation strategies.
We All Deserve to Be Counted: The Importance of the 2020 Census
April 25, 2019The 10-year census is a profound expression of who our nation is and who deserves to be included in our political systems and public services. With the 2020 census less than a year away, SPUR is hosting a series of events to look at ongoing local strategies to make sure everyone in the Bay Area gets counted.
My Rider Is Your Rider: What the Bay Area Can Learn from Germany’s Collaborative Transit Planning
April 24, 2019In cities and regions across Germany, dozens of transit operators work together to provide riders with one simple and convenient transit system that is competitive with driving for many trips. It’s a far cry from the Bay Area, where transit services all have separate fares, schedules and maps. How were Germany’s cities able to align multiple operators into one seamless system?