SPUR Publications

Affordable "by design" units cost less to produce because they are small, efficiently designed and do not come with a parking space. Could this be a new way to produce middle-income housing without using public subsidy?

Nestled on the Central Waterfront between China Basin and Candlestick Point, Warmwater Cove lies in disrepair. How can we populate and enliven this forgotten nook of the southeastern waterfront?

Changing government is never easy. But when it comes to the two departments responsible for planning our city, can we afford not to?

Caltrain's surface rail yards represent enormous opportunities for San Francisco. In this report, SPUR proposes a plan to knit together Mission Bay with neighborhoods to the north and west.

San Francisco is about to build its first new subway in decades. It's a great project that could be even better with a few key improvements.

The costs of repairing, seismically upgrading and redeveloping the Port's piers are staggering. Restoring this valuable city asset will require new thinking and new cooperation among government agencies.

In 2004, Mayor Gavin Newsom created TechConnect, an initiative to explore how to deliver free wireless Internet throughout San Francisco. After a lengthy public process, the city selected a team of EarthLink and Google. Given the potential benefits of the proposed system, SPUR requests the Board of Supervisors and Public Utilities Commission to adopt the proposed agreement with EarthLink and Google.

Instead of wasting stormwater, the City could manage it as a resource. SPUR explores four strategies that allow for greater stormwater storage and infiltration of rainwater into the ground.

San Francisco is one of the world's great cities, not just because of its beauty but because of its culture. That culture is threatened directly by the high cost of housing. Unless we do something, we will lose our artists, our progressive politics, our immigrants and our young people. This second edition of our housing strategy updates the policy reports that define SPUR's housing agenda.

Uncertainty and delay are deadly to the efficient production of housing, both affordable and market-rate projects. Uncertainty in the approval process means more risk for developers, investors and lenders. And that translates directly to higher costs to developers for both equity and debt, leading to less housing being built and ultimately higher costs to housing consumers.

In this paper, we analyze the zoning regulations that make it difficult to build new housing in many parts of the city and make recommendations to increase land availability and density.

Parking spaces are expensive to build, especially where land values are high. If we can find a way to build less parking, we will see both reduced housing prices and more efficient use of urban land.

This SPUR report studies underutilized retail sites, and presents the possibility of replacing these sites with mixed-use developments.

Allowing homeowners to add secondary rental units to their property is one of the most promising strategies we have for increasing the supply of housing in San Francisco without significantly change the aesthetic character of our neighborhoods.

In the absence of strong statewide planning and in the presence of weak local planning, stopping projects is what California does best. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) has become the tool of choice for stopping bad ones and good ones.

SPUR addresses Muni’s deficit, by sharply reducing costs and linking financial goals to long-term transportation goals.

San Francisco's contracting process is inefficient and confused; amongst other things, SPUR recommends consolidating administrative processing and decentralizing implementation for departments capable of managing it.

SPUR addresses Muni’s deficit, proposing to boost revenues by increasing the speed of boarding, reducing waits at lights, improving transit stop spacing, and favoring primary transit corridors.

SPUR’s review of CEQA found that after the law’s 30-plus years of operation, developments are environmentally worse than before. We need to change the way CEQA is applied in urban settings.

San Francisco must face the problem of neglecting its capital investments as its physical foundation shows signs of deterioration.