Christopher Calott is a architect primarily focused on design and development consulting with investors on mixed-use housing, affordable housing, and urban design for “infill” redevelopment projects throughout the Bay Area. On top of that, he’s been busy setting up an innovative one-year master’s program, that he will chair, in real estate development and design. Read some of his thoughts on design, development, and urbanism.

SPUR comments on VTA's 2016 Measure B Program Area guidelines, 2018-19 budget and current fare policy.

The remaking of Diridon Station is San Jose’s largest and most significant city-building project to date, but success is not assured. We have a lot to learn from other cities that have undertaken ambitious projects to transform transportation services and remake the areas around train stations. Based on our lessons from Rotterdam, Toronto and Denver, we recommend 17 ideas for creating a great train station.

In Italy, a former SPUR intern observes the ways a city's form can influence the "collective joy" of it's citizens, and how the city of Naples encourages it's residents to play and engage with urban space.

In addition to carrying passengers from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in less than three hours, high-speed rail has the potential to help create compact station districts along the route and bring economic growth to the San Joaquin Valley. We take a look at some of the potential benefits and pitfalls for the cities of the Central Valley.

SPUR supports AB 164, which would increase the benefit of the state's Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) system and improve the food assistance safety net.

We are proud to share with you SPUR’s latest annual report — a look at the biggest things we got done in the last year. We invite you to learn more about our work and our vision for creating a stronger future for the Bay Area.

Letter offering specific recommendations regarding urban design, financing and implementation of the Santana Row/Valley Fair Urban Village Draft Plan.

Brad works out of Google’s San Francisco office on the Material Design team, which publishes a set of guidelines and tools that aim to make apps and other digital experiences more beautiful. Last fall, in his spare time, he volunteered to build a website for SPUR’s Voter Guide — the result provided essential information for thousands of voters confronting San Francisco’s ballot measures last fall.

Our correspondent witnesses a wonderfully urbane model of freedom in Berlin. Here, some observations about Berlin’s transportation, transit and pedestrian system — the arterials and capillaries of urban design and planning - as it relates to the city’s personality and livability.

Five years ago, SPUR’s vision for addressing the challenges facing the Bay Area took a major step forward with the opening of SPUR in San Jose. We would like to thank our board of directors, funders, business and individual members, and community partners, and we look forward to being a part of the transformational changes San Jose will experience over the next five years.

Last year, zoning turned 100. What will the next century bring? We invited planners, architects, journalists, economists and others to weigh in: What should change? What should remain? Will we, as New Urbanist Andres Duany suggests, look forward to the day zoning no longer exists at all?

SPUR is pleased to offer support to SB 35, which creates a streamlined, ministerial process for mutli-family, urban infill projects with affordable components in jurisdictions that have not approved housing in compliance with their targets according to their regional housing needs allocation.

SPUR comments on proposed 2016 Measure B Program Area Guidelines and fare policy updates.