BiophilicCities

San Francisco is a city set in the midst of immense beauty, with ocean and waterscapes and large parklands nearby (such as Point Reyes National Seashore, and Golden Gate National Park). Yet, nature within the dense, highly urbanized neighborhoods of this city is much more limited.  The city is an international leader in sustainability, aspiring to produce all the energy it needs from renewable sources and to become “zero-waste” by 2030, but increasingly recognizes the need to ensure San Franciscans have more nature nearby and closer to home. Partly in response to this need the City has become a pioneer in promoting the creation of small urban spaces, from street parks to the pavements to parks program to the creation of so-called “parklets”.

San Francisco: A Biophilic City by the Sea

San Franciscans are surrounded by immense natural spaces.

Trees provide important ecological, psychological and economic functions.

Bicycling in the city has risen significantly in recent years.

Trees along a stretch of Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

Restored wetlands adjacent to Crissy Field, provide nature in the city.

The shoreline at Crissy Field.

A street in the Mission District where sidewalk gardens have been installed.

Other new green elements and sidewalk gardens in the Mission District.

Jane Martin, Founder, PLANT*SF - champion of sidewalk gardens & urban greening.

Guerrero Park, an example of the City’s Pavements to Park program.

Guerrero Park.

The new Playa Park, an example of the city’s Street Parks program.

A street park replanted as habitat for the Coastal Green Hairstreak butterfly.

A proposal by Nature in the City to create the Twin Peaks Bioregional Park.

A “parklet” formed from two parking spaces.

Another view of an innovative parklet, with considerable foot and bicycle traffic.

The first parklet sponsored by a private residence.

This parket includes a vegetated dinosaur affectionately referred to as “Trixi”.

Trixi and designer Jane Martin.

A view from the parklet of an adjoining parked car.

The Please Touch Community Garden, San Francisco.

A street greening and traffic calming project in downtown San Francisco.

Hayes Valley Farm, San Francisco.

The Seed Library at Hayes Valley Farm.

The Seed Library at Hayes Valley Farm.

Zoey Kroll, a volunteer at the Hayes Valley Farm.

Hays Valley Farm: created by the tearing down of part of the Central Expressway.

Laguna Honda Rehabilitation Hospital provides impressive views of heritage trees.

The interior spaces of Laguna Honda are awash in natural daylight.

Small interior green walls in Laguna Honda Rehabilitation Hospital.

Raised-bed garden plots available to residents of Laguna Honda.

A unique window garden on a residential street in San Francisco.

Resources

San Francisco’s Ongoing Open Space Efforts

• http://openspace.sfplanning.org/
• http://www.openspacesf.org/
• http://openspace.sfplanning.org/docs/ROSE_Implementation_Program_handout_FINAL.pdf

Pavement to Parks Program Analysis (SFSU Urban Studies and Planning Senior Seminar Students Selina Weiss and Lindsey Sonnen)

• online.sfsu.edu/~pamuk/Parklet.pdf