How To: Design a User-Friendly Museum Exhibition about Planning

John King writes that the "Gallery + Ideas Forum" at the Presidio in San Francisco provides an excellent model for presenting issues and ideas of planning and urban design to the public.

1 minute read

January 10, 2015, 11:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"If you want to see how the rarefied topic of urban design can be presented in a downright friendly way, check out the Presidio’s current exhibition on its recent competition for a unique park above Crissy Field," writes John King in a recent review for the San Francisco Chronicle.

King takes the occasion of reviewing the success of this exhibition to ask a larger question about exhibitions on the subject of planning, urban design, and other forms of preparing for the future of communities:

"Ask yourself why San Francisco and other cities don’t create their own interactive spaces where regular citizens could immerse themselves in what might or might not happen next."

The review includes a lot more detail about the exhibit and more about how helpful a tool this kind of access can be to cities and the planning profession.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015 in San Francisco Chronicle

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

A road in north eastern Nebraska with power lines on either side, and grassy fields.

Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity

Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.

November 6, 2026 - Grist

A rendering of a mall turned living space. People walk around a green space surrounded by apartments.

Malls are becoming the midtowns of the future

Mall and office park redevelopments are a generational opportunity to create new nodes of urbanity.

October 29, 2026 - Ben Schneider

A car drives through a puddle in NYC

NYC breaks ground on anti-flooding infrastructure project

New York City's new system will reduce stormwater flows to local sewers by 90%.

7 hours ago - Smart Cities Dive

Members of the Smoketown CLT gather for a photo

One Kentucky town’s secret to affordable housing

The Smoketown Community Land Trust has already built seven affordable homes for community members.

November 9 - Reasons to Be Cheerful

Two people stand under mesh coverings shaped like petals

Houston gains petal-shaped cooling infrastructure to make streets more ‘delightful’

The city has installed the pavilions along 15 blocks in Houston.

November 9 - De Zeen

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.