Notes: City Innovate Summit 2015

Placemaking: Learning from SF's Design Innovations in Public Spaces

Tom Radulovich, Livable City

Livable City
Until recently, you could relatively simply tear out a store front and put in a garage. But you could not easily do the other way around - this put an emphasis on parking.
SF fell victim to Euclidean Zoning: city simplification that created a lot of non-conformities with the assumption that they would disappear over time and each zone would be single use.
Jane Jacobs who talked about cities being complex systems that cannot be oversimplified
what generates city diversity? Primary mixed uses, small blocks (connectivity & edges), buildings at different ages, concentration (density)
sidewalks are useful for
safety
contact (with strangers or people you know)
assimilating children (allowing them to be part of the society)
Another look at the city: City quality at eye level, the ground floor facade
Form-based codes
Liveable city is looking into sidewalk design as well - ensuring street frontage requirements are being met in new buildings.
High commercial ground floor - creates a great visual separation, more separation from first residential level, and more diverse use case for shops/restaurants moving in
open shutters so you can see into the shops
only allow a 1/3 of street level to be parking garage
above ground parking (parking garages) need to be built to spec of buildings so they can be converted if need be, instead of being leveled
example: garage > coffee shop (Reveille Coffee Co.) on 18th Street
Relaxed zoning restrictions on active uses

Brooke Ray Smith, Build Public

Los Altos projects
Third Street Green - Los Altos to close down a block downtown for a month and turn it into a park. Programmed with activities catered to the young families moving into the city.
Downtown doesn't have a plaza or public space - people started flocking to it
similar project with State Street Green because road was blocked off for construction anyways
SFMOMA project that created a few installations all over downtown - intersection paintings, public art galleries
After all of this popup installation work (now much is no longer there) - how do they do this long-term? This is where Build Public comes in.
Why? Cities/neighborhoods deserve great public space - when neglected they divide communities & undermine shared values that can otherwise be fostered in public space
New permanent public spaces & new public governance
converting streets into permanent pedestrian spaces
Green Benefit District (GBD) - http://www.potreroview.net/news10930.html
IKA Model for funding > allows developers to keep some of their impact fee money and channel into an immediate improvement project (public plazas) - constructed after the building construction from the building adjacent
example: Dogpatch Arts Plaza. Dead end street that bumps against the freeway - turning impact fees into a small plaza, adding murals, bleachers (for events), ready by late 2016
slow streets - one-way traffic for cars today, but eventually close it permanently