The Urbanist #517 - Sept 2012 - Is Information Making our Cities Smarter?

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OSPUR Ideas + actionfor a better city

Issue 517/October 2012

THE URBANIST IS INFORMATION


O SPUR SAN FRANCISCO NOVEMBER 2012

Voter Guide Summary

~ See SPUR's complete ballot analysis online at spur.org/voterguide2012

ter?

Corey Marshall is Good Government Policy Director

PROP.

ORDINANCE

VOT E

~s

A

City College Parcel Tax Parcel Tax to Support City Co llege Operations

YES

orrns, How eve r,

of electro nic

now is that see wh at st icks' I ju st that. :t Bus and Rout e-

Levies a ta x of $79 per parce l for eig ht years, generating approximately $14

er vices and user

m illi on per year to support the op erations of th e City Coll ege of San Francisco.

~rat i on

that can

!gio n that is at entrepr eneuri al :Ip a smart cit y ning .

PROP.

B

GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND

Parks Bond Clean and safe neighborhood parks

VOTE

YES

~c h in th e Int erst ed here at

~ne

size fit s all

y and gover-

Authorize s the cit y t o issue $195 mill ion in gen eral obl igation bonds to fun d

brace of ope n

capi ta l ma inte nance, repair and improveme nts to facil it ies th rough out th e

al t o im pact

San Francisco park s syst em.

number of prirevealed irr egu 'rnatlon in cit ies ped to id entify -ran clscc' s SF-

PROP.

c

CHARTER AMENDMENT

VOTE

et parking . ire I overh eard

Housing Trust Fund Affordable housing trust fund and housing production incentives act Creat es a dedic ated fund ing source for afford abl e hous ing produ cti on in San Francisco for 30 years.

YES

application t o :he promise of mt de partme nts ; we pu rsue t he .ent ( like up to ,roviding data to ,in th e Bay Area, ities smarte r. •

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OCTOBER 2012

NewsatSPUR Transit Center District Plan Wins Final Approval On August 8, Mayor Ed Lee signed the San Francisco

plan area. The plan's funding program is proj ected to raise

Transit Center District Plan afte r the Board of Supervisors

$590 million of new revenue from develop ment, includi ng

unanimously approved it in late July. SPUR has long

more t han $40 0 million for complet ing the extension

advocated for the passage of this plan, which proposes

of high -speed rail and Caltrain . The next milestone in

update d land uses surrounding t he Transbay Transit Center

implement ing the plan takes place in mid-October, whe n

now under constr uct ion. In add it ion to creating a walkable,

the city wi ll hold joint hearings between t he San Francisco

transit -oriented neighborhood with new housing and jobs,

Planning and Recreation and Park commissions . The

the plan aims to raise revenue from new development to

hearings w ill address shadows created by new buildings in

extend high -speed rail and Caltrain service into down town

the plan area and their potential imp acts on nearby public

San Francisco, as well as to comp lete other pub lic

parks. The tallest building in the plan area, the Transit Tower,

infrast ructu re t hat would support conti nued growth in t he

wi ll go before t he Planning Commission in early October.

San Francisco's Waterfront Transformation

upgrade some of its deteriorat ing

A Focus on SF's Southeast Waterfront

SPUR Makes 7x7 Hot List

infrastru cture. Throughout th e fall,

San Francisco's waterfro nt has

SPUR will be hosting a series of

Since 20 07, SPUR has stewarded a

been home to some of th e city's

forum s exp loring planning on th e

graduate st udent in desig n und er

Grant, SPUR's publi c realm and urban design prog ram manager,

most tr ansform ati ve proj ect s, including Mission Bay, AT&T

waterfront. To find out mor e, go to

the Piero N. Patr i Fellowship in Urba n Design, a summer- long posi-

to its 2012 "Hot 30" list. Each year

tio n that provides t he oppo rt unity

group of locals who help make

Park, China Basin and the Sout h Beach neighborhood. Today,

www.spur.org/events/

7x7 magazine has named Benja min

the magazine prof iles a select

to work on meaning ful projects

San Francisco a place like no ot her.

along San Francisco's sout heast

Grant, who was recogn ized fo r

th e location of many of San

ABAG's General Assembly Focuses on Disaster Resilience

wat erfront. This summer's fellow,

his role leading th e Ocean Beach

Francisco's largest and mo st

Every year th e Associat ion of Bay

Alexa Bush, recentl y presented

Master Plan, appears alongside Stew art Brand , founder of the Whol e Earth Catalog and th e Long

th e water front is once again

excit ing developm ent prop osals.

Area Governm ents (ABAG) hosts

her completed prop osal to an

Several new plans along th e bay,

a major meeti ng of the region's

includi ng Seawall Lot 337/ Pier 48 (Mission Rock), Pier 70 and

audience of representat ives fr om city agencies, th e press, local resi-

important planning topic. This year,

elected officials to focus on an

Now Foundation; Neal Benezra,

the proposed Warriors' Stad ium,

inspired by th e work of bo t h ABAG

dents, business owners and ot her key stakeho lders. A lexa's project,

aim to make th eir mark on San

and SPUR, th e general assemb ly

a website developed to engage

" Hot 30" coverage appears in 7x7s

Francisco. As always, SPUR wi ll be tracking and weighing in on

w ill foc us on t he issue of disaster

neighbors and visitors with t he

Oct ob er issue. •

resilience and long-term recovery.

city 's wat erfront neighb orhoods,

t hese important project s, wh ich

SPUR is proud to be part of thi s

st udies th e history and develop-

have t he potent ial to make an

assembly, w hich will be held on

enormo us positive impact on

October 18 in San Francisco. For

ment of th e southeast waterfront and analyzes op portunities to

th e wate rfront w hile also helpin g

more infor mat ion, go to

increase pub lic access and aware-

t he port to repair and seismically

www.abag.gov.

ness. www.sewsf.org.

THE URBANIST

direc tor of SFMOMA; and Jeff Henry, design director of Gensler.

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COLLABORATIVE CONSUMPTION

A policy agenda for the sharing economy This emerging movement is redefining the ways goods and services are exchanged, valued and created.

Sharing is an old idea. But its pot ential to generate new economic opport unit ies is only just beginning. Under t he name "collaborative consumption," or somet imes simply "t he sharing economy," a new type of enterpri se is emerging th at strive s to make it easy for peop le who don't know each other to share resources. Habit s of sharing that have existed with in small, informal net works for most of human existence (say, borrowing your neighbo r's lawnmower or lett ing a fri end crash on your couch) have now blossomed into a market for micro-ent repreneur ship th at spans the globe . This new enterpr ise is fundamenta lly capit alist yet simultaneously mor e socially and environm entally consciou s. And it has been made possible by the emerg ence of new, net worked social tool s and a cult ural shift to ward peer-to -p eer commerce that makes tru st and efficient exchange betw een st rangers possible. Collabo rativ e consumption represents a major economic, social and cult ural shift. But as it moves out of inf ancy and towa rd greater adoption and accepta nce, it' s tim e to look at th e ways policy migh t help facilit ate it s growth - and how government migh t help, or hinder, it s progress.

The emergence of the sharing economy One of the longe st-standing examples of th e sharing economy is car sharing, which got it s start more th an a decade ago. SPUR was an early supporter and in 2001 made it a strategic priority to bring car sharing to the Bay Area, helpi ng to incubate a new nonprofit 4

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orga nization, City CarShare, to prov ide th e service. Car sharing proceeded from two basic insight s: fir st, th at cars are expensive to own and second, that most cars sit idle most of th e time . The early car-sharing movem ent identified a previously unvalued resource - the unused hours of a car. By making it possible to pay based on how much one dr ives, car sharing converts th e fixed cost s of owner ship to variab le cost s based on use. Car sharing offe red a glimpse of the incentives th at wou ld come to moti vate th e broader sharing economy, such as cost-con sciousness, concern for t he environm ent and a renewed interest in community. Today, City CarShare membe rs save an average of mor e than $8,0 0 0 per year compared with the costs of private car owner ship. From an environment al perspect ive, the benefit s of car sharing are enormou s: reduced resource consumpt ion because fewer cars are manufactured and better use of urban land previously devoted to storing vehicles. By making the tru e marginal costs of car use visible to driver s, car-sharing memb ers are incenti vized to driv e less.' Since City CarShare launched in 20 01 wit h 50 participant s, it has grown to mor e than 15,000 memb ers and 400 cars while attra ct ing compet iti on and imita tor s of all kinds. City CarShare has overcome numerous practic al hurdl es - lining up parking spaces, creating reservation s technology, acquiring the vehicles themse lves - but more importantly, it has gotten peop le to ret hink t he role of t he automobile in their lives.

