photo of estuary at Crissy Field at sunset

Sustainability and Resilience

We believe: The region should be environmentally just, carbon-neutral,
and resilient to climate change and earthquakes.

Our Goals

• Decarbonize buildings.

• Make the region resilient to sea level rise and other climate-driven natural disasters.

• Improve communities’ resilience to earthquakes.

transect of a bayshore neighborhood with ground water beneath the soil

SPUR Report

Look Out Below

Bay Area cities planning for sea level rise need to address another emerging hazard: groundwater rise. Our case study on East Palo Alto offers recommendations applicable to other vulnerable communities along the San Francisco Bay shore.

illustration of houses plugging into the electricity grid

SPUR Report

Closing the Electrification Affordability Gap

New Bay Area regulations are ushering in a transition from polluting gas furnaces and water heaters to zero-emissions electric heat pumps. SPUR’s action plan shows how to make this transition affordable for low-income households.

Initiative

Ocean Beach Master Plan

San Francisco's Ocean Beach faces significant challenges. SPUR led a public process to develop a comprehensive vision to address sea level rise, protect infrastructure, restore coastal ecosystems, and improve public access.

historic photo of houses damaged in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

Initiative

The Resilient City

We know that another major earthquake will strike San Francisco — we just don’t know when. SPUR's Resilient City Initiative recommends steps the city should take before, during, and after the next big quake.

Defining Resilience

SPUR Report February 1, 2009

How do we decide when a structure is "safe enough”? Engineering standards define how many deaths, how many building demolitions and how long a recovery time we will have. Currently, the City of San Francisco has no adopted performance objectives for these factors. SPUR provides a new framework for improving San Francisco's seismic mitigation policies.

The Hub Concept

SPUR Report October 16, 2008

SPUR believes that San Francisco can be a resilient city whose residents accept a significant earthquake as inevitable and are prepared to respond and sustain themselves and their communities until help arrives. Preparation for such a comprehensive emergency response must engage each individual, each community and the myriad of organizations that make up these communities. The Department of Public Health for the city of San Francisco has obtained a federal grant funding a proposal to create Community Disaster Response Hubs — field-based disaster coordination centers throughout San Francisco. The hubs can provide the infrastructure for community response to major emergencies. By identifying local resources, developing a plan to integrate and coordinate those resources with each other and with the city, and practicing communication through their hubs, communities can develop an effective response. In this report, SPUR encourages the adoption of the proposed Community Disaster Response Hub plan and offers a set of recommendations to strengthen the plan and sustain the program.