Economic opportunity for lower-wage workers requires working simultaneously on three goals: helping lower-wage workers on pathways to the middle, growing the economy with a focus on middle-wage jobs, and improving conditions in lower wage jobs.

The Bay Area has one of the strongest economies in the world, but the benefits of that prosperity are not universally shared. Over a third of the workforce earns less than $18 an hour. How can we make sure the region’s rising economic tide lifts all boats? The Economic Prosperity Strategy identifies a comprehensive, three-pronged approach to economic mobility for low- and moderate-wage workers.

SPUR provides in-depth analysis of the 12 local propositions on San Francisco's November 2014 ballot. For each measure we ask: Is it necessary and appropriate to be on the ballot? Is it practical, and if enacted will it achieve the result it proposes? And most important: Is it a worthy goal, one that will make San Francisco a better place to work and live?

SPUR urges VTA to begin the planning process for Phase II of the BART Silicon Valley extension to ensure sufficient time to develop solutions to some of the project's biggest challenges. SPUR believes this collaborative planning process should take place before the required CEQA/NEPA public processes.

The San Jose Planning Commission proposed two amendments to the 2040 General Plan: 1) To increase the downtown density cap from 350 dwelling units per acre to 800 dwelling units per acre; and 2) To propose new language intended to promote job-generating land uses instead of housing.

Opened in 1984, London's impressive flood control infrastructure was built at a time when climate change was not yet understood. Now rising sea levels are putting the barrier into use for a near-record number of consecutive tides. How long will it be able to hold out, and what is London doing to further adapt to rising seas?

Reforming the TIA guidelines is an action that SPUR has specifically identified in our recent policy report, Freedom to Move: How the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Can Create Better Transportation Options. We found that reforming VTA guidelines like these are necessary to let VTA transit thrive, reduce auto-dependency and to facilitate great urban design in VTA’s 15 member jurisdictions.

SPUR's recent study trip to London revealed a number of transit innovations worthy of admiration: excellent wayfinding and walkability, iconic buses and successfully implemented congestion charging.

It’s a classic city planning debate: As London’s population continues to increase, should it increase density within the existing city or should new towns be built out in the countryside?

Some see London’s rapidly transforming skyline as an affirmation of its role in the global economy; others see an “architectural zoo with a giraffe, a hippotamus and a giant anteater.”

Working to make the city better, one bike at a time.

A city of medieval streets has some of the world’s best wayfinding.

SPUR Project Review Committee commends the overall design choices of the proposed Moscone Center Expansion and identifies opportunities to improve the public realm.