Summary: From carsharing to clot hes-swapping to couchsurfing, collabo rat ive consumption is not only reinventing what we consume but how we consume.

By Gabriel Met calf and Jennifer W arb urg

Gabriel Metcalf isexecutive directorof SPUR. Jennifer Warburg isassistant to the executive director.

Special thanks to Allison Arieff, Neal Gorenflo, Rick Hutchinson, Eric Irvine, Molly Turner and Vivian Wang.

1

SeeRobert Cervera. Aaron Golub and BrendanNee.

"San Francisco City CarShare: Longer-Term TravelDemand and Car Ownership Impacts: ' University of

California at Berkeley Inst itute of Urban and Regional Develop ment. May 200 6. (w ww.iurd.berkeley.edu/ publications/ w p/2 0 0 6-07.pdf)

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Newer ent rants to th e colla bora t ive consumption fie ld have offered many of the same benefits and seen simila r levels of remarkab le grow th . Services and spaces like Loosecubes and Hub Bay Area make it possible to share off ice space. Air bn b, VRBO and CouchSurfing provide a way for people to rent out th eir apart ments, hom es or extra rooms when th ey aren't in use. Peer-to -p eer car-sharing companies like Getaround and RelayRides enable pri vate ow ners to rent out their cars, pot entia lly turnin g every car into a shareable asset, while Park Circa is doin g t he same th ing for parking spaces. SideCar and Zimride help drivers share th e unoccup ied seats in th eir vehicles by using technology to facilit ate sponta neous, on-de mand ride sharing. Everythin g f rom appare l to babys itti ng servi ces, backyard prod uce to cargo bikes, can be exchanged under th e new sharingeconomy mode l. Nearly all of these ventures challenge existing industries and practices, such as traditional rental car companies and cab companies , traditional rental agreeme nts or conventional usage patterns. The people wh o deve loped the necessary technologies and th e projects t hat got us accustomed to the idea of sharing on a larger scale deserve considerable credi t for this shift in th e status quo. The open-source software movement and Wikipedia pio neered a meth od for harnessing th e cont ribu t ions

consumption, one that defines the practices of companies like Kickstarter and other forms of crowdso urced funding, social lendin g (Lending Club, Prosper) and social curre ncies ( Ven, Bay Area Communit y Exchange). The 1999 adve nt of Napster, the noto rio us music downloading site, made many peop le comfortab le w it h not ions of use rat her th an ownership. And eBay brought technology-based market exchanges to th e masses, facilitatin g a huge wave of micro -entr epr eneurship th at paved th e way for compa nies like TaskRabbit, Vayab le and Skillshare. It' s imp ortant to not e that th is is not solely an outgrowt h of new technologies; some facets of collabor ative consumpt ion are thr iving via comparative ly low-tec h too ls, such as parents' groups that facilitate kids' clothing exchange, anno unce garage sales and th e like on Yahoo d iscussion t hreads, and via brick -and-mortar community efforts like too l sharing and skill sharing . A huge compo nent of this movement is a cult ure and behavior shift: People are collaborating informally in their neighborhoods out of necessity and as a lifestyle choice. That said, the increasing adoption of on line

of a crowd to prod uce a shared resour ce, even when th e parti cipants are far-flun g and don't know each

commerce and th e rise of smartphone ow nership are core to the rapid growt h of collabora t ive consump t ion. Fort y-six percent of Am erican adults now ow n a smartpho ne, up 11 percent f rom a year ago .2 In the Unit ed States , e-co mmerce sales grew 16.1 percent fr om 2010 to 2011and are expected

ot her. This remains a core element of collabo rat ive

to co nt inue growing by 10 t o 15 percent for t he

TH E URBAN IST

2 Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet. org/Reporls/ 2012/ Smarlphone路 Updale路2012/ Find路 ings.aspx

OCTOBER 2012

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COLLABORAT IVE CO NSUMPT IO N

next several years.' Wh ereas traditional shari ng arra ngements tended to be informal and lim ited to fo lks one knew, th e new technologies allow people who don't know each ot her to share resources more safe ly, form ally and effic ient ly.

Why the sharing economy is important For urb anist s, th e rise of th e sharing economy is grat ifying. These sharing services are exte nsio ns of our community . They require a belief in th e commo ns (i.e., publi c space, public educat ion, health and t he infrast ruc t ure th at allows our society to fu ncti on), which cities foster, and th ey are amplified by th e kind of physical proximity that only exists in cit ies. Metrics increasingly reveal that sharing economy busi nesses tend to gene rate greate r eco nomic benefits and reinvestme nt in the comm unity. Studies have shown , for examp le, t hat for every reducti on of 15,000 owned cars, a city keeps $127 million in the local economy as peop le are able to get what they need wit hin a smaller geog'ra phic area.' For the Bay Area, the sharing economy has the pot ent ial to be especially significant in several ways. One, it offe rs a very direct and powerful way to make it more affordable to live here. Instead of owning a car, you can reliably access one only when you need it. If you ow n a car, you can rent it out during th e est imated 92 percent of th e ti me it is not being dri ven. If you go out of town , you can rent out your vacant hom e. The imp act of th ese serv ices 6

OCTOBER 20 12

on household budgets can be huge. Getaround membe rs earn an average of $4,200 per year rentin g out t heir cars?while Airb nb hosts in San Francisco earn an average of $5,000 a year rentin g out t heir housing unit s. Those hurt by t he recession can supplement - or even cobble toge t her - t heir income t hroug h 21st- cent ury versions of the temp agency, such as TaskRabbit. Second, thi s indu stry mod el is expo rtable. One of th e ways th at cit ies gro w their economies is by developin g businesses th at serve specia lized local tastes - t hink music in Nashvill e or jogging in Portl and. Local firms t hat grow up serving th ese demanding custo mers can th en expo rt to customers elsewhere." The urbanized Bay Area prov ides the perfect incuba tor for collabo rative consumption. Some of ou r cities have compact land use patterns that facilitate interaction and exchange. We have an educated pop ulation with high numb ers of early adopters of new technolog ies. We have high environmental awareness, along with a high cost of liv ing, which motivate us to experiment in new ways to save money by sharing resources. Today San Francisco is the center of th e collaborative consumption movement in the United States, wit h stro ng support fro m Silico n Valley. If some of the firms that exist to day can find tr acti on and grow nati onally and int ernati onally, we will have witn essed th e emerge nce of an impo rta nt new part of our economic base.

