From Temporary to Transformative
Leveraging San Francisco’s pandemic programs to usher in a new era for the city’s streets
During the COVID-19 pandemic, cities across the country piloted shared public spaces and slow streets. In a matter of weeks, these temporary changes transformed city streets in ways that would otherwise have taken years. The crisis injected the planning process with a sense of urgency and a willingness to experiment. How can San Francisco and other cities make these changes permanent? SPUR's new report captures lessons learned and offers 18 recommendations for how to build on what's been started.
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Making Government Work
10 ways city governance can adapt to meet the needs of Oaklanders
Many of the challenges Oakland faces are worsened by its unusual government structure, which makes it harder for the mayor, city council and other officials to do their jobs well. SPUR’s latest report diagnoses the problem and offers 10 recommendations for how the city can adapt its governance structure to better serve Oaklanders.
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Bridging the Gap
Addressing the inequitable impacts of bridge toll fines and fees on Bay Area drivers
The Bay Area’s current system for collecting unpaid bridge tolls hurts hundreds of thousands of people across the region. This system disproportionately harms lower-income and working people by relying on punitive tools like fines, fees and car registration holds to promote toll payment. SPUR recommends steps to reduce the harms caused by the unpaid tolls system and begin to move toward an equitable tolling system.
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Integrating Food Into Healthcare
A landscape analysis of medically supportive food and nutrition interventions in California
California is in the midst of overhauling its Medicaid program to better serve the 12 million low-income residents who rely on it for health care. This report explores the state’s capacity to provide one key aspect of the plan: medically supportive food and nutrition interventions such as food pharmacies, produce prescriptions, healthy groceries and medically tailored meals designed to prevent, reverse and treat chronic health conditions.
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Water for a Growing Bay Area
How the region can grow without increasing water demand
The Bay Area is projected to add 2 million jobs and as many as 6.8 million people in the next 50 years. But can we add more jobs and build more housing without using more water? New research from SPUR and the Pacific Institute says yes. We can use the same amount of water — or even less — if we invest in efficiency measures, pursue compact land use and commit to better mechanisms to share water regionally.
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Guadalupe River Park: A Shared Future in Downtown San José
Economic analysis, equitable reinvestment and governance opportunities
As downtown San José expands to the west, Guadalupe River Park is poised to become the center of downtown, and its health will become fundamental to the city’s success. Renewed support, enhanced stewardship and a sustainable funding stream will be needed to realize the park’s potential, so that this vital public space can become safer, cleaner and better used by all members of the community.
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The Bigger Picture: Nine Ideas for a Connected San Francisco
How better transportation can link San Francisco neighborhoods to each other and the region
Today San Francisco’s regional transit connections focus primarily on bringing commuters from the rest of the Bay Area into downtown. Many neighborhoods have poor access to regional transit service — and to each other. The fourth report in our Bigger Picture series proposes coordinated investments in San Francisco transportation that, together, could dramatically improve transportation access and connections to the region.
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Rewilding the Guadalupe River in San José
Balancing natural ecology in a rapidly changing urban environment
Guadalupe River Park is San José’s largest urban green space and the physical spine of downtown, but underinvestment and misuse have caused the park’s safety and natural habitat to deteriorate. While discussions about how to reimagine the park have accelerated over the last two years, there has been little talk about the river itself. This report identifies strategies for protecting the Guadalupe River and transforming it into a place that supports natural ecology, improves the human experience and public health of residents, and improves the overall environmental performance of downtown San José.
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How Much Does It Cost to Permit a House?
An analysis of city and county compliance with California AB 1483 and recommendations to improve the transparency of development fees
California is in the midst of an enduring housing affordability crisis that is rooted in a lack of housing supply and perpetuated by the high costs of development. This brief focuses on one obstacle in the development process that can contribute to these steep costs and hamper overall housing production: the lack of transparency around development fees and requirements at the local level.
