Things to do and read for urbanists @San Francisco

Photo by Pedro Lastra on Unsplash

Things to do, places/project to check out

1. The Urbanist SF has a super exiting San Francisco Kit, which is everything we need to explore the city. I love the idea of having a starter kit for newcomers to the city, which is packed with all the passion/knowledge/love of the urbanist!

2. The Women’s Building is a women-led community space that advocates self-determination, gender equality and social justice. It has such a beautiful building and interesting history!

3. Creative Growth Art Center is a non-profit art center that serves artists with developmental, mental and physical disabilities. I found their office in Oakland — it's a bit far from San Francisco proper,but it might be an interesting place to visit.

Read

3. TraceSF is an online journal that critically explores San Francisco Bay Area design, culture, and urbanism.

4. Curbed SF has great mapping project that you can spend hours browsing!
   My Favorite:

• San Francisco’s 21 best privately-owned public open spaces (POPOS)
• Mapping 16 Chinatown landmarks and their history
• Mapping ten crucial street redesigns around the Hub
  Julia Morgan's design masterpieces, mapped
• Offensive SF map shows what people really think of city neighborhoods

5. A beautiful story about Unbuilt San Francisco

6. Streetblog SF, a daily news source connecting people to information about sustainable transportation and livable communities.

7. Read Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, a book with personal insights, history, reporting and analysis that portraits San Francisco.

8. OldSF is a great tool for you to discover the history behind the places you see every day.

Organization

7. Walk San Francisco is SF's only pedestrian advocacy organization to make the city more livable, walkable.

8. YIMBY Action (Yes in my back yard, as opposed to Not in my back yard) is Empowering community stakeholders to advocate for MORE housing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

9. SPUR, San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, is a leading civic planning organization to develop solutions to the big problems our cities face.