3U.S. Departmentof Commerce. http://www.

internetretailer.comj2012/02 / 16/e -commerce-salesjump-16-2011

4Susan Piedmont-Palladino. "The Space-Time-Money Continuum," National BuildingMuseum. http://www. nbm.org/ intelligentcities/topics/city!city-essay. hl ml# full

S

Provided by Getaround. AshleyLevine. Getaround

Press Office. 6

SeeJoeCortwright'sdiscussionof the "Distinctive

City" in City Success: Theoriesof Urban Prosperity, CEOs for Cities,2008. www.cecstorcltfes.crcz/ research/ city-success-theories-of-urban-prosperity/

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A policy agendafor the sharing economy Despite th e excite ment surro und ing these ventur es, th e emerging indu stry faces several significant challenges - most pressingly , outd ated regul atory framewo rks and th e hostilit y of established enterpr ises. When a new industry or technology emerges, governm ent f requently has to rely on past mod els as it figures out how to regul ate the new enter prise. For examp le, when t he auto mobi le debut ed on Am erican roads, it came into conflict wit h th e horse, and early regulatio ns tended to pr ior itize t he horse. As Kenneth Jackson detailed in his book Crabg rass Fron ti er: The Suburbanizatio n of th e Uni ted States, "On t he theor y that lumbering automobiles fr ightened horses and raised dust, many states fol lowed Brit ish precedent and passed laws lim it ing self-p rope lled vehicles to fo ur miles per hour and requ iring th at each be preceded by a man on foot carryi ng a red flag."7At th e same t ime, th e extremely powerf ul railroad indu str y kept th e auto mobile from emerging as a competitive threa t, delaying by decades th e const ruct ion of networ ks of paved roads. We can see here t hat th ese t win thre ats inappropr iate regul ation s and fearful est ablished comp anies - are inte rrelated. Peer-to- peer car sharing, fo r example, was held back for years because Califo rnia insurance regulati ons didn't allow it. Car companies are thr eatened by car sharing, just as taxi compan ies are threatened by dyna mic ride sharing . Likewise, hot els are t hreatened by t he increasing numbe rs of peer-t o-peer room and house renta ls. In all of these sit uatio ns, t here may be valid reasons to monitor, regulate and tax t he collaborative act iviti es, but th ere is great danger t hat in doi ng so, government could make it imposs ible fo r th e sharing econom y to wo rk. What companies wit hin th e sharing economy need from government is fairly st raig htforwa rd: They need to be allowed to operate. This means th at th ey need pro tect ion from esta blished companies that might tr y to use th e power of gov ernm ent to kill compet itio n, and it means t hat they need a tax st ruct ure that does THE URBAN IST

not penalize collaborat ive consump t ion . As of th is wr iting , th e rules of the San Francisco assessor-r ecord er state t hat every person who rent s his or her apar t ment on a sharing site must pay th e transient occupa ncy tax (commo nly known as the "hotel t ax" ), just like a hot el does. But oth er businesses in San Francisco don' t start paying t axes until t hey generate revenue over a certa in th reshold. ( If th e business tax refor m on t his Novem ber's ballot passes, busi nesses in San Francisco that earn less t han $1 million in revenue wi ll not be subject to a gross-receipts tax.) Shoul dn't people who earn a cou ple thousa nd dol lars a year from sharing resources have a similar small-busi ness tax exemption? Advoca tes of the sharing economy argue th at we should give the benef it of th e do ubt to people who are t ry ing to earn a little extr a money renti ng th eir housing units, cars, parking spaces or ot her assets - t hat we should be permissive about letting peopl e share resources. If gove rnments decide to requ ire perm it s for cert ain form s of sharing, let 's make sure t hat we invent a modern form of permit - one that is accessible online and easy to understand, as simple as registering to vote. If we can't make it that easy, let 's st rongly consider not requ irin g a permit. These new platform s provi de an easy and low-impact way to t rack t ransact ions th at ot herwise were " undergro und" and to captu re revenue. Governmen t 's first and prima ry role in fostering the sharing economy should be to pro tect t his economy's existence by not overta xing it or regu lating it out of existence . Beyond t hat, th ere are several key thin gs governments can do to promote collabo rative consump tio n: 1.Government s can be early adopte rs of shared services, as the City of Berkeley did wit h City CarShare.8 By prom ot ing th e services and pro viding th e early users th at new serv ices rely on to gro w, th ey give t heir sta mp of approval to somet hing th at will, in many cases, save t axpayers money.

1

Kenneth Jackson. Crabgrass Frontier: The Subur-

banization of the United States(New York: Oxford University Press. 1987). p. 158. 8

Seewww.shareable.net/blog/policies-for-a-share-

able-city-14-the-shareable-city-employee

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I I

I

2. They can help create bet ter and more standardize d

5. Local gove rnments can build on th e backbone

met hods for measuring th e impacts and benefit s of t he sharing econo my. Hotels have ways of quant if ying th eir economic benefit s to th e community t hrough hiring; purchasing of furnit ure, food and cleaning produ ct s; procurement cont ract s; and tourist dollars spent locally. As yet, Airbnb has no consistent method to measure it s economic impact, t hough it has substa nt ial survey evidence indicat ing th at t he income of Airbnb guests most ofte n flows to t he imm ediate neighb orh ood, which is generally out side th e tr aditi onal touri sm dist ricts where visito r dollars concent rat e. Survey data also shows th at hosts use th eir Airbnb income to reinvest in th eir home t hus increasing property values in th eir neighb orhood .

of th e great sharing service t hey already provide libraries - by expanding th em to related uses such as tool libraries.'?

3. Local decision makers can communicate with oth er cities abo ut mod el polici es for suppor t ing t he sharing secto r. Creat ion of overarching best pract ices would save municipaliti es across t he count ry t ime and wo uld help t hem create incentiv es for growth. San Francisco can be an undisputed leader in t his effor t. 4. Cities can playa more active role in making bot h pub licly owned and private assets available for maximum ut ilizatio n by residents. The simple genius of the sharing economy is in identifying existing but underuti lized assets and ext racting a benefit that previously did n't exist. SPUR's Public Har vest report ? inspired San Francisco to do t his wit h public lands by calling fo r an aud it of city -own ed land and roof to ps to see which are suitable for urban agriculture.

8

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Potential for a symbiotic relationship Since Cit y CarShare launched more than 10 years ago, t he sharing economy has grown and developed in ways we never could have imagined. It's generatin g ways to save resources and money. It 's act ively helpin g build community and creat ing new jobs and new modes of comme rce. It 's an expression of th e natur al virt ues of city life, in which high densiti es of people facilitate exchange, collaborat ion and innovation. Collabo rative consumpt ion shares a core tr ait wit h governm ent in th at both exist to help local residents meet th eir go als. Their aspirat ions for communitybased benefits are largely aligned and can amp lify each other. Consider city goa ls of zero-waste and job growth, for example. Collaborative consumpt ion can help make cit ies better. But its contin ued viability and grow t h will be contingen t on learning to play well with government. It is incumbent on all of us to fi gure out the best ways to ensure th at will happen. Some of the sharing economy is taking shape wit hin for-profit businesses, which will want to expand around t he country and around th e wor ld. Others are nonprofit, mission-d riven organizat ions or local, infor mal effo rts. A range of different project s are taking shape and gat hering momentum . We may have only begun to realize th eir pot enti al. •

9

Public Harvest: Expanding the Useof Public Land

for UrbanAgriculture in San Francisco, SPURReport. April 2012(available at htlp:!! www.spur.org!files! event -atla chments!SPUR]ublic_HarvesLpdf)

10

See www.shareable.net/blog/policies-for-a-share-

able-city-13-public-libraries

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DEMAND BASED PRICING

Smart Cities, Limited Resources

Summary: Demand -based pricing may result in a bet ter matc h-up of supply and demand th an has previously bee n possible.

Can we provide public goods more efficiently by pricing them to reflect real-time demand?

By Laura Tam

Have you ever looked up the fare for a roundt rip flight only to find two days lat er that t he price has go ne up $200? Or perhaps you've had better luck finding rock-bottom, seemingly half- price deals to t ravel somewhere at t he last minute? Why do different seats on th e same plane, all purchased at diffe rent t imes, vary so wide ly in price? It' s because airlines emp loy a tool called dy namic pricing - a system that adjusts prices based on expected demand in ord er to increase profit in light of fixed capacity and th e elast icity (or flexibilit y) of consumers' individu al demands. This enables t he airlines to yield as much revenue as possible for each fixed cost (or fli ght), sometimes resultin g in substantia l consumer savings, ot her t imes not. The pric e of public goods pro vided by eit her government or a regulated monopoly - th ink tran sit rides, drinking water, park admission - typica lly aren't based on supply and demand , because there is no real "market" for such goods. Prices may be based on t he cost to supply the goods or t he cost that regulators believe wil l meet public expectations of fairne ss, or some combination of t he two . Sometimes there is no price at all because it has not been possible - eit her physically or po lit ically - to charge for resources based on use. But it is becoming possible for th e public secto r to emp loy dy namic pricing - as airlines do - to manage certa in limi ted public resources. Somet imes called demand -based pricing or real-tim e pri cing, thi s is a THE URBANIST

more efficient way of allo cating publicly provided or regulated goods, especially t hose that are subject to wide fluct uat ions in dema nd over a short period of t ime, such as wit hin an hour or a day. By judg ing people's willi ngness to pay for a publicly prov ided serv ice - such as elect ricity, road space or parking

laura Tam isSPUR'ssustainable development policydirector.

