Relevance

Consider the following facts:

• More than 70% of San Francisco's downtown outdoor space is dedicated to private vehicle, while only a fraction of that space is allocated to the public realm. (Rebar)
• The residents of many California cities lack adequate access to parks and open space near their homes. (TPL)
• Traffic calming devices dramatically increase pedestrian safety.  A study by the Federal Highway Administration showed that the installation of raised medians, and redesigning intersections and sidewalks reduces pedestrian risk by nearly 30%. (Complete Streets)
• Greenspace can facilitate social contact.  A study in Chicago found that 83% more individuals engaged in social activity in green areas than barren spaces. (Streets Renaissance)
• Lowering traffic congestion improves social stability.  UC Berkeley research found that significant decreases in traffic in their study areas tripled the number of friends and acquaintances an average person has. (UC Berkeley) 

Despite a variety of recreational spaces within the city of San Francisco, there is a very limited amount of public open space that is actually integrated into the urban fabric of our neighborhoods.  Further, many streets were planned with automobile traffic in mind, rather than pedestrians, and so they act as barriers between people and communities.

Prototype

Inspired in part by ideas around New York City’s “Public Plaza Initiative,” the 17th and Castro Plaza (part of the City of San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks program) addresses these problems by reclaiming an underutilized section of the public right of way to create high performing neighborhood open space.  Similar to other projects within Public Architecture’s Open Space Design Initiative, the goal of this plaza is to create a vehicle through which neighbors can become acquainted, children can congregate, business owners can engage a wider public, and the street could become a nexus - not a divider - for the community.

Working in collaboration with the San Francisco’s Mayor’s Office, Planning Department, and Department of Public Works, Public Architecture developed a design that uses simple - and often salvaged - materials and methods. Design elements include donated Sonotubes filled with soil and plantings (bollards/planters), salvage granite curb (benches), street surface paint (ground pattern), and donated cafe tables & chairs.

The project was implemented as a temporary installation, allowing Public Architecture, the City, and the surrounding neighborhood to test and adjust the intervention in a way that a permanent development process would have allowed. Decisions regarding the plaza’s duration and alterations were made based on evaluation of the project’s metrics and stakeholder interviews.

The 17^th and Castro Plaza was built as a pilot with the expectation that similar plazas would follow elsewhere in San Francisco. Since it’s completion, two more plazas have already been installed and several additional sites throughout the city have been identified as possible locations for similar interventions.  The San Francisco Planning Department's Pavement to Parks webage provides information about completed and future plazas, as well as information and images of the 17th and Castro Plaza.

Advocacy

The 17th & Castro Plaza has garnered significant amounts of press, including coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, the New York Times, and Streetsblog SF, generating conversation about the role of design and our city's streetscape.  Public Architecture, the City of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Great Streets Project (a nonprofit that seeks to catalyze the use of streets as the center of civic life) worked closely with the Castro community and its leaders to solicit input and generate a productive dialogue on the plaza. Metric data and feedback was also gathered by San Francisco Great Streets Project throughout the plaza's trial period, in order to evaluate its performance.  This data will be used to assist other communities who are considering implementation of their own street-to-park conversion. 

Public Architecture would like to thank Flora Grubb Gardens, High Caliper Growing, and Pacific Paper Tube, Inc. for their generous donations to this project.  Additionally, we would like to thank Laura Jerrard, Mike Murphy, and Lola Feiger for the time and energy they volunteered to make this project a reality.