Illustration of houses plugging into electricity

Closing the Electrification Affordability Gap

Planning an equitable transition away from fossil fuel heat in Bay Area buildings

illustration of yellow houses on a dark blue background

Structured for Success

Reforming housing governance in California and the Bay Area

magazine cover with blue line drawing of urban scenes on a hot pink background

The Urbanist Is Back!

Read articles from the latest issue of SPUR's member magazine

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The 15-Minute Neighborhood

A framework for equitable growth and complete communities in San José and beyond

sf cityscape

Office-to-Residential Conversion in Downtown SF

Can converting office space to housing help revitalize downtown?

A Roadmap for Regional Good Food Purchasing

Research
The San Francisco Bay Area Local Food Purchasing Collaborative, a partnership between 12 Bay Area public institutions, is combining its purchasing power to procure food that is local, sustainable, fair, humane, and healthy. SPUR worked with the collaborative to prepare a roadmap and toolkit of resources to assist policy makers and advocates interested in approaching values-based procurement as a region.

From Workspace to Homebase

Research
Converting empty offices into apartments could both reanimate downtown San Francisco and provide housing for more people in an area rich in transit, jobs, culture, recreation, and entertainment. In a first-of-its-kind study, SPUR and ULI San Francisco, in partnership with Gensler and HR&A Advisors, explored the physical suitability of converting office buildings to housing and tested the financial feasibility of such projects. Our report lays out six policy imperatives for realizing office-to-housing conversions on a large scale.

The Benefits of Making Roads Work for Transit: Q&A with Jonathon Kass

News /
Bus riders and other road transit users often don’t get a fair shake when it comes to transportation investments. Making Roads Work for Transit , a recent SPUR report, describes the multiple challenges a typical Bay Area bus trip can entail and argues that continuing to privilege convenience for cars is jeopardizing equity and climate goals — as well as transit’s fiscal sustainability. It lays out a roadmap to greenlight transit-friendly roadway design and operations.

Can San José’s Santa Clara Street Become a Place to Be and Belong?

News /
Historically, Santa Clara Street was San José’s “main street.” Today, it is oriented toward vehicle traffic, which can make it an unpleasant, even dangerous, place. The city and its community partners are embarking on a re-envisioning of Santa Clara Street focused on people, placemaking, and programming. Could proposals to “re-enchant” the world’s most famous grand boulevard, the Champs-Élysées, be a model for this planning effort?

Making Roads Work for Transit

SPUR Report
Currently, transit delays and unreliability can make riding the bus a nonstarter for those who have other options for getting around. Growing segregation of the transit system is inequitable, unsustainable, and inefficient. Giving transit vehicles priority on Bay Area roads can deliver the speed and reliability improvements needed to get more people on buses and out of cars. SPUR offers 16 recommendations for aligning the interests of transit agencies and local jurisdictions to greenlight these improvements.