Publication Type
Topic
Geography
Date Range

Member Profile: Tina Barseghian

Urbanist Article /
Tina Barseghian has spent her journalism career covering a diverse array of topics from craft to education to travel. A through line to all of these seemingly disparate beats? Cities.

Bay Area Place Types

Urbanist Article /
As part of its ongoing regional strategy work, SPUR has developed 14 place types to provide a tangible portrait of the region.

How Much Housing Should the Bay Area Have Built to Avoid the Current Housing Crisis?

News /
One of the key causes cited for the Bay Area’s housing affordability crisis is that demand for housing continually outstrips the available supply. If only the region had built more housing, extreme competition for a limited number of units wouldn’t be driving prices so high. How much housing should the region have built? SPUR presents new data to answer this question.

San Jose Makes a Bold Move to Realize Its Climate Smart Goals

News /
Since launching Climate Smart San Jose in February 2018, the City of San Jose has been leading the charge to reduce air pollution, conserve water, and create a stronger and healthier community. Recognizing that all sectors need to help meet these goals, city staff proposed an ordinance that would increase commercial building energy efficiency through a transparent open-data benchmarking tool. SPUR strongly supports the ordinance.

Member Profile Jean-Marie White

Urbanist Article /
In 1997, Jean-Marie White relocated from Canada to North San Jose, where he got to experience suburban sprawl first hand. He started to attend community working groups focusing on local trails and BART. Today he is director of engineering for TV streaming clients at Netflix and a SPUR board member working to make San Jose a walkable, bikeable place for people.

SPUR Recommends Changes to Airport Flight Paths to Increase Building Heights in San Jose

Advocacy Letter /
The City of San Jose is currently considering several scenarios for altering flight paths at Mineta San Jose International Airport in order to allow for taller buildings downtown. SPUR recommends accepting Scenario 4, which would use the Federal Aviation Administration's own safety standards to determine maximum building height limits downtown and in the Diridon Station area.

Urban Field Notes: Manifest Density

Urbanist Article /
If San Francisco is going to house families, teachers, firefighters, service workers and more, we’re gonna need some taller buildings.

Did the Bay Area Reach a “Grand Bargain” to Solve Housing?

News /
The Bay Area’s housing shortage and affordability crisis is arguably the greatest threat to its future. In January, the region took an important step forward with the endorsement of the CASA Compact, a grand bargain among dozens of governments and organizations to arrive at real solutions.

Can We Still Be a Country of Immigrants?

Urbanist Article /
At year’s end, President Trump shut down the federal government in an effort to get funding to build a border wall, the latest in an ongoing effort to limit U.S. immigration. It will fundamentally change the role of America’s cities if the United States decides to no longer be a country of immigrants.

Scooters Hit the Streets (and a Nerve)

Urbanist Article /
Electric scooters descended on the streets of Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose in 2018. Initially they were scorned, but by the end of 2018 cities and residents across the Bay Are started warming up to scooters. Might we be ready to embrace these small, electric mobility devices as part of a broader solution to the transportation challenges cities face today?

Cities Commit to Carbon Neutrality

Urbanist Article /
San Francisco hosted the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018, inspiring deeper commitments on climate change from governments and organizations around the world — including new 100 percent renewable energy and carbon-neutrality targets for California. Despite federal inaction on climate change, the United States is still all in — and is making significant progress.

Transit Ridership on the Decline Across the U.S.

Urbanist Article /
Transit ridership fell in 31 of 35 major metropolitan areas in the United States last year, including the seven cities that serve the majority of riders. In contrast to the national picture, some Bay Area transit is seeing increased ridership, but the shift away from cars will continue to be an uphill battle.

Legalizing Better Land Use

Urbanist Article /
California passed a huge BART housing bill, the latest legislation geared toward addressing the state’s housing shortage. This sets higher standards for local land use, but it remains to be seen if they will result in more building.

Member Profile: Leyla Hedayat

Urbanist Article /
For the last decade, SPUR Board Member Leyla Hedayat has managed the development of Phase 1 of the BART Berryessa extension, which includes the design of the Milpitas and Berryessa stations. She is now taking on a similar role for Phase 2, which will extend BART service to downtown San Jose.

2018 Was a Big Year for Federal and State Investment in Healthy Food Incentives

News /
Since 2017, SPUR's Double Up Food Bucks program has helped families eat healthier and stretch their food budgets further while also supporting California farmers. Our program’s success — and that of many others across the country — has garnered the attention and support of elected officials. Policymakers at both the federal and state level dedicated unprecedented amounts of money toward these programs in 2018.