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Walking in Oakland

Walking in Oakland

Gertrude Stein got it wrong. There is definitely a there here.

Uptown, downtown, Old Town, Chinatown, lake, redwood forest: the possibilities for discovery in the the region's third-largest city are endless. The Urbanist invited Oaklanders to share their favorite walks.

Designing the Bay Area's Second Transbay Rail Crossing

How to ensure reliable transit and a connected region

Since the BART Transbay Tube opened in 1974, the Bay Area has grown from 4.3 million to 7.6 million people, yet we have added no new capacity for crossing the Bay. Our overburdened system threatens the region’s quality of life and its ability to grow. It's time to start planning a second transbay rail crossing. We offer seven recommendations for how to get started now.

Investing in the City

Developer Mike Kim sees an even brighter future for the heart of Silicon Valley.

Over the past 30 years, SIMEON, a private real estate development and investment firm in San Francisco, has developed over 5 million square feet of real estate in the Bay Area and currently has a $750 million development pipeline, including three high-rise projects located in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Leading these efforts in Mike Kim, the firm’s chief investment officer.

Urban Field Notes: The Biomes of Broadway

A few of the many possible activities that Broadway provides to Oaklanders.

The four-mile length of Broadway in Oakland displays a great number of urban “biomes” — the biological term for areas of similar characteristics that give rise to common communities of flora and fauna. On what other single street could one head to work downtown, purchase a car, bike ride into the hills, listen to world famous jazz musicians and visit a newborn in the hospital?