- demand-ba sed pr icing enab les a more nim ble match-up of supp ly and demand than has previously been possible. The innovati ons th at fu el smart cities make th ese pri cing schemes possible. A combinat ion of new sensory and comp ut ing technologi es, tw o-w ay communicat ions and devices th at both create and analyze large volumes of data can now measure and com municate real- time dema nd. This inform ation can be used to automa te price signals for resources, such as at smart parking meters . In some cases, it can also be used to remote ly tr igger a certa in actio n, such as powering down preselect ed device s dur ing periods of peak electricity demand . Demand -based pric ing offers th ree key pub lic benef its: 1. Economic efficie ncy (as exp lained above) 2. The creatio n or growth of a revenue st ream t hat could be used to recoup th e cost of buildin g infrast ructure or to maint ain levels of service for suppo rti ng it -7

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DEMAND BASED PRICING

3. The avoided cost and environmenta l impa ct of building new infrastructure to accommodate peak demand SPUR beli eves t hat effective use of prici ng is an appropriate way to manag e limited resources like parking, hig hways and electric ity . In our repo rt The Urban Future of Work published in January of this year, we reco mme nded insti t ut ing full-r oad pr icing on key regional highway corrido rs as an initial step toward broader pricing of all major highways in the Bay Area. Dynamic, demand-based pricing has pot ent ial environmenta l and economic benefit s. Because it is a more effic ient mechanism fo r allocatin g public goo ds, it can help reduce waste or loss tha t is ot herwise paid for by taxpayers or ratepayers. A new revenue st ream generated by road pricing, wh ether congest ion pricing or a peak- per iod bridge toll, for examp le, can be direc ted toward road maint enance or t ransit opera tions, wh ich are often underf unded. By reducing peak demand , demand-based pr icing for electric ity could save ratepayers the cost of purcha sing reserv e power production , allowing t hose fund s to be invest ed in

energy eff iciency or even returned to customers t hrough futu re electricity pric e decreases. The environment benefits because operating or bui lding new infrastructure just to sat isfy peak period s of demand can be avoided, and peak demand fo r th e resource itself can be reduced. By pr icing peak demand for tra ff ic lanes at a rate that enco urages some t ravelers to dr ive at ot her times of day to do so, for example, we can avoid buildi ng a new lane (a costly enterpr ise that will increase emissions in the long term) and reduce t raffi c congesti on in th e short term resultin g in f ree-f lowing lanes of t ravel and fewer emissions). Of course, th ere is a tradeoff here: Peak-period pricing may be regressive, because higher prices will have a bigger impact among people wit h lower incom es. Any demand- based pricing scheme for public goods must be designed to mitigate disproporti onate im pact s as much as possible, especially with good s that were previously "free." SPUR believes that one way to mitigate equit y concerns around new pric ing plans would be to provide a certain quantity of things such as fre e tr ips and reduced rates, to lower-income people .

Demand-Based Pricing in Practice Electricity Demand-based pricing of electr icity can save ratepayers and elect ric ut ilities both cap ita l and opera t ing costs. Capital cost s may be saved by avoidi ng (or at least post poning) th e construction of new facilities that w ill be inf requen t ly used except in extreme peak demand circumstances (i.e., 3 p.m. on the hottest day of th e summe r). Utilities can save op erating cost s if they don't need to have a large op erationa l reserve or spare capacity online to deal with unanticipated or sudden changes in dema nd. Instead, existing facilit ies wi ll operate mo re freq uent ly. The cost savings fro m effic ient pricing may be signi ficant. Betwee n 10 and 20 percent of elect ricity costs in th e United States are due to peak demand during only 80 to 100 hour s of the year.' The key new technologies t hat enable demand based pricing for elect ricity are smart meters and smart grids. Toget her, th ey form an energy

10 OCTOBER 20 12

network t hat is more efficie nt and can bett er utili ze decent ralized and small-scale renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Because it moni tors real-time demand, a smart grid could enable significant expansion of dema nd-response programs - which current ly enroll mainly volun teers and large business customers - into the residential market. For participants, demand -re sponse programs provide an incentive to temporarily reduce electr icity demand on peak days. But t hey also create perma nent energy savings by reducing demand in off-peak periods by an average of 4 percent. Smart meters allow users to moni to r real-time energy consumption and to t ake advantage of variable-rate pricing plans where they are available . Betwee n consumers, ut ilities and the environment , everyon e stands to gain from impr oved effic iency in pricing and the expansion of demandresponse programs.

THE URBANI ST


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Parking Though parking costs vary by location, hourl y or daily rates tend to be predict able and fi xed. But th ere are ineffi ciencies and socioeco nomic impacts if providers get th e pri ce of parking "wron g." While overpricing parking could lead, for example, to shoppers or touri sts taking th eir business elsewhere, und erpri cing leads to excess dri ving, which causes congest ion and unnecessary emissions (th e percept ion of limit ed parking could also lead shoppers or touri sts to choose a different destin ation). Now, new smart parkin g meters can use demand-based pri cing t o set th e price of parking right at th e equilibrium of supply and demand. A t heory of tr ansportation economics holds that th e opti mal occupancy rate of publi cly provided parking is 85 percent - wh ere littl e or no circling is necessary to find a spot. New technol ogies th at can monitor occupancy and gauge demand blo ck by block can help set rates to achieve this goa l. San Francisco was one of th e fir st citi es in th e

count ry t o t est thi s mod el with it s SFpark prog ram, whi ch began in 2010. SFpark meters have been inst alled in a few pil ot district s: Fillmor e, Downt own, Fisherman' s Wharf and more. Rates vary by tim e of day, day of th e week, block by block and over t ime (mo nt hly) to respond to demand. Parkin g sensors install ed in each parki ng space detect occupancy rates, and program managers review utili zation data every month, at whi ch t ime they may move hourl y maximum rates up or dow n by 25 to 50 cents. Two-way communicat ions by th ese sensors make it possibl e for driv ers to look up real-tim e availability using a smart phone app. Besides th e benefit s of more readily available parking in SFpark distri ct s and reduced congest ion and emissions, th e progr am may help improve th e speed and reliability of tr ansit vehicles, which may spend less tim e blocked by tr affi c or doubl e-p arked vehicles.

Roads Demand-b ased pri cing for roads can make tr avel more efficient within a congeste d zone (li ke a downt own area), at a congest ion choke point (like a brid ge) or thr ough out a region by using a networ k of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. As with smart parkin g policies, bet ter utili zation of road space thr ough demand-responsive pri cing could reduce congest ion, especially durin g peak demand period s, impr ove th e speed and reliabilit y of tr ansit vehicles and enhance th e att ract iveness of ot her mod es of travel such as tr ansit and bik ing. Road pri cing is a commo n practi ce, especially on th e Eas t Coast of th e United States, but th e st rategy of rapidl y changing toll prices to reflect real-t ime tr affi c condit ions is newer. London, Stoc kholm and Singapo re are models of city center cordon, or congest ion pri cing; th e idea is being st udied for San Francisco. The Metr opolitan Transportation Commission is tr ansiti onin g many of th e Bay Area's high -o ccupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes into HOT lanes, which are

