2006 SFSU Senior Seminar

2006 Senior Seminar (URBS 680) at San Francisco State University

Urban Studies Senior Seminar class students worked on ten client-serving projects during the spring 2006 semester with a pilot partnership with Bay Area LISC. See syllabus. Student teams presented their PowerPoint slides to clients and BSS College faculty on May 2nd (4-7pm) at SFSU. See poster.

1. Land use analysis around existing Residential Enclave Districts (Client: Western SOMA Citizen’s Planning Task Force) The Western SoMa Citizen's Planning Task Force’s duties are to make recommendations to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors regarding land use and zoning within the General Western SoMa Planning Area. A four person student team is focusing on parts of the area that contain potential new housing sites. They are updating a two-year old land use survey, and summarizing what has changed. The team will make recommendations to the Task Force regarding possible expansion of Residential Enclave Districts (REDs) in order to guide development.

2. Japanese Tea Garden Visitors Survey (Client: San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department) The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is the oldest public Japanese garden in the country, and is recognized as one of San Francisco’s top attractions. Recent investments in surrounding areas of the garden - including the DeYoung Museum and Music Concourse parking garage - make it an opportune time to reassess and improve the Tea Garden. In their current review of the admission policies and concession contract of the Tea Garden, the San Francisco Park and Recreation Department has requested a student team to conduct a survey of visitors. The survey created and carried out by the student team will examine the visitor profile, how visitors access and use the garden, and visitor satisfaction levels. After the survey is implemented, the students will analyze the data, present their findings and give recommendations to the client regarding how to improve the presentation and policies of the Tea Garden.

3. Dwelling well on campus (Client: MKTHINK) MKTHINK is an architectural firm that strongly believes that the wellness of student life on college campuses is directly influenced by housing typologies. MKTHINK along with a four person student team will use San Francisco State University as their pilot campus to gather information about housing structures. MKTHINK hopes to utilize this project to create a national college student survey that influences the wellness and design of college campuses across the country. The group will look for patterns between housing typologies and student wellness by gathering demographic and housing typology data on the SFSU campus, and creating and conducting a survey that explores this link among SFSU students. Students will analyze this data and report it to the client to demonstrate the relationship between housing typologies and student wellness.

4. Streetscape Maintenance analysis (Client: The Mayor’s Office of Greening -- MOG) MOG has asked the Senior Seminar class to gather relevant information regarding streetscape maintenance in San Francisco. Creating viable streetscape programs within San Francisco is one of five goals put forth in Mayor Newsom’s Clean and Green Initiative. MOG has requested the three person student team recommend best practice models for streetscape maintenance - highlighting those models with small commercial districts which have a high level of local community involvement. The team is interviewing stakeholders and conducting extensive research of local and national best practices to produce a database of streetscape maintenance. The compendium will include models, providers, services, costs, along with a compendium of best practices of streetscape maintenance programs. The final report will include recommendations for good street maintenance practice in small business districts in San Francisco.

5. Columbus Avenue Corridor Study (Client: Asian Neighborhood Design -- AND) In collaboration with community partner Renew SF, Asian Neighborhood Design has requested a senior seminar student team prepare a profile of existing conditions along the Columbus Avenue neighborhood corridor. Through the collection and analysis of building, business and streetscape data, a three person team will assist in the overall project goal for “Discovering Columbus.” The student team’s analysis will help in the planning and redesign of the Columbus corridor to enhance its economic potential, improve the area’s streetscape environment, traffic flow, pedestrian safety, identity and aesthetics.

6. Bayview/Third Street Economic Impact Project (Client: Bay Area LISC) Local Initiatives Support Corporation is the nation’s largest nonprofit community development intermediary. LISC and the City of San Francisco have partnered to form the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative that has resulted in a commercial corridor revitalization program for the Bayview along the 3^rd Street Corridor. With the 3^rd Street MUNI Project nearly complete, Bayview Hunter’s Point is at a crossroads, poised for revitalization that can either benefit existing businesses and residuals or contribute to their displacement. Building on a 2005 senior seminar class study, the three-member SFSU student team will update the 2005 business inventory along 3^rd Street, comparing the 2005 and 2006 data in order to identify and analyze the changes that have occurred over the past year. The student team will also provide an in-depth analysis regarding case studies – identifying successful and unsuccessful tactics that have been implemented in similar communities in the past. Ultimately, the student team will develop a criteria/principle list for successful commercial corridor revitalization based upon the research, and make recommendations to LISC concerning the impending revitalization of the 3^rd Street Corridor in Bayview.

7. Analysis of homeless services and needs in downtown Berkeley (Client: City of Berkeley, Department of Planning) This project will assist in the further development of a new Downtown Plan for the City of Berkeley which the Planning Department has already begun. The underlying challenge this project addresses is how to provide comprehensive services to the area’s homeless population without negatively impacting the larger urban development and revitalization goals of the City and Downtown community. This will require conducting a series of stakeholder interviews, doing an inventory of service providers, mapping their locations, and performing an ethnographic participant observation.

8. Resident need analysis of on-site services in nonprofit housing developments in East Oakland (Client: Resources for Community Development, RCD) In addition to procuring, financing and constructing housing developments, RCD also engages in community outreach by establishing links with local government and community groups in order to provide necessary services. In an effort engage the residents of the Stanley and International Apartments in East Oakland, RCD has requested that the student team perform a study which encourages participation, identifies and analyzes the community’s needs, and ultimately recommends programs that will improve on-site services in the future.

9. Land use and zoning analysis along San Francisco's Folsom Street (Client: Western SOMA Citizen's Planning Task Force) In 2004 a team of Urban Studies students from the senior seminar class performed a land use inventory, mapping work and created a database for Urban Solutions. The WSCPTF has requested the student team update the land use data along Folsom Street within the Western SoMa neighborhood boundaries and make recommendations for land uses and simplified design considerations for different Folsom boulevard alternatives.

10. Bikes on Light-Rail Vehicles in San Francisco (Client: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) While most cities around the United States allow passengers to bring bicycles on light-rail vehicles (LRVs), San Francisco remains one of the few that does not. SFMTA policy has been to prohibit bikes on all its LRVs - including fold-up bikes - but does allow them on certain buses. Recently, with the construction of the Third Street Light-Rail Extension, bike lanes around Third Street were removed. While new bike lanes are being created along nearby streets, SFMTA is looking into options for allowing bikes on trains. There are strong opinions from senior citizens, the disabled community, bicyclists and others, which have driven the need for a comprehensive study that will inform decision-makers about this issue. A three-person student team is utilizing a photographic archive and a survey of stakeholders and LRV-riders to analyze this issue and make recommendations in their final report.

Venice, June 2004. Paris, Oct. 2006.

Photos by Pamuk.

(see 2001 student work; 2002 student work; 2003 student work; 2004 student work, 2005 student work, 2007 student work; 2008 student work)