The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the world’s most innovative and progressive regions, but we face enormous challenges, from the cost of housing to the threat of sea level rise. SPUR has launched a multi-year initiative to envision a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous Bay Area for all — and propose bold strategies to get there.
Lead staff: Nicholas Josefowitz njosefowitz@spur.org
Core Funders of the SPUR Regional Strategy
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
Curtis Infrastructure Initiative
Dignity Health
Facebook
Genentech
George Miller
Hellman Foundation
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Marin Community Foundation
Sage Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Stanford University
Additional funding provided by AECOM, Fund for the Environment and Urban Life, Microsoft, Seed Fund, Stripe, Uber Technologies and Wells Fargo.
Featured Publications
Model Places
Over the next 50 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is expected to gain 4 million people and 2 million jobs. In a region where a crushing housing shortage already threatens quality of life, how can we welcome new residents and jobs without paving over green spaces or pushing out long-time community members? SPUR partnered with AECOM to envision an equitable and sustainable future region.
San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas
As 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.
Four Future Scenarios for the San Francisco Bay Area
This report, the first product of the SPUR Regional Strategy, uses a scenario planning process to look at four uncertainties that the Bay Area will contend with over the next 50 years: the economy, housing, transportation and the physical form that growth takes. The resulting scenarios serve as “myths of the future,” stories that reveal the potential long-term outcomes of choices the region makes today.
Updates and Events
More for Less
SPUR ReportAround the world, building major transit projects is notoriously difficult. Yet the Bay Area has an especially poor track record: Major projects here take decades from start to finish, and our project costs rank among the highest in the world. SPUR offers policy proposals that will save time, save money and add up to a reliable, integrated and frequent network that works better for everyone.
Why the Bay Area Struggles with Transit Project Delivery, and How to Fix It
News /The Bay Area has underinvested in transit for decades. Today, in the midst of a pandemic, it’s hard to imagine how the region will catch up: Our major transit projects regularly take decades to build and rank among the most expensive in the world. SPUR’s latest report offers three big ideas for delivering transit projects in less time,for less money and with better public value.
Infrastructure Bay Area
SPUR ReportSPUR’s report More for Less examines how the Bay Area can reverse its poor track record of delivering large, complex public transit projects on time, on budget and without major defect. This companion report details one of our most significant recommendations: to establish Infrastructure Bay Area, a specialized entity that would lead the procurement and delivery of all the region’s major transit projects.
Model Places: Envisioning a Future Bay Area With Room and Opportunity for Everyone
News /SPUR partnered with AECOM to investigate what it would take to house everyone who wants to live in the Bay Area. We’ve published our research in a new report, Model Places: Envisioning a Future Bay Area With Room and Opportunity for Everyone.
Model Places
SPUR ReportOver the next 50 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is expected to gain 4 million people and 2 million jobs. In a region where a crushing housing shortage already threatens quality of life, how can we welcome new residents and jobs without paving over green spaces or pushing out long-time community members? SPUR partnered with AECOM to envision an equitable and sustainable future region.
Can Private Mobility Services Support (Not Undermine) Public Transit?
News /SPUR explores how public transportation and private emerging mobility providers can play to their respective strengths, function as a seamless network, and provide access for people of all incomes, races, ages and abilities. Together we can create a transportation system with fewer car trips, lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased access for the region’s most vulnerable residents.