With this issue, we're kicking off the new year — and a new tradition — at SPUR. More confident in our ability to assess the present than predict the future, we've taken a stab at naming the biggest trends and events affecting urban planning in the Bay Area right now. Write to [email protected] with your own list!

SPUR believes that it is possible both to encourage true urban infill development in the right locations and to meaningfully plan for sea level rise. We also believe some changes should be made to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s proposed amendments to the Bay Plan.

The current economic crisis has proven to be more than a challenge to our wallets: it has tested our faith in personal agency and our optimism in the future. But this malaise has met its match in the Bay Area, where a spirit of fierce independence has always thrived. Here the bad economy has a silver lining: it has reinvigorated and mobilized the community of do-it-yourself urbanists.