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TH E URBANI ST

Cit ies now have th e tools and technologi es t o better utili ze key pieces of urban infr astr uct ure by getting th e pr ice much closer to th e real equilibrium price th an ever before. By doing so, we gain a host of

expected to bett er utili ze exist ing capacity and reduce idlin g and emissions. An addit ional publi c benefit is a new revenue source th at can be used to pay for road maint enance or tr ansit. SPUR believes th at full -road pri cing is better th an establishing single HOT lanes; a sing le-t olllane approach could result in mor e dri vin g, not less (by creat ing less congest ion in th e unpri ced lanes). Real-t ime congest ion pri cing may be more d ifficult to impl ement th an smart parking policies, tim e-ofuse energy pricing or demand-r esponse pro gram s. This is because peopl e are generally accusto med to payin g for parkin g and elect ricity already, but not for dri ving on fr eeways. Also, th ere are real-tim e benefit s for parti cipant s in th ese ot her programs: being able t o find a parkin g spot (and in SFpark, to pay wit h a credit card) or saving money by turnin g of f nonessenti al appliances. Some of th e equity imp act s of thi s type of plan may be miti gated by reinvestin g revenue from full- road toll ing int o publi c tr ansportation serv ices.

co-be nefits, includin g qualit y-of-life improvements such as less traffic and environmental benefit s such as fewer emissions. Smart cit ies of th e future will invest in th ese oppo rt unities as a boo n to th eir own residents and businesses, and t o society at large. •

OCTOBER 2 0 12

11


CIV IC DATA

Why Does Civic Data Matter? A new emphasis is being placed on the availability of open data from governments but what use does this data have for citizens' daily experience?

A new emphasis is being placed on th e availability of open data from gov ernme nts. but what use do es thi s data have for cit izens' daily exper ience? I work wit h Code for Amer ica to advo cate for city gove rnment s to ope n up public data sets. We make a clear economic argument to these cit ies: If you prov ide data as a free commo dity to web developers. th ey will ult imat ely start businesses. grow job s and create consumer-faci ng produ ct s - with relative ly little government funding or ot her support. Althou gh th ere are many deep arguments made for opening up civic data in the publi c domain , from a pragmatic and economic perspective civic dat a has gr eat value for cit ies.

News Civic data is literally enhancin g news and information on publ ic sector matters. A lot of attention has been given to enhanced news experience s: Journ alists are able to tell better stories because mor e informati on is availab le. for example. Though most citizens have littl e use fo r a list of, say, t he longi tude and lat itud e of fire hydrant locat ions. we are all taking in mor e (and bett er) art icles, chart s, gra phs and other interestin g gra phical manifestat ions of publicly provided

12 OCTO B ER 20 12

stat ist ics about weather, tran sit. crime, budget allocat ion and politi cs.

Summary: Open data has t he poten t ial to spur economic develop ment , engage citi zens, redu ce gove rnment costs and improve its services. But we're not th ere yet.

By A lici a Rou au lt

Alicia Rouault isa 2012 Code for America fellowanda 2012 Knight News Challenge Data Winner

Weather (and Crime) In per haps open data evangelists' favorit e example of how data can generate an ent ire industr y. th e Nat ional Weat her Service released basic weathe r dat a to pub licly accessible sites like Weather.com and AccuWeather and to developer s of widget s for mobile devi ces. cont ribut ing to what is now a $1.5 bi llion industry of weath er forecasts. San Francisco design firm Stamen was one of the fir st to change the way we consume weather data by building an innovative hurricane tr acker for MSNBC back in 20 08 . Stamen is also responsible for CrimeSpotti ng, one of the earliest int eract ive crime maps that maps publ ic poli ce data onto a user-f riendly int erface.

Transit Anoth er indust ry has grown around open t ransit data . General Transit Feed Specifi cation (or GTFS data) is a st andardized format born out of a public-private part nership created when a few city employe es of Portl and. Oregon's municipal tr ansit system (TriMet) wanted to provide t ransit schedules to Google in a

THE URBAN IST


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standardized way. GTFS is now publicly provided for 383 transit agencies and counting and is currently the standard for releasing static (scheduled) transit data . Real-time transit data is also one of the more straig htforward contributions to our daily lives. In major cities where people commute and rely on public transit, quality of life can be infin itely improved when commuters are given access to real-time arriva l and departure information in the palm of their hands. Excellent examples of this have been created by third parties - and not the transit companies themselves. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) openly encourages third-party developers to produce mobile apps like NextBus and iBart that help rider s access real-time data .

What It All Means for Cities Civic data is just another free commodity provided by government agencies, similar to the radio frequencies that were once divvied out to third parties as a government-provided good. Third-party developers consume information and can ultimately provide a better product for less money than if a government were to produce it. When government or trans it agencies make raw data available at little or no cost,

the private market can process the data to deliver a superior consumer product. This trend is being promoted through a slew of city-hosted competitions like New York's BigApps, which each year gives cash awards tota ling $50,000 to app developers who create a useful tool with civic data for citizens . Web developers are drawn to the notion of doing good for society with data and the process speaks to the highly competitive hacker/hackathon culture. By leveraging the talent of individual web developers, the city gets a whole suite of software for a mere $50,000 investment. Other cities can follow New York's lead on this. Open data success stories have historically been pushed forward by for-profit companies . Whether it 's governments recycling innovative applications of data (as with websites like federalregister.gov) or consumers benefiting from indirect application of data sets provided (as with mobile transit apps like Routesy), public -private partnerships are crucial to understanding the unique value of civic data in the real wor ld. Just as new and small businesses are made strong with governmental subsidies and tax incentives, civic data has the power to stimu late economic activity in cities . •


URBAN FIELD NOTES

Case Study #52:

Patched

As a photographer, I am fascinated by the everevolving mosaic of colors and textures that are characte ristic of urb an environments like San Francisco. I am always looking for ways to capt ure th ese changes both large-s cale and in det ail. Graff it i cultu re and vand alism ofte n result in paint job s to pat ch up unwanted blight. It' s a phenom enon that continu ously alters our environment. These patches on buildings and surfaces vary in color s and t extures, add ing to an ever-chang ing mosaic. In my photographs, my goa l is to depi ct th e diverse colors, texture s and (sometimes subt le) patterns t hat result. Without getting into the politics of graff iti or st reet art, t hese photographs serve as a visual descr ipt ion

A ph otographer observes that after the graffiti's gone, ne w w o rks of art emerge. Caseworker: Sergio Ruiz

Each imag e reveals the choices that were made and what method s were used to mask unwanted tagg ing or graffiti. I imagine that a bui lding or business owner may use whatever color paint is available to th em, resultin g in patc hes that vary in hue or are an entir ely different color th an th e original surface. The painte r (or pat cher), can the n choose t o paint an entire wall, a specific elevat ion of th e wall, a neat rectang le, or a blob covering just th e tagged area. The surface itself often chang es t he resulting look, wh ether it is coarse or smooth, solid or

t1 Yellow Paneling Octavia Boulevard at Haight Street

III Gunk Divisadero Stree t bet ween Hayes and Fell Streets

permeab le. In some cases, it seems t hat t he patch er got creati ve in t he pro cess. How else to explain the irreg ular mix of colors and patterns?

of t he proc ess.

14

OCTOB ER 2012

THE URBANI ST

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TH E URBANI ST

OC TO BER 20 12 15


URBAN FIELD NOTES

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Octav ia and Hayes Street

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Sergio Ruiz is atransportation planner for theCalifornia Department of Transportation andisSPUR's photography intern.

