urban planning

From John King:

There’s a new design for the museum that Gap founder Donald Fisher wants to build in San Francisco’s Presidio, and it’s the antithesis of the icy box that caused uproar last year.

Instead of a sharp-edged stack of concrete and glass, it’s a low pavilion with a landscaped roof. The pavilion burrows into the earth and includes a public thruway, rather than rising up, as its predecessor did, to demand attention within the historic heart of the army base turned national park.

More: Fisher museum plan toned down to mesh with park


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NOW on PBS looks at mass transit projects and how the stimulus funding may be used, or abused, for such projects. This is a sensible look at what mass transit can offer around the country in terms of neighborhood revitalization, travel ease, reducing driving, lowering fuel consumption, building more sustainable communities and even increasing social interactions. But will the stimulus money actually be used sensibly?

From NOW on PBS:

President Obama’s stimulus money is nearly out the door and on its way to the states, but will it be spent in the way it is intended?

One alarming example: Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. Meanwhile, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence. Will the government’s investment dramatically revitalize our national travel infrastructure, or will states spend the money according to ‘business as usual’?

This week NOW travels to North Carolina to see what the future holds for mass transit in these troubling financial times. Our investigation is part of a PBS-wide series on the country’s infrastructure called “Blueprint America.”

NOW on PBS “Stimulus Roadblock?”
NOW on PBS
Blueprint America on PBS


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Central Subway map. Image: SFMTA.
Central Subway map. Image: SFMTA.
From the Chronicle:

The proposed Central Subway project that calls for running light-rail service into San Francisco’s Chinatown has received federal environmental clearance, city officials said Tuesday. On the same day, the Municipal Railway’s governing board approved a $147 million-plus contract for program and construction management of the project.

“These developments are significant milestones for a project that is crucial to the future of transportation in San Francisco,” said Municipal Transportation Agency chief Nathaniel Ford.

The $1.3 billion Central Subway, which would extend the new T-Third line from the South of Market into Chinatown, must still secure federal funding. City officials hope to start construction on the 1.7-mile rail project in 2010 and open for service six years later. Planners envision a surface boarding platform at Fourth and Brannan streets and subway stations serving Moscone Center, Union Square and Chinatown.

The project management contract was awarded to Central Subways Partners, a joint venture of AECOM USA Inc. and EPC Consultants, and is not to exceed $147,375,171. The Board of Supervisors must still sign off on the agreement.

Central Subway given feds green light

For more about the Central Subway, see the SFMTA’s Central Subway Overview page: http://www.sfmta.com/cms/mcentral/centralover.htm


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From Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle:

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority, which has been studying the idea of imposing congestion-based tolls on city streets for nearly two years, released some of the details of its study Tuesday at a meeting of its board, which is made up of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors.

The board won’t consider recommending a congestion toll plan until February, but members nodded their heads during the report, and at least three, Jake McGoldrick, Tom Ammiano and Ross Mirkarimi, offered words of support.

“Clearly, I like where this is going,” said Mirkarimi.

The congestion toll, if implemented, would be the first in the nation. Similar tolls, also known as cordon tolls, have been used in London and Stockholm, where they’re credited with reducing traffic congestion, air pollution and miles driven. They also have raised tens of millions annually for public transportation improvements.

It probably goes without saying that I, as an urban walker and transit enthusiast, I support this idea.

Read more at SFGate…


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SFGate published articles over the weekend on community farming on public land, on making saner lifestyle choices and on planning for a sustainable future in West Oakland. Good stuff!

Community farming

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission owns a plot of land in the Sunol area of Alameda County and they are renting parcels to farmers who are producing specialty crops including figs, heirloom tomatoes and squash.

Six farmer tenants are currently growing organic crops on the eighteen acre site. Deemed an “agricultural park,” it was proposed in 2006 by Sustainable Agriculture and Education (SAGE), a Berkeley nonprofit. The idea of an agricultural park is to provide “undeveloped plots on the outskirts of urban areas to be used both by small farmers without access to their own land and as public parkland.”

I think it’s a great way to make public land accessible and productive, not to mention being able to teach farming to urban and suburban folks.

The story of why San Francisco own lands in Alameda County (as well as in San Mateo County and in Yosemite) is fascinating in and of itself. Check out Imperial San Francisco (below) for more about how The City ended up with water rights far outside its own land area and built the Hetch Hetchy Damn to provide water and power.

Saner lifestyle choices

The article on saner lifestyle choices advocates less materialism, healthy home life, conservation, community involvement, sustainable landscaping and driving less. In other words, the kind of healthy choices that everyone knows makes a difference, but far too few actually incorporate into their lives.

I’m a huge fan of living in a smaller footprint, using fewer resources and actually thinking about the effects of what we consume. And I really think more folks are catching on to the advantages of simpler and more sustainable choices.

Sustainable planning in West Oakland

An article about the West Coast Green conference highlights a workshop held there to discuss and plan for a sustainable future in West Oakland. West Oakland is just across the bay from San Francisco — literally one BART stop — and is a fascinating area of industrial endeavors and residential properties. Dogged by high crime, West Oakland also shows a lot of potential for planning and development in an urban area struggling to find its future. In 1989 the Nimitz Freeway collapsed there and has been replaced by a wide avenue, providing opportunity for redevelopment and new planning without a monstrous eyesore running through the middle of the community.

From SFGate:

Organized by Oakland’s Ecocity Builders, a nonprofit involved in the theory and practice of sustainable city design, the charrette was to help flesh out a report dubbed “The Sustainable Urban Villages Project.” Ostensibly a blueprint for a sustainable makeover of the area, the report is being funded by a $73,000 grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board. When completed in late 2009, Ecocity will share it with other cities such as Richmond.

Ecocity’s idea for the future of West Oakland, an area surrounded by freeways and streets full of big rigs going to and from the busy Port of Oakland, is to create affordable homes within “urban villages” in the area.

Executive Director Kirstin Miller defines an urban village as a neighborhood about a half-mile long where residents can easily walk or take public transportation to just about any activity – work or school, shopping and recreation. The idea is in keeping with Ecocity’s mission of “thinking through how to re-design cities more for people rather than cars,” Miller said.

Farmer tenants work San Francisco-owned land
Tough times may force saner lifestyle choices
West Coast Green tackles a sustainable future for West Oakland


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I’m a huge fan of car sharing. You join the car share service and that gives you access to cars all over the city. You just book one of the cars on the web site — even just a few minutes before you need it — and then you can pick it up, using a card key to unlock it. You pay by the hour (or by the day) and gas and insurance are both included.

For city dwellers like me car sharing saves a ton of money and aggravation (it’s awesome not owning a car!), we have access to a car when we need one and using a car becomes a fixed and predictable expense.

The large commercial car sharing company in cities across the US is Zipcar; an architecture company has created a design for what they call a “Zipcar dispenser.” It’s basically a giant Pez dispenser-like rack system that allows car share cars to be stored vertically in dense urban areas and popped out like pieces of candy when they’re needed.

Check out the picture here, and the Moskow Linn Architects site for more pictures and information.

Image: Moskow Linns Architects


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