SPUR

South of Market

11,000 Housing Units Possible with S.F. Office Conversions, Study Says

A new study by SPUR and the Urban Land Institute’s San Francisco chapter estimates a specific number of apartment units that could be built from vacant office units in the city.

March 29, 2023 - The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Bay Area

A Daring 50-Year Vision for the San Francisco Bay Area

The SPUR Regional Strategy sets a new standard for planning advocacy, not only for the depth and breadth of its vision, but for its skill in execution.

May 24, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Housing Construction

How to Treat Housing as a Human Right

SPUR's housing report, "What Will it Really Take to Create an Affordable Bay Area," found that it will take 2.2 million units in the next 50 years to avoid worsening housing inequality.

June 24, 2020 - SPUR

BART Train

Competing Funding Strategies Promoted for Bay Area Transit Mega-Measure

Two Bay Area transportation sales tax measures affecting three Bay Area counties performed poorly on Super Tuesday, but it hasn't deterred the groups backing a nine-county mega-measure. Progressive groups are proposing non-sales tax alternatives.

March 9, 2020 - The Mercury News

BART System

$100 Billion Bay Area Transportation Tax Considered for November 2020 Ballot

Two years after voters in the nine-county Bay Area agreed to hike tolls on the region's seven state-owned bridges, regional business leaders are hoping they will approve a one-cent regional sales tax to fund $100 billion in transportation projects.

July 28, 2019 - San Francisco Chronicle

Bay Area Wetlands

A New Plan for Sea Level Rise in the San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay has 400 miles of shoreline, and a dire need for a new approach to dealing with the effects of rising water levels. An estimated $100 billion in potential property damage is at risk.

May 5, 2019 - San Francisco Chronicle

New Leadership at SPUR

Alicia John-Baptiste, a veteran of transportation and planning agencies in San Francisco will take the helm of the influential planning and urbanism think thank.

March 17, 2019 - San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Homeless

Will More Money Solve San Francisco's Homelessness Problem?

San Francisco voters will decide on Proposition C, a business tax based on gross receipts levied on large employers, the most contentious of five local measures.

October 31, 2018 - Curbed SF

Gabriel Metcalf Reflects On 20 Years Of Change In Bay Area

For over 20 years, few people have understood or influenced the Bay Area like Gabriel Metcalf, president of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research. Metcalf recently announced a move to Sydney, Australia, and reflected the past two decades.

August 24, 2018 - California Planning & Development Report

The Mission Mural Gentrification

YIMBYs Attacked from the (Far) Left

Pro-housing activists in San Francisco are blamed for displacement of vulnerable communities because they support luxury housing developments. A report from the independent progressive website, Truthout, ties YIMBYs to the "alt-right."

May 22, 2017 - Truthout

San Francisco

San Francisco's Mission Bay Provides a Case Study for Sea-Level Rise

The San Francisco Chronicle's John King continues his ongoing, in-depth coverage of sea-level rise and its potential impacts on local and regional concerns in the San Francisco Bay Area.

October 4, 2016 - San Francisco Chronicle

Golden Gate

Bay Area Election Roundup: Wetlands, Housing, Ballot-Box Planning, Sales Tax

A regional measure to tax all property owners in the 9-county Bay Area to adapt to sea level rise passes; S.F. voters support raising the affordable housing bar; Richmond voters reject ballot-box planning; San José approves sales tax increase.

June 9, 2016 - Planetizen

Oakland

5 Big Ideas for Oakland

People are looking for ideas in the Bay Area. Across the water from the calcified world of San Francisco, Oakland offers the flexibility and energy to build an equitable and dynamic resource that benefits the entire region.

November 4, 2015 - SPUR Urbanist

Regional Planning Merger One Step Closer to Reality in the Bay Area

The Bay Area is one of the few metro regions in the U.S. with a separate MPO and COG, but that could change after voting members of both the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments agreed to a merger study.

November 2, 2015 - Contra Costa Times

Grizzly Point Berkeley

Can a Single Regional Planning Agency Fix What Ails the Bay Area?

The potential to address the housing and transportation issues of the Bay Area by a single regional agency will be addressed this week.

October 28, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

No Luxury Condos

What's the Matter With the Planning Process?

Current planning models places housing affordability and preservation fundamentally at odds with one another. We must be willing to re-evaluate our processes if we are to truly move forward.

August 4, 2015 - Reuben Duarte

Recommendations for Improving the Bay Area's Busiest Commute

One of the nation's busiest commute corridors will get a lot busier in coming decades with no large infrastructure investment in sight. SPUR has some ideas about how the East Bay to San Francisco corridor can be improved right now.

July 2, 2015 - Medium

A Housing Affordability Report Card for the Bay Area

SPUR didn't give a grade to the Bay Area on housing affordability in its most recent issue of The Urbanist, but it does provide a thorough overview of the current and ongoing efforts to make housing more affordable in the region.

December 20, 2014 - The Urbanist

Friday Eye Candy: SPUR's Urban Cartography Exhibit

Allison Arieff provides a glimpse to the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research's new exhibit featuring interesting maps of the San Francisco Bay Area.

November 21, 2014 - Medium

Where Smaller is More Marketable

Unlike the message of an annoying commercial, bigger may not be better in the real estate market. Residential developers in Washington D.C. have found that millennials like small studios, or micro-units, provided the spaces are well designed.

July 23, 2014 - The Washington Post

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

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Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.