Street furniture and plantings transform a small strip of roadway within a bustling San Francisco neighborhood, much to the delight of the planners and designers who fought for the change for over five years.
It took five long years for one hundred feet of Linden Street to be reborn as the Linden Living Alley in San Francisco, a city widely recognized for its innovative and cutting-edge urban design practices. Local planners and designers overcame a variety of bureaucratic hurdles over the course of five years to transform a small strip of the street into a space that attempts to reconcile the needs of automobiles with those of pedestrians and cyclists.
John King of the San Francisco Chronicle sees the setbacks faced by the Linden project as a quintessential example of the disconnect between creative visions of ideal urban settings and what actually manifests itself in the form of the built environment at the conclusion of construction.
"That's because when you look past the new trees and grasses, Linden Alley shows how difficult it is to transfer planning theory to real life," writes King.
FULL STORY: Linden Alley planners in S.F. went extra mile

Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss
The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25,% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Why Should We Subsidize Public Transportation?
Many public transit agencies face financial stress due to rising costs, declining fare revenue, and declining subsidies. Transit advocates must provide a strong business case for increasing public transit funding.

Paris Bike Boom Leads to Steep Drop in Air Pollution
The French city’s air quality has improved dramatically in the past 20 years, coinciding with a growth in cycling.

Why Housing Costs More to Build in California Than in Texas
Hard costs like labor and materials combined with ‘soft’ costs such as permitting make building in the San Francisco Bay Area almost three times as costly as in Texas cities.

San Diego County Sees a Rise in Urban Coyotes
San Diego County experiences a rise in urban coyotes, as sightings become prevalent throughout its urban neighbourhoods and surrounding areas.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
City of Santa Clarita
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service