Troubled Plazas

By pushing the homeless out of public spaces, these San Francisco plazas have gone from bad to worse. John King offers a case study.

1 minute read

March 11, 2002, 6:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"As amenities are stripped away, the situation goes from bad to worse. Public spaces where everyone should feel welcome become places that almost everyone avoids. A perfect example of the downward spiral lies in San Francisco, where two of the most prominent plazas on the most prominent thoroughfare have become symbols of the city's problems instead of its strengths... The plazas were flawed from the start, products of a 1960s-era planning mentality that says spaces work best when they're kept apart from traffic and noise. In fact, cities work in precisely the opposite fashion. People want to feel like they're part of the action."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: Common ground

Sunday, March 10, 2002 in The San Francisco Chronicle

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