Before the arrival of cities, what is now the Western United States burned regularly — and urbanization added fuel to this fire-based ecology. Advances in firefighting and building codes made fires less perilous, until recently. At a recent SPUR forum, panelists Charles Scawthorn, of the University of California and Ron Vidal, a fire safety consultant, discussed the history and changing challenges of urban fires.

San Francisco began collecting its soda tax at the start of 2018. As revenue begins coming into the city’s treasury, the question now facing the Mayor and Board of Supervisors is: How to best spend this newly available money?

Thousands of people in Santa Clara County have been earning and redeeming Double Up Food Bucks for fruits and vegetables at participating grocery stores. Our program has been working well, but because Double Up Food Bucks are distributed on paper coupons, they can be cumbersome. A new bill would address the issue and pave the way to scale programs like Double Up statewide.

From Copenhagen to Los Angeles, cities are finding new ways to address their interconnected health, climate, congestion, equity and economic challenges through innovative thinking about public spaces. At November’s San Jose Public Life Summit, urbanist and public design advocate Gil Peñalosa challenged leaders and residents in San Jose to move forward with ambitious projects that support sustainable mobility, vibrant public spaces and civic engagement.