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The Bigger Picture: Ten Ideas for Equitable Transportation in Oakland
Leveraging the next generation of transportation investment to better serve and connect Oakland
Many Bay Area freeways and rail lines were designed without regard for their impact on local communities. SPUR and AECOM look at how key regional transportation infrastructure currently intersects in Oakland — and how it might do so differently in the future. The next generation of transportation investments and policy could rectify past planning injustices to facilitate a healthy, climate resilient and equitable Oakland.
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A No-Cost Rooftop Solar Stimulus
How streamlining residential solar installations can jumpstart a green economic recovery
How streamlining residential solar installations can jumpstart a green economic recovery.
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More Harm Than Good
Building a more just fine and fee system in California
California’s system of fines and fees is causing significant financial harm to low-income, Black, and Latinx communities in the San Francisco Bay Area — which runs counter to the region’s commitment to an equitable economic recovery. To address these challenges, California should eliminate its reliance on punitive fees and introduce more effective ways to promote behavior that supports safety and the greater social good.
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A Civic Vision for Growth
Principles for creating an equitable and sustainable region
The Bay Area is a place of incredible possibility, but it faces threats from some of the highest housing costs in the country, growing income inequality, long commutes between jobs and affordable homes, and increasing danger from climate change. If we continue with business as usual, the region can expect these challenges to continue to escalate. But what if the people of the Bay Area chose a different future?
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Housing the Region
A 50-year vision to solve the Bay Area’s affordability crisis
Imagine a Bay Area where our greatest challenge, the scarcity and expense of housing, has been solved. This may sound like an impossible dream, but it isn’t. Within the next 50 years, we can live in an affordable region. But only if we make significant changes, starting right now. SPUR's series Housing the Region defines the Bay Area's housing crisis and put forth concrete steps to build a better, more affordable region.
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Rooted and Growing
SPUR’s anti-displacement agenda for the Bay Area
The Bay Area's severe housing shortage has sent prices through the roof, pushing many long-standing residents to move to the edge of the region or leave it altogether. This has changed the demographics of the region, contributing to patterns of resegregation by both race and income. What can the Bay Area do to make sure it retains its people, its communities and its culture?
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Meeting the Need
The Path to 2.2 million new homes in the Bay Area by 2070
In order to meet the region’s future housing needs, the San Francisco Bay Area will need to produce 2.2 million homes over the next 50 years across all income levels. Where should all of this housing go? And what policies are needed to ensure it can be built? To answer these questions, SPUR has developed a “New Civic Vision” for the Bay Area that balances two core goals: environmental sustainability and equity.
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Housing as Infrastructure
Creating a Bay Area housing delivery system that works for everyone
In the United States, housing is viewed as a financial asset — something to be bought, rented and sold. In other countries, housing is a human right, necessary for the health and well-being of every person. In these places, housing is affordable to a broad swath of the population, and homelessness is less prevalent. If we began to treat housing as infrastructure, what might the results look like in the Bay Area?
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What It Will Really Take to Create an Affordable Bay Area
How much housing does the region need to build to prevent income inequality from getting worse?
The high cost of housing has come to define the San Francisco Bay Area. It dictates who gets to live here, which in turn dictates who gets to participate in the region’s economy and political process. This report, the first in a series, looks at why housing prices have escalated so dramatically, what the impacts of those escalating costs have been on residents and who has borne the brunt of those impacts.
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The Bigger Picture: Five Ideas for Transforming the San Francisco Waterfront
SPUR’s Bigger Picture series proposes ideas for key locations in San Francisco, San José and Oakland. Each exploration represents an opportunity to tackle major regional challenges through local planning processes. Our second report in the series looks at San Francisco’s waterfront, where climate-protection plans are providing an opportunity to restore the natural ecology and improve access to the waterfront — especially for historically excluded neighborhoods.
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Keeping the Water On
Addressing rising water-bill debt during the COVID-19 economic crisis
Due to COVID-19, Governor Newsom has issued a moratorium on shutting off water service when people can’t pay their bills. But eventually, customers who have fallen behind will face either paying a large lump sum or losing water service. SPUR proposes a combination of solutions that can prevent shutoffs for vulnerable families while preserving the financial health of water agencies.
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