sf

| Emily

DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO’S SECRET GARDENS

Do you work in downtown San Francisco? If you do, there’s a secret garden or roof terrace waiting for you to enjoy! 

For years, San Francisco has required large downtown developments to build small publicly accessible open spaces. Intended to break up the palette of concrete, steel, and glass in a part of town distinctly lacking in parks, these spaces are known as “Privately Owned Publicly Spaces” or “POPOS”. Several years ago, preeminent urban planning and policy group SPUR put together a handy guide covering San Francisco’s downtown POPOS. 

What’s even better, is that several new open spaces have been built since SPUR’s guide came out. Unfortunately, many of them are not easy to spot so you’ll need to have the location for your next lunch date figured out in advance. Look for the little brushed steel plaque designating a “Privately Owned Public Space” – but know that sometimes you’ll have to check in at a front desk or take an elevator to find it! I checked out the newest secret gardens for you so you’ll know where to go.  Check out my recent article and photos to scope out some unique public art and sunny terraces for next time you find yourself in San Francisco’s Financial District!

| Emily

Do you think increased fines will actually make people care about parking blocking the sidewalk? Or crosswalks? Or handicap-accessible curb cuts? There is an SFMTA meeting upcoming on increasing fines on many of these daily occurrences. Have you ever seen anyone out enforcing?

I often see the little SFMTA parking carts (operators wearing bicycle helmets, hilarious because they could just BE riding a bike .… ) around, mainly ticketing street parkers due to overtime limits and street parking. I’ve never seen them ticket any of the obvious sidewalk parkers. In my luckily brief experience as a member of the disabled community, where I didn’t have the “option” to walk or get on/off a curb, I was shocked at how careless car owners were. You’ve already read my thoughts on how the curb cuts and garages rampant in San Francisco detract from the streetscape, make the sidewalks less attractive and pleasant to walk on (since can vehicles can pull in and out of them at will), and contribute to the impermeable landscape that characterizes much of the city. Not only that, but most of the time when a car is not totally bocking the sidewalk, the part that’s behind the bumper is often slanted into the road – making it totally impassable for me on my scooter, as well as it would be dangerous for a baby stroller or an elderly person. Not to mention healthy people – why should they have to walk into oncoming traffic simply because someone believes that a curb cut means “personal driveway here”? 

The fact of the matter is, at present, parking on the sidewalk is illegal in San Francisco and carries with it a $105 fine – reason enough to stop skirting the issue and realize it’s just not done. 

I am able to function in a world where I drive, ride a bike, walk, take public transit,  run, etc. and obey the general rules of decency for each mode. It’s because I’m not a “cyclist” or a “driver” or a “pedestrian” – I’m just a person, who lives in a city, around other people (currently San Francisco) and don’t believe that the way I cart myself around exempts me from behaving in a normal and courteous way, or has somehow imbued me with special rights. 

Obviously, congestion, parking and transit issues, and cost are all especially present for most San Franciscans – these issues will likely continue to cause aggravation over the next decade. I hope to work with you and others to come up with workable solutions to these problems that can improve quality of life and make San Francisco a beautiful and safe place to live. Property value, neighborhood attractiveness and photogenic homes are not created by paving over landscaping and parking a car on it. While tourists may congregate in certain areas of San Francisco – the Piers, North Beach, Chinatown – the rest of the neighborhoods do not deserve to have their gorgeous historical homes and sweeping vistas of hill and ocean marred by unsafe walking conditions, paved over outdoor spaces, and cracked, algae-covered concrete instead of attractive landscaping, treeboxes, benches, hedges or vines. 

Will The America’s Cup Change SF’s Waterfront For The Better?

| Emily

Rendering of Cruise Terminal and spectator areas, SF Embarcadero (via AECOM) 

Have you read about San Francisco’s preparations for the 2013 America’s Cup races? There’s going to be a lot of activity along the Embarcadero and SF Waterfront over the next few years, and it’s going to happen fast. While plans are not yet set, as funding is still being secured, it’s possible that SF will gain not only a new cruise terminal but also improvements to pedestrian and public transit infrastructure along the Embarcadero. 

What do you think about the new cruise terminal, designed by Pfau Long and KMD? Do you think it’s going to improve the SF waterfront or is it just another Fisherman’s Wharf-style structure that you’ll never use unless you’re a visitor? What would you like to see happen to prepare SF for the America’s Cup? You can read more and see the renderings in my latest Inhabitat article here. 

| Emily

CITIES WITH FISH FARMS IN THE PARK AND FOG FUNNELS ON THE HILLS?

Photo via van Bergen Kolpa Architecten

I recently attended a lecture at the American Institute of Architects San Francisco space as part of the Architecture and the City Festival. SF-based IwamotoScott Architects and Rotterdam-based van Bergen Kolpa Architecten were on hand to present their conceptual designs. As part of the “Architecture of Conseqence” exhibit currently at the AIA-SF, both teams presented a unique and futuristic vision of how the cities and urban areas of tomorrow could combat resource shortages and population growth while treading lightly on the environment. 

Pictured above is VBK’s “Park Supermarket”, which envisions creating everything from fruit orchards to rice paddies and fish ponds (above) in urban and semi-urban parks. Not only could advanced greenhouse and geothermal technologies be used to grow a global variety of food – locally – but citizens would also have an opportunity to engage with the “supermarket”. 

IwamotoScott’s “Hydro Net” tackles the problem of water resources and urban infrastructure in a future-San Francisco. Along with tapping groundwater, “Hydro Net” could collect fog and grow algae in tall twisting residential complexes – which would later be used to produce biofuel and hydrogen to fuel flying transport pods! 

Check out the exhibit while it’s still up, and for more details, check out my latest article on Inhabitat on these projects. 

Treasure Island Redevelopment – Is It Really “Green”?

| Emily

Aerial rendering of SF (left) and Yerba Buena/Planned TI Development (right) via Skidmore, Owings + Merrill

The SF Board of Supes recently gave the go-ahead to a billion dollar plan to redevelop Treasure Island, a flat and wind-scoured artificial island built from fill in the 1930s. Envisioned as a a “green utopia”, there are serious doubts as to how sustainable a 19,000 inhabitant island community can be, considering it will be built on toxic weapons dumps and accessible mainly by car. Read more in my recent Inhabitat post, with architects renderings.