Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Urban Design

What A Multimodal Urban Design Contest in Iceland Can Teach the U.S.

By Kea Wilson | Feb 13, 2023 | No Comments

An open competition to design a new urban quarter in Iceland will prioritize sustainable transportation in a region that's proactively transitioning out of car dependency — and it could serve as a model for how to fill similar holes in growing U.S. communities.

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America’s Most Equitably Walkable City is … Cleveland?

By Kea Wilson | Feb 7, 2023 | No Comments

In most U.S. metros, renters and buyers alike pay a steep premium to live in walkable neighborhoods, a new report finds — except for a small handful of U.S. cities where they actually cost less than car-dominated ones.

'Proxy' in Hayes Valley is a great example of vacant lots going to good interim uses (such as dancing). Photo: David Baker Architects

This post is supported by GJEL Accident Attorneys

SPUR Talk: Enlivening Spaces in the Interim

By Roger Rudick | Sep 7, 2017 | No Comments

“Why wait five or six years before doing anything with the space?” was the question Brad Leibin, an‎ architect at David Baker Architects, was asked to help solve about an affordable housing project planned for West Oakland’s San Pablo Avenue at 34th Street. “So we started to make a difference on that streets-cape immediately … […]

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Here They Are — The Sad Benches Where No One Wants to Sit

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 31, 2015 | No Comments

Last week, Gracen Johnson over at Strong Towns introduced the phrase “places I don’t want to sit” to describe the lousy, leftover public spaces where someone has plopped down a bench or two as an afterthought. The seating, in these cases, helps crystallize how unsalvageable our public realm becomes when everything else is planned around moving and storing […]

This post is supported by GJEL Accident Attorneys

NACTO Street Design Guides Now Official Policy in SF

By Aaron Bialick | Oct 8, 2014 | 8 Comments

The Board of Supervisors yesterday voted unanimously to establish the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ Urban Street and Urban Bikeway Design Guides as official policy for all city agencies, as proposed by Supervisor Scott Wiener. “Safe and livable streets start with smart street design reflecting the needs of all users,” Wiener said in a statement. “Safe streets and […]

This post is supported by GJEL Accident Attorneys

Wiener Moves to Make NACTO Street Design Guides Official Policy for SF

By Aaron Bialick | Sep 15, 2014 | 1 Comment

Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced a bill that would make the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ guides for Urban Streets and Urban Bikeways official city policy. The SFMTA Board of Directors already adopted the NACTO guides in January, but Wiener’s legislation would establish them as official guidelines for other agencies to use, including the […]

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