SF Great Streets Project Finds 17th St. Plaza Builds Community

Photo: Jamison Wieser

The San Francisco Great Streets Project (GSP) has been collecting pedestrian counts and street user surveys, and has used time-lapse photography, to measure users' perceptions about the quality of the public realm before and after the 17th Street plaza treatments were in place. The results of the surveys show what many readers of Streetsblog have been saying all along: residents feel the sense of community and the quality of the pedestrian realm have gone up markedly.

The GSP volunteers collected data over four days before and after the plaza was constructed and found:

• The length of time spent in the area increased and users became more engaged in cultural and social activities
• The area is now utilized as a place and a destination rather than a route
• A greater sense of community character was perceived by pedestrians
• There was an increased desire for public space in the Castro Street Commercial Area

Read the entire report here for more details (PDF). The GSP is currently finalizing a survey of business owners and will publish that shortly as well.