San Francisco's 'Green Connections Plan' Prioritizes Wildlife

An article and video by Chicago PBS station WTTW explore San Francisco's uniquely ambitious approach to sharing the city with wildlife.

1 minute read

March 29, 2017, 2:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


San Francisco Residential Neighborhoods

Sundry Photography / Shutterstock

Sean Keenehan reports on San Francisco's Green Connections Plan: "an ambitious 115-mile, 24-route map of potential habitat corridors in San Francisco."

The Green Connections Plan began in 2011, led by the non-profit organization Nature in the City in collaboration with city and community-based agencies. The big idea expands on what we traditionally think about transportation planning by "imagining a world in which cars share the road with birds, bees, butterflies, and bicyclists," explains Keenehan.

"Each route in the network is named after a native San Francisco 'Key Species' and is designed to incorporate 'Key Habitat' for that species," according to Keenehan.

The Green Connections network map. (San Francisco Planning Department [pdf])

To get a feel for the plan's Green Connections, Keenehan takes a bike ride along with Green Connections director Amber Hasselbring in a video you can watch after the jump.

Local coverage of a recent Green Connections walk is also available on the San Francisco Examiner website.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017 in WTTW

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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