San Francisco Civic Center Public Space Plan wins 2022 ASLA Northern California Analysis and Planning Honor Award

Civic spaces are the bedrock of democracy, but in many American cities these landscapes are empty and inhospitable. The Civic Center Public Space Plan remakes a mid-century landscape that was designed and managed for exclusion into a civic space of inclusion: a place that reflects the cultural, social, and economic diversity of the neighborhoods it serves, and embodies the democratic values of the City it represents. Civic Center is the largest public space in San Francisco that is located in a low-income neighborhood inhabited by residents from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. Through deep community engagement and analysis of historic assets, the vision will transform Civic Center into thriving social infrastructure, prioritizing public life and the needs of the local community. Demonstrating civic ideals  – of a city, of a community, of a denizen –  in its design process and in the vision itself, the Plan creates a place for people from all walks of life to come together in celebration and protest, respite and play, health and refuge, in the heart of San Francisco.