San Francisco

Dog Days of Summer

Ranking the Best Cities for Dog Parks

A lawn service company has created a ranking of the U.S. cities with the best dog parks.

July 11, 2021 - LawnStarter

A sunny day in San Francisco, with a view of the city skyline with the Easy Bay Hills in the background.

The Imagined Bay Area of 2070: Affordable, Equitable, Prosperous

An opinion published recently by the San Francisco Chronicle offers a provocative thought exercise: How did the Bay Area of 2070 achieve affordability, equity, sustainability and adaptation in the face of climate change, and new levels of prosperity?

June 29, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

South of Market

900 Affordable Housing Units on Multiple Sites Planned by San Francisco

The city has selected developers for an ambitious approach to affordable housing development on nine sites across the city.

June 6, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Mt. Rainier

2020 Population Growth Rates for the 50 Biggest U.S. Cities

The Census Bureau released new data on May 27 that includes the first four months of the pandemic. Seattle tops the growth rate at 2.2% from July 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020, while Baltimore and San Francisco land at the bottom with -1.4%.

June 4, 2021 - The Seattle Times

Car Traffic

Fourplexes on the Legislative Agenda in San Francisco

San Francisco, the poster child for runaway housing costs and displacement of existing residential populations, could be on the cusp of a change of plans.

May 18, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

Community Land Trusts

Community Land Trusts Go Commercial: Nonprofit Offices, Hairdressers, and a Sausage Factory

Community land trusts, better known for permanently affordable housing, expand into commercial spaces for a wide range of reasons, and in a wide range of ways.

April 27, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

San Francisco Rail Transit

One Rail System to Ring the Bay Area? Supporters See Reasons for Optimism

A plan to integrate the various regional transit providers in the San Francisco Bay Area could be the key to winning back transit riders in the post-pandemic world.

April 15, 2021 - The Mercury News

This Real Estate Co-Op is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First

A real estate co-op in Oakland is making waves with its first commercial acquisition.

April 14, 2021 - Next City

New York City

Does Zoning Create a Vicious Circle—Or Can It Fix Itself?

Ideally, planners could balance homeowners' interests in zoning against the public good, liberalizing zoning when prices got too high. But this may be politically impossible.

April 4, 2021 - Michael Lewyn

San Francisco Street

Opinion: High-Rises Won't Sink San Francisco

The weight of large buildings may not be a major threat to coastal cities, despite recent claims.

March 16, 2021 - San Francisco Chronicle

COVID Testing

'By the Numbers': California Shows How to Reopen Safely

Unlike other states that lifted restrictions statewide after coronavirus cases plummeted, California replaced its regional stay-home order with a county-based blueprint, permitting counties to advance based on performance in three health metrics.

March 4, 2021 - The Mercury News

Mission Bay and Potrero Hill

Where the Ground Sinks Under the Weight of Development

New research documents how the weight of buildings causes the ground to sink underneath developments in the San Francisco Bay Area.

February 22, 2021 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Disabled Parking

Parking Induces Driving, Study Says

New research published in the Urban Studies journal does the difficult work of connecting the dots between parking and driving.

January 31, 2021 - Sightline Institute

Sutter Street from above

San Francisco's Housing Crisis is Deepening, Despite Falling Rents

Despite the purported exodus of untethered Silicon Valley workers from the Bay Area, rents in the city are still the highest in the United States.

January 24, 2021 - The Guardian

Venice Beach Coronavirus

Los Angeles Mayor Blames COVID Outbreak on Density

Appearing on a Sunday news show, Mayor Eric Garcetti noted that the Los Angeles metropolitan region is the nation's densest and one of two primary reasons why "we're seeing a person every six seconds contract COVID-19 here in Los Angeles County."

January 6, 2021 - CBS News

San Francisco Density

Arts-Oriented Land Trusts Preserve Affordable Cultural Spaces

A community land trust in San Francisco is buying up properties with the goal of preserving affordable spaces for arts and culture.

December 14, 2020 - NextCity

Muni Bus Overhead Wire

The Transit Catastrophe Continues: San Francisco, D.C. Forecast Service Cuts, Layoffs

Advocates have been waiting for the other shoe to drop as transit agencies deal with cratered revenues during the pandemic without support from Congress.

December 1, 2020 - San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco View from Dolores Park

San Francisco Bans Natural Gas Use in New Development

San Francisco becomes the 40th city statewide to legislate a ban on natural gas in development projects.

November 24, 2020 - Smart Cities Dive

Coronavirus and Urbanism

An American Urban Coronavirus Success Story

The City by the Bay has joined eight largely rural counties in California by advancing last Tuesday to the least restrictive tier of the state's new reopening criteria by reducing coronavirus transmission to nearly New York levels.

October 27, 2020 - The Mercury News

Outdoor Dining

The Metrics of Outdoor Dining

Outdoor dining programs are proving popular in cities all over the United States, as a lifeline for both restaurants and residents seeking some social normalcy. Data from San Francisco reveal the numbers behind the phenomenon.

October 20, 2020 - Eater San Francisco

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.