16 OCTOBER 20 12

TH E URBANI ST


CITY NE WS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

Urban Drift It's Your Move Visual artist Flavio Trevisan has created an art piece/b oard game designed to intr oduces its players to th e excit ing wor ld of urb an renewal. Each player assumes a role, vary ing from cit y councilo r and developer to man-en-t hest reet and skyscraper Enthusiast. Part icipants can demoli sh a failed urba n experiment and sta rt again Cana Font Spur Urban Growth? The process of bestowing a metropolis with a recognizable identity is much like branding a consumer goo d: Cities have to work at it. They need to sell them selves, too . Logos and t ypefaces are a good place to sta rt. In Chattano oga, Tenn., a team of you ng graphic desig ners decid ed to give their cit y a font that could be used for all Chat tanooga- related communi cati on and messaging . Wit h recent invest ment in cut tingedge broadb and infrastru cture, th e city is on an upswing, aiming to att ract ent repreneurs and artist s who can bring vita lity to th e local econo my and culture - and now Chat ta noog a can promote all of its effo rts w ith one unified sty le called Chatype . The Kickstarterfunded project didn't cost taxpayers a dime . Already, says one of the four designers, James Doo ley, "the visitor s bureau is using it for an ad campaign thro ughout t he South to publ icize t he city, and t he libra ry system has comprehensively rebranded th emselves wit h th e font ." "HowChattanoogaCreated Its Own Font to Spur Urban Growth: ' by Sarah C. Rich. Smithsonianmag.com, August 29. 2012

TH E URBAN IST

from t he groun d up to realize t heir amb ition s and build t he ideal city . "The Game of Urba n Renewal " was part of an exhibition of Trevisan's work, Museum of the Rep resented City. (Visitors could buy the game in the exhibit's gift shop.) The To-

but you have to go a bit out of t he cit y to get there. My idea is to do it differently, to find opportuniti es for movement in the city center." In Berlin, Schonewa ld ran t he Weekend Warr iors fitne ss program , tr ansform ing the lab and th e surrounding urban enviro nment into a hardcore out door gy m. On any given weekend, one could fin d Schonewald bark ing out orders as parti cip ants did pull-up s from tr ee branches and bike racks and shadowboxed t heir way thr ough obstac le courses of rop e st rung th roug h tr ees. Schonewald hop es peo ple will take th e idea of city-asgym into th eir everyday lives. "Turn YourCity Into YourGym:A DIY Guide," by Christine Mcla ren, BMWGuggenheim Lab's "LAB

canned air costs $9 .99 before shipp ing and, it s creator explains, "relieves stress, cures homesickness and helps fighting nostalgia." Each can has a list of ing redient s - New York, for instance , cont ains 20 percent each of Empire State Building and Stat ue of Libert y and 10 percent each of Grand Cent ral Terminal, Chr ysler Buildin g, Little Italy and Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridg e, Times Square and Cent ral Park, plus possible tr aces of th e Bronx, Brook lyn, Queens and State n Island . The Paris air bears t he caut ionary not e "May conta in traces of lib ert e, egalite and fraternite,' and the Singapore air warns agai nst ope ning it in pub lic places, as th is carries a $25,0 0 0 fine.

log: ' August 23. 2012 "Now YouCanBuyOrganic Air in a Can," by Jess Zimmerman.Grist.orq, August 15.2012

ronto- based artist was put ting th e whole concept togeth er around the tim e that infamou sly anti- urban mayor Rob Ford was elected. " I was really upset with that whole process and who we got ," Trevisan says. "A lot of my cynicism sta rted coming t hrough as I was writing th ese instru cti ons." "TheUrban Renewal BoardGame," by Jeroen Seekmans,Popupcityne t, August11, 2012

TurnYourCity Into a Gym Arn e Schonewald sees the urban environme nt as the ultimate DIY gym for the everyman, and he wants you to see it that way, too . A born-and -raised Berliner, preventative and rehab ilitative sports scientist and ath letic trai ner, he explains, "A good ninety percent of peop le don't exercise regu larly. My goa l is to get exact ly th ese peop le, who haven't been exercising for a long time, and to act ivate th em wit h creative approaches... Berlin does have a lot of opt ions, with parks and lakes and forests,

BeyondZuccotti Park New York Times architec t ure crit ic

The PigeonWants a Paint Job At th e Venice Biennale thi s summer, arti sts Juli an Charriere and Juliu s von Bismarck airbrushed pigeons in multi ple hues for t he site-speci fic art pro ject, "Some Pigeo ns Are More Equal Than Others ." (T he arti sts assure us no pigeo ns were harmed). www. [ulian-charriere.net/some -pi geon s-are-more-equa l-others Scentand the City If you 're nosta lgic for t he smell of your city (or are just worry ing that your planet will run out of air), photographer Kirill Rudenko has th e perfect antidote: canned air. Culled from cit ies like New York, Paris, Berlin and Singapore,

Michael Kimm elman asks, " Where are th e spaces in which we act as a community ? Wh o gove rns th em? Who decid es on th eir design? Their use? And should we blur th e cont rols, t he bo undaries, t he aut hority, and t he th resholds betwee n public and pr ivate space, between stree ts and side walks?" The Occupy Wall Street movement has challenged t he physica l manifestation of the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly. In a new book, 41 social scient ists, planners, archi tect s and civil liberties exper ts - includin g Saskia Sassen and Michael Sorkin - explore t he definitio n, use, role and imp ortance of publi c space for t he exercise of our democrati c rights to free expressio n.

OCTOBER 2012 17


MEMBER PROF ILE

I

In San Jose, a Passion for Planning Asha Weinstein Agrawal A love for ex p lo ring c it ies on foot has t ra nslat ed int o a c areer re searching car-fre e alternatives.

Asha Weinstein Ag rawal is busy. Not only is she th e di recto r of th e Minet a Transportati on Institu te's (MTI) National Transportation Finance Center, she is also chair and associate professor of San Jose State Univers ity's Depart ment of Urban and Regiona l Planning. How did she become so ent hralle d w it h all things urba n? " I loved to explore cit ies on foo t," explains Agra wa l. "That early passion fo r urban wand ering morphed into a career in urb an planning w it h a focus on tran sportation ." Ag rawa l's research focuses on cut t ing-e dge practi ces in surface t ransportation finance. She explores such issues as pub lic percepti ons of tr ansportati on taxes and fees, the challenges low-incom e resident s face in coveri ng t heir t ransport ation costs and how t hose costs impact th eir ability to meet basic mobil-

Asyou know, SPUR opened an office in SanJoseearlier this year. Gladto see SPUR in your hometown? I'm a longti me admirer of SPUR's wo rk educating th e public abo ut both urba n po licy questions and also t he fun and beauty of livi ng in t he San Francisco Bay Area . I was delighted to see SPUR create its new San Jose office . San Jose needs mor e community-w ide civic institut ions like SPUR to suppo rt it s urban developm ent.

Assomeoneseeminglyimmersed in cities 24/7, what's your favorite... Urbanview: San Francisco, city and bay, as seen fro m the East Bay hills. The view is go rgeo us in every season and tim e of day. For

18 OCTOBER 20 12

Images (from top): Asha Weinstein Agrawal, and aselection of shots showing San Jose urbanism atits best.

it y needs. We caug ht up w it h Ag raw al as she was prepa ring for the new schoo l year and asked "What are stude nts of urbanism most int erested in learnin g abou t t hese days?" "The Master of Urban Planning program at SJSU is design ed to prepa re a diverse st ude nt population to become leaders in rapid ly chang ing urb an environ ment s, wi th special emphasis on skills for wo rk ing w ith w ide-rang ing const it uencies and a commitment towa rd lifelong professional developm ent," she repli ed, "Our st udents all share a dream of jo bs thr ough which they cont ribute to building gr eat communit ies, but they are a diverse bunch wh o work in every aspect of planning, from desig ning vi brant pu blic spaces to building affordable housing to managing efficien t and environmenta lly sustai nab le infrastructure."

example, fog pourin g thr ough th e Gold en Gate and over th e Marin hills on a late afte rnoon, or th e glittering light s on a clear night.

Favoritebuilding (urbanor not): The zen temples in Kyoto. I visited many of them 20 years ago, and the di fferen t temples have merged in my mind into a sing le image of calmness w ithin a chaot ic cit y.

Favoritecity: Paris. Whil e t hese may be cliches, I have had few better exper iences th an sto pping in a publi c park bursting with fl owers to eat a f reshly baked croissant, watc hing t he crowd stro ll by as I drink a coffee at a cafe. What makes Paris so specia l is also very much the govern ment suppo rt for convenient and well- mainta ined publi c serv ices and inf rast ruct ure,

public art and general quality of life.

Best-loved urbanist? William Whyte. He used br illiantl y st raig htfo rwa rd research desig ns to illuminate the ways people act ually use pu blic spaces, t hus givi ng us concre te tools to make those spaces bette r.

