featured Articles

An equity lens pie chart shows eight practice areas: (1) climate change and resilience; (2) education (the physical location of schools); (3) energy and resource consumption; (4) health equity; (5) heritage preservation; (6) housing; (7) mobility and transportation; and (8) public spaces and places.

Approaching planning AND design through an Equity Lens

By Cindy Ma, AICP. 2020 provided an opportunity to consider how our actions may have led to the inequities in where we live, work, and play — and how to move toward better and more equitable planning and design.

Leveraging private investment to meet affordable housing needs

From HUD USER, PD&R Edge, June 11, 2021. Capital from private investors can be leveraged to expand affordable housing in…

Cars want the streets back; cities could do better without them

By Sandy Smith, June 16, 2021. Without auto access, businesses and visitor destinations may suffer. But some data suggest cities…

Meet a local planner: Ellie Fiore, AICP

Catarina Kidd, AICP, interviewed Ellie Fiore, AICP, who is Director of Planning at MIG Berkeley and Vice President for Public…

Jaime Lerner, 83, urban planner credited with BRT

He rose to prominence in the 1970s as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil, when he launched the city’s Bus Rapid Transit…

Northern Section News & Announcements

LETTERS

Required Ethics AICP CM credits available now

Who’s where

Director’s note: Juneteenth and Planning

Compromising equity and accessibility

pLANNING nEWS rOUND uP

SB 7 could speed up housing, but it’s unclear how much it will help

By J.K. Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 2021. The legislation requires 15 percent of new housing units be affordable…

2020 annual statewide planning survey results released

From Office of Planning and Research, May 24, 2021. OPR’s survey reveals the impacts of COVID-19 on city and county…

San Jose approves Google’s downtown village and campus in historic vote

By Maggie Angst, Mercury News, May 26, 2021. The monumental project marks the largest economic development deal ever made in…

SF is about to see a wave of affordable housing projects bring 900 homes to the city

By J.K. Dineen, San Francisco Chronicle, May 28, 2021. Mayor London Breed said the nine projects represent a ‘central pillar’…

Oakland’s Slow Streets experience may inspire the future of cities

By Adam Mann, Wired UK, June 2, 2021. Oakland’s commitment to equity and willingness to experiment with the public right…

New MTC study: Findings for assisting seniors, disabled people on Bay Area transit

From Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Mass Transit Magazine, June 2, 2021. A partnership between MTC and World Institute on Disability resulted…

Oakland considers banning ADUs in the hills to avoid fire danger

By Natalie Orenstein, Oaklandside, June 3, 2021. At a Planning Commission meeting, planning staff and the Oakland Fire Department proposed…

Visual report: How sea level rise threatens SF’s Mission Creek neighborhoods

By John King, San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 2021. Mission Bay is home to thousands of people, and action on…

Klamath River management pivotal in a brewing California-Oregon water crisis

By Emma Marris, The Atlantic, June 5, 2021. Policy that promotes restoration led by Klamath Tribes, federal investment, and partnership…

San Jose and San Francisco among cities that saw sharpest pandemic population loss

By William H. Frey, Brookings, June 8, 2021. These population declines could be part of a new trend or, to…

Appeal filed against West Berkeley shellmound development

By Mimia Ousilas And Nadia Farjami, The Daily Californian, June 8, 2021. The appeal would block the developers from using…

Racial segregation runs deep in San Jose, report says

By Lloyd Alaban, San Jose Spotlight, June 8, 2021. The city intends to incorporate its findings from the state-mandated Assessment…

CA high-speed rail will get back federal grant Trump withheld

By Lauren Hernández, San Francisco Chronicle, June 10, 2021. The grant funding will assist the High-Speed Rail Authority in completing…

A little more remote work could change rush hour a lot

By Emily Badger, The New York Times, June 11, 2021. Less congested city streets could mean faster bus travel, more…

TransitCenter launches San Francisco-Oakland transit equity dashboard

From TransitCenter, June 17, 2021. The dashboard visualizes disparities in accessibility and reliability of transit across race, income, and other…

How can commercial redevelopment address the California housing crisis?

By Joe Distefano, UrbanFootprint, June 16, 2021. Spatial analytics company UrbanFootprint shows the development potential and limits of SB 6…

How policymakers could guide redevelopment in California’s fire-prone areas

By Peter Arcuni, KQED, June 22, 2021. The report bases its recommendations on an analysis of three rebuilding alternatives for…

May 2021. The domed City Hall was completed in 1915.

A 13th-story view of equally tall wedding-cake buildings and taller buildings behind, including three so-called pencil towers that are super tall and super thin — May 2021. The domed City Hall was completed in 1915.

Northern News July-August 2021