The Urban Future of Work
January 3, 2012|SPUR
More Resources:
High unemployment rates and slow employment growth continue to threaten our economy. Once-successful sectors are in decline. Even the workplace itself is in transition. New technologies and ways of working have disrupted everything from the speed of a typical product cycle to the amount of real estate a company needs.
10 Strategies For Attracting Investment Near Transit
October 31, 2011
More Resources:
Background
Over the next 25 years, the San Francisco Bay Area is projected to grow by an estimated 22 percent—adding around 1.6 million new residents. Land use and development professionals are engaged in a dialogue around how the region can accommodate this growth in a way that maintains the extraordinary quality-of-life that attracts people to live and work in the region. With an eye toward demographic shifts like an aging population and an increasing number of smaller and non-family households, planners and developers recognize the growing demand for homes and jobs in walkable, urban environments.
High land and housing costs in the core areas of the region, however, create continued development pressure in the outskirts of the region, leading to commute-times and household transportation costs that are among the highest in the nation. The high cost of housing and transportation is particularly felt by the region’s moderate- and lower-income families, who in some cities spend as…
Cities of Opportunity
May 1, 2011|Partnership for New York City
More Resources:
When the first edition of Cities of Opportunity was developed, we made a decision to rank cities only in their 10 indicator categories and to forego showing overall rankings to avoid the misperception of a contest. That risk seemed especially significant in 2007, when the media cast New York and London in a death match for global capital market kingship.
The Effects of Residential Off-Street Parking Availability on Travel Behavior in San Francisco
May 12, 2010|Urban and Regional Planning San Jose State University
More Resources:
To determine the effects of reduced parking requirements on travel behavior, a survey was prepared and data was collected and analyzed to answer the following questions:
Choosing Where We Live: Attracting Residents to Transit-Oriented Neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area
April 4, 2010|Metropolitan Transportation Commission
More Resources:
This briefing book summarizes the results of a yearlong study that examined what attracts home-seekers to transit-oriented development (TOD) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and how to improve TODs to better attract these groups.
Extended Meter Hours Study
October 13, 2009|San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
More Resources:
Executive Summary
The SFMTA currently manages approximately 24,000 on-street metered parking spaces, most of which are operated from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. The SFMTA uses parking pricing and time limits to:
Achieve desirable levels of parking availability
Reduce congestion and illegal parking
Improve Muni’s speed and reliability
Increase overall safety for all road users
Increase economic vitality
In May 2009, the SFMTA initiated a study to refine an April 2009 proposal to extend the hours of meter operation to 10 p.m. citywide Mondays through Saturdays, and to operate parking meters from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The study was intended to better match when and where meter hours are extended with when and where parking is difficult to find in commercial areas. This study includes a survey of other jurisdictions’ practices, a review of previous reports on parking in the City, and the collection of new data on parking occupancy levels, business hours of…
Preserving Affordability and Access in Livable Communities: Subsidized Housing Opportunities Near Transit and the 50+ Population
September 30, 2009
More Resources:
Executive Summary
INTRODUCTION
A livable community has affordable and appropriate housing, supportive features and services, and adequate mobility options for people, regardless of age or ability. As communities address the general shortage of affordable housing, preserving affordable housing in transit-oriented developments (TODs) is one of the challenges that communities can address to increase their livability.
TODs are compact, walkable, mixed-use communities that are developed around high-quality public transportation. Residents often prize these places for the advantages created by the proximity to transportation and other amenities. One consequence of this desirability is that it can increase land and property values, exacerbating housing affordability challenges.
As policymakers try to extend the benefits of TODs to affordable housing locations, they must ensure that those benefits are available to people of low and moderate incomes and to those with different mobility…
Visitacion Valley/Schlage Lock Design For Development
February 1, 2009|San Franscisco Planning Department, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency
More Resources:
Community interest in redeveloping the long-dormant Schlage Lock site has been growing since the factory’s closure in 1999. Active efforts for change began in earnest in 2000, catalyzed by a proposal for a Home Depot on the site. The proposal met with community opposition. The Board of Supervisors imposed interim zoning controls on the site to prevent construction of a large retail use and to encourage the long-term planning of the site. Supervisor Maxwell held several workshops in 2001 to begin a conversation about the future of the site, including clean-up of contamination remaining from its industrial past. In partnership, the Planning Department, San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) and the Visitacion Valley Planning Alliance applied for a Metropolitan Transit Commission’s Transportation for Livable Cities grant to do a second series of workshops to establish a vision for the long-vacant Schlage Lock site. The result was the “Visitacion Valley/Schlage Lock…
The Future of Downtown
January 29, 2009|SPUR
More Resources:
Bringing work back to the city
Since 1990, Bay Area residents have been driving nearly 50 million more miles each day. Regionally, transit ridership to work fell from a high of 11.4 percent in 1980 to around 9.4 percent in 2000. Although it has increased slightly since 2000 (to 9.8 percent), Bay Area transit ridership remains less than 10 percent of all commute trips. Meanwhile, our heavy reliance on automobile commutes is one the Bay Area’s chief contributions to climate change. This pattern of driving to work and other destinations — and its resulting environmental impact — stems from the sprawling geography of homes and jobs, and an infrastructure system that builds ever outward.
The smart growth movement has long called attention to the problems with sprawl, but has often been focused on residential sprawl. Yet the dispersion of jobs into suburban and exurban office parks that can never be served by transit is just as much of a threat to the environment as residential…
Parking Requirement Impacts on Housing Affordability
January 1, 2009|Victoria Transport Policy Institute
More Resources:
This report examines the impacts of residential parking requirements (the number of offstreet parking spaces mandated at a particular location) on housing affordability. Increasing parking requirements increase housing development costs, which has reduced the supply of lower priced housing and raised costs to consumer. This report does not question the need for some off-street parking. The question issue is how best to determine parking requirements and manage available parking supply. It describes more efficient and equitable strategies that support social and environmental goals.