Favorite film about cities: Night on Earth - a 1991Jim Jarmu sch fi lm that tells stories abo ut t axi drivers in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rom e and Helsinki.

Andfinally, what should people knowabout yourcity that they might not otherwise? That they can see a panoramic view of the city from th e top floor of th e Dr. Martin Luth er King Jr. Libr ary. •

T HE URBAN IST


NEW MEMBERS

New Business Members

Cristelle Blackford

Sadie Guthrie

Daniel Langford

Jessica Brown

Maryam Haj

Vanessa Lauf

LECET Southwest Paramount Group, Inc.

Leslie & Buzz Burlock Brandi Campbe ll

Diana Halliday

Cecilia Lavelle

Alan Hart

Steinberg A rch it ect s

Joel Campos

Alice Hart ley

Dan Leavitt So-Jung Lee

Ella Carney

Robin Havens

Drew Lehman

Carlos Principe

Kim Swanson

Gina Centoni

Josep h Headley

Ross Levy

Hiromi Tabei

Stan Parkford Christopher Pederson

Alexander Spilger Doug Steeke

Mia Perkins Benjamin Petersen

Alex Steffen

Phillip Pierce

Josh Steinman

Elliot Stein

G.Cha n

Caley Heekin

Jaxon Love

Jackson Rabinowi tsh Steven Rajninge r

New Members

Emmanuel Coloma

Rod Henmi Gabriel Heywoo d

Matthew Mahan

Liesl Ramsay

Suzette Mahr Bridget Maley

Craig Raphael

Dana Tinio

Sina Alavi

Joh n Redw ine

Stephan ie Tsai Jack Tse

Ann a Corbett Patri cia Algara

Tim Cornwe ll Kelly Costa Gray Dough ert y

Bonni e Hulkower Meredith Hutcheson

Julia Mandell

Vict or Amoo

Lilli an Mano

Mark A. Rhoades Ada m Rogers

Rhiannon Bailard

Megan K Edward s

Barb ara Inaba

Brian Balise Elijah Ball

A nt hony Esposito

Garrett Jacob s

Phil Marti en Timoth y McCormi ck

Gabrielle Rubin Madd y Russell-Shapiro

Kelvin Vu

Brendan Finney

Elizabeth John son

Jason McDaniel

Deren Salgado

Tom Walker

Mary Barensfeld

Cecilia Fisher

Karee JuVet te

Mary ( Molly) Mehaffy

Margaret Weadi ck

Ally Beasley

Danielle Fisher Amie Flemin g

Meghana Kamdar

Lucien Muir

Norma Schrode r Caylie See

Carrie Kao

Jessica Nguyen

Alex Sicular

Brian W iedenmeier Danny Yadega r

Siobann Bellinger

Sarabelle Hitchner

Karr ie Tam Michelle Tang

Chin Pang Tung Shivam Vohr a

Karen Ben-Moshe

Brooke Fotheringham

Nina Kilham

Ellena Ochoa

Doug & Sally Bentz-

Dennis Gale

Jennifer Pahlka

Devin Silverna il Jagan Singh

Victoria Yu

Julian Pancoast

Ryan Smit h

John Zappettini

J.J. Panzer James Pappas

Michael Song

Eugene Zhu

Lybeck

Mathias Gibson

Tamara Knox Deborah Knuckey

Briana Bergstrom

Edwin Gonzales

Michelle Krumland

Leendert Bikker

Boaz Gurdin

Tara Lamont

OSPUR LEGACY SOCI ETY

Howard P. Young

Ann Spencer

SPUR LEGACY SOCIETY We are grat eful to Samuel and Flor ence Scarl ett, and to everyone who rememb ers SPUR through a bequ est, lif e income plan, or oth er typ e of plann ed gift. Your suppor t st rengt hens and

Shape the future of San Francisco and broader Bay Area

ensures the future of SPUR and th e Urban Cent er. Leg acy Soci ety members are inv it ed t o an exclusive annual gath ering and becom e pa rt of the Urb an Leaders Forum - our majo r do nor

SPUR graciously thanks Florence McCormack Scarlett

society - which gathers several times a year

and Samuel Lloyd Scarlett. M.D. whose generous bequest

to hea r fro m noted experts about urbanism,

will provide core support to promote good planning

p lanning and the futu re of ou r region.

and good government through research . education

We hope you'll tell us when you have named the

and advocacy - helping SPUR shape the future of San

SPUR in your will. We wo uld very much like the

Francisco and broader Bay Area. Samuel passed away in

opportuni ty to t hank you for your generosit y.

November of 2011 at the age of 96. and was a loyal donor to SPUR during his lifetime.

ENSURING YOUR LEGACY For mo re info rmati on abou t how to inclu de SPUR

spur.org/legacy

in your esta te pl ans in a way th at best fits your

SPURis a 501(c)(3) non-profit org anization with tax ID# 94-1498232 . All contribution s to SPURare tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

direct or at 415-644-4281 or don ate@spu r.or g.

needs tod ay pl ease co nta ct SPUR's development


2012 Silver SPUR Awards Luncheon

Recept ion: 10:30 A M - 12:0 0 PM Lunc heon & Awards : 12:0 0 - 1:30 PM Mo sco ne Center South Esp la nade Ballroom

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 Tha nk you to our 2012 Sponsors SPIRE SPO NSORS

EVE NT CHA IR

A nonymo us

11

BANKN,W EST~

COMM ERCIAL BANKING

Ric ha rd C. Blum

BNP PARIBAS GROUP

FORESfCITY

FORESfCITY La rry Baer Presid ent and CEO San Franci sco Giants

{ , S H 0

R E ) S T El N

John & Guss ie Ste wa rt

. '

.

KEYSTON E SPO NSO RS

A ECOM • Arup • California Pacific Medical Center/Sutter West · Degenkolb Eng ineers· Dignity Heath · EHDD • Emerald Fund, Inc .• Gen sler · Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP • Golden Gate University • Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co. • The John St ew art Company · JPMorgan Chase · KMD Architects · Lennar Urban · McKesson · Parkmerced • Recology • Bill & Dewey Rosetti · San Francisco International Airport • San Francisco Waterfront Partners, LLC • St einberg Architects · Roselyne C. Swig • Union Bank • Webcor Builders · Westfield San Franci sco Centre · Wilson Meany

Tickets and sponsorship opportunities available at spur.org/silverspur


Join more t han 2,0 0 0 fe llow citizens as we pa y tribute to a selec t group of indiv idua ls w hose goa ls and ac hieve m ents have m ad e San Franc isco and the Bay Area a better p lace to live, w o rk and p lay. Edward A. Chow,

M. D.

Stephe n S. Pearce, D.O., Ph.D.

Cofound er of Chine se Hospital's natio nwid e model for cult urally co mpete nt healt h care and lon g ti m e pu bl ic serva nt

Senior rabbi o f Congreg ation Emanu -El. promoter o f int erf ait h communi ty dialogue and engagement

Mildred Ho ward

John K. Stewa rt

Acclai med mi xed-media and inst allat io n ar tis t and ed uc ato r of at -r isk comm uni ties w ho has shap ed o ur expe rie nce o f t he pu bli c realm

Real estate develo pment and co m mu nity lead er and a powerful advocate for afforda b le housi ng at a regiona l and nat iona l level

