Abigail Shull

"Join the Young Urbanists for an informal gathering and learn what's on the ballot for the June election and what it means for San Francisco. You'll hear the inside story from SPUR policy staff and other members of our ballot analysis committee. BYOB: Bring your own ballot and we'll provide some wine (and beer), snacks and political insight. This event is generously sponsored by the Koret Foundation."

"One of the first gold-certified LEED for neighborhoods development in California, Tassafaronga Village is a new 7.5-acre Oakland Housing Authority community that brings a diversity of affordable housing to an under-served area of Oakland. Designed by David Baker + Partners, the Village includes an 80-unit apartment building, 22 Habitat for Humanity townhouses as well as 77 townhouses and a re-purposed pasta factory made into supportive studio housing. Bring your bike or walking shoes for the one-mile stretch from Oakland Coliseum BART to the job site. Led by David Baker."

"The India Basin shoreline neighborhood in the greater Bayview-Hunters Point community is located at the base of the northern side of Hunters Point Hill, along India Basin cove and set amidst large tracts of vacant waterfront land from the shipyards to the decommissioned PG&E power plant site. San Francisco’s Planning Department and Redevelopment Agency have partnered to develop a plan for it. Meanwhile, community members have also been working on a vision for the neighborhood to help inform the City's plan. With Tom Evans of the Redevelopment Agency, John Billovits of the San Francisco Planning Department and Kristine Enea of the India Basin Neighborhood Association."

"For better and worse, cars are a big part of urban life. San Francisco City Traffic Engineer Jack Fleck will share lessons from a career in the transportation trenches—including the contentious Berkeley traffic diverters, the Embarcadero Freeway replacement project and Third Street Light Rail. We’ll also hear about some current issues—extending parking meter hours and the Transbay area plan. Also, is there still a case to be made for the electric car?"

"In this new SPUR tour series, see your neighborhood through the eyes of your district supervisor! Join Supervisor Eric Mar on this walking tour of the Inner Richmond. Supervisor Mar will take us to some of his favorite spots, but with only one hour, we won't see it all. Grab your walking shoes!"

"Using the latest digital mapping technologies, “Local Code” documents the location and character of 1,500 City-owned “remnant parcels” in San Francisco. Conceived of by UC Berkeley professor Nicholas de Monchaux, the project uses geospatial analysis and parametric modeling to provide tools for citizens to transform these derelict pockets of public space into useful and beautiful places that, when combined, could contribute significantly to the City’s larger sustainability goals."

"In a compact city like San Francisco, one person's fun is another person's unwelcome late night party. From the crackdowns on Halloween to nightclubs to street festivals and events, some have claimed there's a “death of fun” march across the city. Other cities are moving in the opposite direction: Paris just decreed to keep its nightclubs open all night to compete with the party magnets of London, Berlin and Barcelona. How do we keep San Francisco fun while maintaining livability for everyone? With Steven T. Jones, Bay Guardian City Editor, Inspector Dave Falzon of the San Francisco Police Department Vice Crimes Division, Sup. Bevan Dufty, Jocelyn Kane, Deputy Director of the City’s Entertainment Commission, and SPUR’s Deputy Director, Sarah Karlinsky, as moderator. This event is generously sponsored by the Koret Foundation."

"Join us for an on-stage conversation with Ernest Callenbach, author of the cult-classic, Ecotopia, and Novella Carpenter, an urban farmer and author of Farm City. With its vision of white bicycles, a creek running down Market Street and a female president, Ecotopia (dubbed "the novel that predicted Portland" by New York Times writer Scott Timberg) has gained renewed attention in recent years as urbanists and naturalists alike consider a dizzying array of strategies for living in a resource-constrained world. Where are we now, relative to Callenbach’s vision of the future?"

"The UK government is aiming for an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, and for 20 percent of energy to be sourced from renewables by 2020. As part of the drive towards these goals, they are considering implementing the wide use of district heat networks—centralized sources of space and water heating, the cheapest method of cutting carbon and with one of the lowest carbon footprints of all fossil-generating plants. Michael King, Associate at Combined Heat & Power Association in London and Chairman of Aberdeen Heat & Power Co in Scotland, will share his experience with the process of planning policy and framework necessary for the development, financing and delivery of district heat networks in a market unfamiliar with the technology."

"As the western terminus of the transcontinental railroad, Oakland has had a long history as a center for manufacturing, particularly in food production. Unlike its history as a cannery to the Central Valley, Oakland is now the heart of the Bay Area's epicurean economy with new breweries, coffee roasters and other speciality food manufacturers. Join us for a special tour along what is dubbed the "Oakland Waterfront Foodtrail." We will be led by Margot Lederer Prado of the City of Oakland and joined by various manufacturers along the way.