San Francisco
Want to Renovate Your San Francisco Home? Good Luck.
San Francisco city planners take a hard line on renovating the city's stock of historic homes. Homeowners, architects, and even preservationists are saying the department has gone too far.
Streets May Become Temporary Recreational Spaces in San Francisco
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is considering a plan to temporarily close down certain streets to car traffic, creating public space for pedestrians -- similar to the successful Ciclovia that takes place weekly in Bogota, Colombia.
San Francisco Teaches Charleston About Preserving Lesser-Known Areas
Though more than a hundred years newer, the city of San Francisco has a lot to teach cities like Charleston about preserving their less-than-iconic historic areas.
San Francisco Aims To Give Parking A Technological Makeover
Variable parking rates and online parking availability are features of a pilot program meant to increase convenience and cut congestion on the road.
California Bullet Train Heading to Ballot
California voters will soon vote on a $10 billion bond proposal that would fund a 220 mph bullet train running between L.A. and San Francisco.
Crime Cameras Move Crime, Not Deter It
In San Francisco, "crime cameras" intended to ward of crime and record any illegal activity that occurs have been shown by a recent report to do little to prevent crimes from taking place.
Parking Violations Could Generate $100 Million for San Francisco
San Francisco is considering a plan to boost its fees for parking violations -- a move that could end up bringing in a total of $100 million in revenues from the pockets of illegal parkers.
Best Ideas of the Week
Another week has passed, and some more exciting and interesting ideas have taken root in the world of urban planning.
Embracing Alleys in San Francisco
Alleys are a major part of the character of San Francisco, and many parts of the city are trying to embrace these unique aspects of the urban makeup.
The Densest Cities in America
The blog post features a list of the top five densest cities in America, and looks at the conditions that have made them that way.
San Francisco's New PD Talks About City's Challenges
Architect Magazine talks with San Francisco's new planning director, John Rahaim, about the urban planning challenges and issues in the city.
New Bike Lanes Proposed in San Francisco
Officials in San Francisco are floating a plan that would add 34 more miles of bike lanes to the city, nearly doubling its current stock. The addition would require the removal of street parking and could take over some traffic lanes.
San Francisco's Little-Known Public Spaces
A policy requiring new commercial developments to include public spaces has created more than a dozen new public places in downtown San Francisco since the 1980s. Some say more effort is needed to make these public places known by the public.
Congestion Pricing Approved for Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge District, in agreeing to apply congestion pricing to the bridge, has saved the $158 million Urban Partnership grant for the Bay Area in the nick of time, but has created turmoil with S.F because of where the revenue goes.
Slow Transit? Put it Underground
This piece from the San Francisco Chronicle argues that the best way to improve the city's sluggish public transit system is to put it underground.
Sacramento Outsmarts San Francisco, L.A.
Residents of San Francisco and Los Angeles like to feel superior to supposedly unsophisticated Sacramento. Yet, Sacramento appears to be ahead of the hip coastal areas when it comes to actually implementing smart growth.
Affordable Housing May Be Required in San Francisco Redevelopment
A measure to require half of all new housing units in San Francisco's planned redevelopment of Bayview-Hunters Point is heading to the city's June ballot. The developer says the measure will kill the project.
Evictions Precede Market-Rate Conversion of Affordable Housing
Plans to convert one of San Francisco's public housing projects into market rate housing has resulted in dozens of evictions, and more are expected.
Bay Area Reluctantly Warms Up to On-Ramp Metering
With increasing congestion and freeways built out just about as far as they can go, transportation planners in the San Francisco Bay Area are considering plans to put on-ramp metering lights on many of the area's most congested stretches of freeway.
If You Prevent It, They Won't Do It
The Golden Gate Bridge has a four foot railing along its pedestrian sidewalk. Mental health advocates have long demanded that a barrier be placed to prevent those intent on suicide from jumping, and point to studies showing why it is needed.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
