SPUR Planning Policy Area

Planning

We believe: Growth can be good and should be directed to areas
that will support equitable development and sustainability.

Our Goals

• Leverage growth to create great neighborhoods and public spaces.

• Protect and expand open space.

• Concentrate new jobs and housing in downtowns and near major transit hubs.

• Grow up, not out.

Photo of a locally owned bakery storefront in downtown San Francisco

Policy Brief

Small and Mighty

San Francisco’s small businesses face complex regulations, rising costs, and slow economic recovery after the pandemic. SPUR identifies seven interventions to support the city's small business sector.
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Photo of high rise buildings in downtown San Francisco

SPUR Report

From Workspace to Homebase

Converting empty offices into apartments could both reanimate downtown San Francisco and provide housing for more people near transit, jobs, and culture. SPUR explores the suitability of converting office buildings to housing and tests the financial feasibility.
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illustration of a mixed-used downtown with offices, restaurants, childcare, retail, greenspace and transit

Urbanist Article

What If We Get Downtown Right?

SPUR asked community leaders: “What would it look like if cities were to get downtown right?” We invited them to picture a future in which today’s ideas and policy proposals for downtown revitalization are put into place ... and they work.
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photo of a pedestrian bridge and tree cover over the Guadalupe River

Virtual Exhibition

Re-Envisioning the Guadalupe River Park

The Guadalupe River Park is downtown San José’s most important urban green space, but it faces serious challenges. SPUR's virtual exhibition celebrates the promise of the river park and brings together three years of research and conversation about its future.
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Updates and Events

Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley

Urbanist Article
As new business models continue to break the divide between content creation and distribution, SPUR considers how rail service between north and south might further facilitate creative collaboration.

SPUR Comments on the Mountain View Draft General Plan

Advocacy Letter
SPUR believes that the City of Mountain View has arrived at a General Plan that performs very well on environmental attributes. The plan incorporates housing into an otherwise single-use job district and permits an increase in floor area ratio that will support job growth, reduce congestion and strengthen the community’s character.

SPUR Project Review Committee on Parcel P

Advocacy Letter
The SPUR Project Review Committee finds the proposed project at Parcel P to be an appropriate use of the site. The dense residential development will enliven and enhance this transit-rich neighborhood.

SPUR Project Review Committee on 8 Octavia

Advocacy Letter
The SPUR Project Review Committee finds this project to be a very positive additional to the Octavia Blvd corridor. It creates a strong visual presence at the prominent portal to the boulevard while fostering a positive pedestrian experience; it adds needed housing to the neighborhood; and it does so with an extraordinarily imaginative and compelling design of understated force.

Plan for New Transit Center District Moves Toward Adoption

News /
Update: Mayor Ed Lee signed the Transit Center District Plan into passage on August 8, after unanimous approval by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Things are heating up again for San Francisco's Transit Center District Plan. On May 24, the SF Planning Commission voted 5-1 to certify the final draft of the environment impact report that will move the plan forward to the Board…

Diversity Didn’t Cause the Foreclosure Crisis

Urbanist Article
The “Cities of Carquinez" were hit by a perfect storm of housing boom and subsequent bust, fiscal stress, weak job growth, and more. The new map of regional inequality that these forces have wrought, and the consequent challenges faced by low-income families and communities of color in the region are examined here.
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