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Cracking the Code
Zoning and code reform in San Jose’s urban growth areas
Great urban design is essential to creating sustainable, walkable cities. But oftentimes city codes undermine urban design principles. How might San Jose raise the bar on its urban design? SPUR proposes that the city address the ground rules of design — in the municipal code, largely under the planning and zoning code — in order to have the greatest positive impact on new development.
Read The Report Improving Access To, Through and From the Santana Row / Valley Fair Urban Village Area
San Jose's two major retail, office and residential destinations — Santana Row and Valley Fair — are both planning to expand. SPUR convened a workshop to brainstorm ideas for improving access and circulation for this already-congested area. Instead of increasing automobile capacity, we focused on how to help people use transit, cycling, walking and on-demand vehicles. Our white paper offers 20 ideas for better mobility.
Read The Report Improving Regional Planning in the Bay Area
Recommendations for integrating ABAG and MTC
There is a long history of attempts at better collaboration between the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). An MTC proposal this summer to establish a merged planning department has again opened up the discussion about the future of regional planning in the Bay Area. SPUR offers thoughts on the proposal and the broader opportunity for improved regional planning.
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A Downtown for Everyone
Shaping the future of downtown Oakland
Downtown Oakland is poised to take on a more important role in the region. But the future is not guaranteed. An economic boom could stall before it gets going. Or the economy could take off in a way that harms Oakland’s character, culture and diversity. We propose five big ideas for how downtown Oakland can grow while providing benefits to all.
Read The Report A Roadmap for St. James Park
A strategy for bringing St. James Park to life through innovative governance and stewardship
Like older downtown parks throughout the country, San Jose’s St. James Park has suffered from disinvestment in recent years. Today downtown San Jose is experiencing new vitality and growth, creating an opportunity to transform St. James Park into the jewel it deserves to be. SPUR recommends steps to create a renewed vision for the park through improved stewardship and governance.
Read The Report Greening Up
Strategies to Advance Green Infrastructure in San Francisco
San Francisco is poised to channel significant new investment to integrated urban watershed planning and green infrastructure through a planning process called the Urban Watershed Assessment. In partnership with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, SPUR convened an advisory group to ask: What is needed to scale up green infrastructure in San Francisco?
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Seamless Transit
How to make Bay Area public transit function like one rational, easy-to-use system
The Bay Area’s prosperity is threatened by fragmentation in the public transit system: Riders and decision-makers contend with more than two dozen different transit operators. By integrating our many public transit services so they function more like one rational, easy-to-use network, we have the opportunity to increase transit ridership and make better planning decisions for the future of our region.
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Healthy Food Within Reach
Helping Bay Area residents find, afford and choose healthy food
One in 10 adults in the Bay Area struggle to find three meals a day, while more than half of adults are overweight or obese. To meet our basic needs, improve public health and enhance our quality of life, Bay Area residents must have access to healthy food. SPUR recommends 12 actions that local governments can take to improve food access in Bay Area communities.
Read The Report Non-Primary Residences and San Francisco's Housing Market
How many housing units in San Francisco are not occupied by a permanent resident? And do such units further constrain the city's tight housing market and drive up housing prices? While it's very difficult to exactly quantify the number of non-primary residences in San Francisco, we provide a rough picture of how many there are and how SF compares to other cities on this issue.
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Economic Prosperity Strategy
Improving economic opportunity for the Bay Area’s low- and moderate-wage workers
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.
Read The Report Sizing Up Climate Resilience in the Bay Area
A white paper by the Bay Area Joint Policy Committee and SPUR
We measure greenhouse gas emissions to determine our impacts on the climate, but we know much less about how to measure our ability to respond to the climate’s impacts on us. SPUR and the Bay Area Joint Policy Committee brought regional leaders together to discuss best practices in developing and monitoring resilience through ongoing measurement of key indicators.
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Freedom to Move
How the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority can create better transportation choices in the South Bay
Santa Clara County grew up around the car. Now traffic is stalling economic growth, social equity and quality of life. How can we get the South Bay, its people and its economy moving in a more sustainable way? SPUR's new report offers seven strategies to expand the range of transportation choices.
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The Future of Downtown San Jose
How the South Bay's urban center can achieve its potential
Downtown San Jose is the densest, most walkable, most transit-oriented and most dynamic place in the South Bay. It’s now poised to benefit from the growing trend toward working and living in urban centers. But downtown needs more people. This SPUR report identifies six big ideas for achieving a more successful and active downtown, then lays out the steps for making them happen.
Read The Report 8 Ways to Make San Francisco More Affordable
Proposals to solve the housing affordability crisis
San Francisco is in the midst of an affordability crisis. Changing this situation will require far-reaching changes to the city’s housing policies. But there are many things we can do at the local level to make San Francisco more affordable for the people who live here. What follows are eight ideas that SPUR believes are worth pursuing.
Read The Report Regional Prosperity Plan - Economic Prosperity Strategies
Outlines the Plan framework and key proposed strategies for connecting low- and moderate- wage workers with greater economic opportunity
The Regional Prosperity Plan is a SPUR-led regional effort to develop an economic prosperity strategy for the Bay Area. After a year of extensive outreach and technical analysis, the team is now engaged in developing recommendations broken out by goals and strategies.
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Getting to Great Places
How better urban design will strengthen San Jose's future
The City of San Jose's ambitious new General Plan imagines a dramatic shift away from traditional suburban landscapes to “complete neighborhoods” that provide basic services and amenities close to homes, jobs and transit. Achieving this transformation will be a daunting challenge. SPUR diagnoses the impediments San Jose faces in creating excellent, walkable urban places and recommends changes in policy and practice to get there.
Read The Report Greener and Better Roofs
A Roadmap for San Francisco
Many cities around the world have incentives and even regulations requiring green roofs in new construction. San Francisco lags substantially behind others such as Portland, New York, Chicago and Toronto in both green roof policy and in on-the-roof implementation. This memo asks what can be done to support the development and broader implementation of green roofs in San Francisco.
Read The Report Connecting San Francisco's Northeast Neighborhoods
The northeast neighborhoods of San Francisco — North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf and the edges of Chinatown — have some of the city’s highest densities of residents, workers and tourist activities. Yet there are currently no major plans to increase transit capacity serving the area. SPUR convened a community workshop to assess transit needs in these neighborhoods.
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Historic Preservation in San Francisco
Making the preservation process work for everyone
San Francisco is a city celebrated for its progressive history, distinctive architecture and phenomenal geography. We believe it is critical to protect the historic fabric of the city, while supporting growth and change in the right locations. In this report, we describe how to fully integrate preservation into the city's processes for land use planning.
Read The Report Re-Envisioning the San Francisco Housing Authority
The San Francisco Housing Authority is in crisis. As a recent San Francisco legislative analyst and budget report notes, the agency had a budget short fall of $4 million in fiscal year 2011 and $2.6 million in 2012. Meanwhile, it does not have nearly enough funding to meet its capital needs. SPUR offers recommendations to help the agency become financially sustainable over the long term.
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