PILLAR SPO NS O RS Arc hston e • At kins · And y & Sara Barn es · BAR A rchitects · BRE Properti es · Buch alter Nem er · Cah ill Co ntracto rs · Califo rn ia Academy of Scienc es· Cannon Constructors Nort h. Inc. • Carmel Partn ers · Char les Salte r & As soc iates · Cob lentz, Pat ch , Duffy & Bass, LLP • Comcast • Co mm une Ho t els & Resort s · Cox Cast le & Nich ol son , LLP • Th e Co u lt er/ Weeks Charitabl e Found at io n · Dav id Baker + Part ners. A rch it ects· Farella Braun + Martel LLP • Fine Ar t s Museu m s of San Franc isco · Linda Jo Fit z • FME Architecture + Design · David Fri edman & Paulette Meyer · Gerson Bakar & A ssociat es · Go uld Evans · Ann e Halst ed & Wells Whitn ey · Hanson Brid g et t LLP • David & Jane Hart ley · Jackson Paci f ic Vent ures · John & Marci a Goldman Phil anth ropi c Fund· Lend Lease · Richard Lon erg an · macys.com • MBH A rchitects · Mc Kenna Long & Ald ridg e, LLP • Terry Mic hea u & Ro b Evans · MJM Mana g em ent Group · Lar ry Nibbi • Sergio Nibbi • Nib bi Bro t hers General Co nt ractors · No rthern California Carp ente rs Reg io nal Cou ncil · Perki ns + Will · PIER 39/ Blue and Gold Fleet · Pillsbu ry Win throp Shaw Pitt ma n LL P • Pol aris Gro up · Po rt of San Franc isco · Th e Prad o Gro up · Proje ct Manag ement Adv isors . Inc. • Relat ed Californ ia .• Reube n & J unius. LL P • ROMA Desig n Gro up· Sack Pro perti es · Saint Franc is Memo rial Ho spita l · San Francisco Foundation · San Fran cisco State Universit y · San Franc isco Travel As soci at io n · Sedgw ic k, LLP • Lynn & Paul Sed w ay • Elizab eth Seifel Fund/Seife l Con sulting Inc. • Shep pard. Mul lin. Richter & Hampt on LLP • Skidmo re, Ow ings & Merrill. LLP • So lo mon Co rd well Buen z • Th e Sw ig Company· Sw ine rton Builders · Tishman Spe yer· V. Fei Tsen & China town CDC· TMG Partners/Avant Housing · Tom Elio t Fisch · Turnst o ne Cons ulting · UCSF • Unio n Squar e Bu sin ess Im p rovement Dist rict · Uni versa l Parago n Corporation · Uni versit y of San Franci sco · U.S. Bank No rth ern Californ ia · Dede W ilsey · W SP Flack + Kurt z CO RNE RSTO NE SPO NSO RS A. R. Sanchez-Corea & Assoc iates' Bay W est Showplace ' Valli Ben esch & Bob Tan dl er • Buro Happold Co nsulti ng Eng ineers, Inc . • Cathedra l Hill Plaza. an ADCO co m p any ' CH2MHILL • Jim Chappell· CMG La nds cape Architect ure' Dani el Solomon Desig n Partners· Equi t y Co m munity Builde rs· Jean Frase r & Geoffrey Go rdon-C reed' Han d el Ar c hit ec ts , LLP • Rut h & A lf red Hell er ' St anley Her zstein • HKS A rc hitects, Inc. • Vinc e & Amanda Hoenigman • Hunt Co nstruction Gro up · Jo nes Hall , Bever ly Mills · Missio n Bay Developm ent Group ' NicholsBooth A rc hi tects. Inc.• Pfau Long A rc hitect ure. Ltd . • Plant Co nst ruc t io n Co mpany ' Presidi o Bank, Public Fina ncial Man agem en t, Inc. • N. Ter esa Rea ' SKS Investm en t s, LLC • W ilbu r-E llis Co m p any' Wood s Bagot A rc hite cts

CAPSTON E SPO NSO RS Clau di ne Che ng ' Paul a R. Colli ns' Greg Dalt on' Patri cia Klitgaa rd • Marc Madden' Toby & Sally Ro senblatt· Ja net & Michael Sm it h-Helrne r

MED IA SPO NS O RS Spon sor list as of 09.74.72

(Somca st.

BllsYhessTimes

>

Mich ael Teit z, Ph.D.

.san,1lf'ranci~co QLI)ronicle ISFGate com


INTERN SPOTLIGHT

New Faces at SPUR

JamesBaker

John Dacy

Anna Gore

James grad uated fro m the Universit y

Anna came to SPUR after earning

of Iowa w it h a BA in politi cal

A recent gra duate in urba n stud ies at th e University of California,

science, st udied in Washingt on,

Berkeley, John is int erested in

her master's in enviro nmental design and planning from th e

D.C., and Hong Kong, lived and

tr ansport at ion, regi onal planning

Universit y of Georgia. Her interest

wo rked in Lond on and completed

and civ ic engage ment and is

in planning stems fr om her int erest

his MA in internati onal aff airs at th e New Schoo l before arriving in

excited to be part of a dy namic organization like SPUR.

in sustainable built and natural environments and her passion

San Francisco. SPUR's pub lic policy

fo r nonmot orized tr ansportat ion

inte rn declares he is " pro ud to

planning. Anna bring s a

be part of SPUR's city wide urb an

background in medi a produ cti on and GIS (geographic information

advocacy eff orts."

systems) mapping to her position as SPUR's GIS intern.

Sean Bolton

Hilary Finck

Julia Grebenstein

Sean studied business and philoso-

SPUR'ssustai nable po licy intern

SPUR's public programs intern

phy at San Francisco State Univer-

is a graduate student at San

isty and desig n at Califo rnia

Francisco State University worki ng tow ard her MA in geog raphy, w ith

is a Nort hern California native. a graduate of the com munity

College of th e Arts. (On the side,

developm ent program at Portl and State University and a return ed

gramming) . Af ter deci ding to take

a concentration in environmental plann ing and resource

a year off, he exp lains that he came

management. Wh en not geeki ng

developm ent, Ukraine, 2010-2012).

he taught him self compute r pro-

to SPUR because of his "curiosity

out about esoteric things like

abou t how comp lex systems like cit-

sto rmwater mitigation too ls. Hilary

ies and gove rnme nt (and non-prof -

enjoys explo ring San Francisco's

its like SPUR it self) are organized."

many t reasures by foot or bike.

22 OCTOBER 2012

Peace Corps volunteer (youth

TH E URBANIST


Cody Hicks

Josephine Lau

Sergio Ruiz

Cody is in his last year at San

Josephine recently graduated from the University of California,

Sergio Ruiz, SPUR's Photography Intern is an avid photographer who has cont ributed numerous images to The Urbanist th is year. His "day job" includes bicycl e and pedest rian tr ansport ati on planning and he is a st rong propon ent of smart growth.

Francisco State University, majorin g in enviro nmental studies and minoring in urban planning. He is most interested in sustainable developm ent and tr ansportation policy and is enjoyi ng being a part of SPUR's development team.

Berkeley, with a du al degree in urba n st ud ies and society and environment. She's interested in t ransportati on planning, in parti cular bicycle and pedestri an planning . In her spare tim e, she likes to play basket ball, bike and read.

Halie Kampman

Molly Schremmer

o Jan Visaya

Halie is a Bay Area nativ e w ho recently return ed to San Francisco w it h th e goal of prom ot ing goo d planning locally. Wit h a backg round in interna ti onal development and filmmaking, she is interested in the pow er of media advocacy. She is SPUR's

SPUR's publ ications and communicati ons intern graduated from Clark University wit h a BA in geo graphy in 2009 . Growing up in Maine, Molly develop ed an interest in smart urban growt h as she watched her regio n grow from rural to suburban. W hen she is not exploring

D Jan graduate d from St. Mary 's College with a BS in economic s

video volunteer, doc umenti ng and promo ting SPUR happeni ngs and

her career opt ions in the urb an planning f ield, Molly climbs indoors

events.

and nerds out about craft beer.

THE URBAN IST

and business administ rat ion. It was a course on the gro wth and developm ent of Cont ra Costa County that fir st got him interested in plan ning. Having served as an Am eriCorp s VISTA and a Peace Corps volunt eer, he is now act ively pursing a career in urba n and community development.

OC TOBER 2012

23


OSPUR 65 4 Mission Street San Francisco. CA 94105- 4015 (4 15) 781-8726 spur.org

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Ideas + action for a better city

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The Urbanist is edited by Allison Ari etf and de signed by Shawn Hazen , ha zenc reative.com. It is print ed on Finch Ca sa Opaqu e pap er: 30 % post -con sume r wast e, 66 % ren ew able ene rgy, chlo rine- free . acid-free.

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