Welcome to Urban Ecology

Summary The San Francisco Green Business Team includes Urban Ecology, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SF.DPH), San Francisco Department of the Environment (SFE), and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SF.PUC). This team provides free...

EastSide Community Cultural Center

Oakland, California Challenge A thriving population of homegrown neighborhood artists has emerged in Oakland’s San Antonio, encouraging community participation in the arts through after-school training programs, events for young adults, street banners and murals,...

Clinton Park

Oakland, California Challenge The Eastlake neighborhood in Oakland, California, is one of the most diverse communities in that city. It is home to African Americans, Latinos, Southeast Asian immigrants, and Native Americans. Yet Eastlake’s main open space—Clinton...

Urban Promise Academy Campus Improvement Plan

Urban Promise Academy Campus Improvement Plan read more

Commercial Center Revitalization

Oakland, California Challenge Once home to two movie theaters and a trolley line, Oakland’s 23rd Avenue today has boarded-up storefronts, traffic that speeds by too quickly, and vacant lots that invite criminal activity. Though community members are sometimes divided...

Garfield Elementary Schoolyard Redesign

Garfield Elementary Schoolyard Redesign read more

Community Design Consulting Services

Some of our past projects.

Visitacion Valley Community Vision

Visitacion Valley Community Vision read more

Visitacion Valley Neighborhood Center Plan

Visitacion Valley Neighborhood Center Plan read more

Mission Corridor Plan Commercial Revitalization

Mission Corridor Plan Commercial Revitalization read more

Weeks Neighborhood Plan

Weeks Neighborhood Plan read more

16th Street BART Community Design Plan

The 16th Street BART Community Design Plan is the result of a nine-month community planning process organized to address neighborhood concerns about the 16th Street BART station area in San Francisco. The Community Design Plan provides both general guidelines and...

The Clinton Park Plan

The Clinton Park Plan read more

Past Articles from Our Journal

You can visit our contact page to submit your own article! Find all our past journal articles here.

Habitat II Conference Tidbits

Participants at the Habitat II City Summit were snowed under by an avalanche of information describing urban development around the world. Following are a few tidbits and gleanings from the conference: The world's urban population will rise from 1.54 billion in 1975...

Texas’ Colonias: Squatter Settlements Become Affordable Housing

by Rachel Peterson Texas has witnessed an unusual pattern of development along its 2,000 mile border with Mexico. Colonias are unincorporated, "informal" rural subdivisions that usually lack water, wastewater service, and paved roads. There are an estimated 1,436 such...

Venice Confronts Population Loss, Environmental Problems

Venice Confronts Population Loss, Environmental Problems read more

Common Place: Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design

by Douglas Kelbaugh reviewed by Stephen Wheeler One the most important challenges facing urban ecologists currently is to develop a language of urban design that integrates different scales -- the building, site, neighborhood, city and region -- in ways that further...

A Brief Reading List On Urban Sustainability

We are often asked by those new to the subject to recommend some initial readings on urban sustainability. Following is a brief listing of some recent works. Many of these books have been reviewed in past issues of The Urban Ecologist, and several are available...

San Diego Canyons Mix Coyotes and House Cats

Kevin Crooks A century of intensive urban development has destroyed most of the native sage scrub and chaparral habitat in Southern California -- helping to create one of the world's largest epicenters of extinction. Indeed, San Diego has more threatened species of...

Global Urban Poverty Action Guide

Global Urban Poverty Action Guide read more

Bangkok’s Motorcycle Taxis

Bangkok's Motorcycle Taxis read more

Including the Excluded: Supportive Housing

By Kate Bristol Consider these scenarios: a young man with a serious mental illness is ready to move from a group home to independent living in the community, but must find a housing unit he can afford on a $640 per month disability benefit. A women with two small...

Ecological Development In The United States

Santa Monica Sustainable Building Guidelines As part of its Sustainable City Program, adopted by the City Council in September 1994, Santa Monica is developing "Sustainable Building Development Guidelines" which may prove a useful model for other cities. A draft...

Sustainable Development Around the World

Clean Fuel Vehicles in Cairo To combat its dangerously high air pollution, Cairo is looking to convert its taxis, buses, and minibuses to compressed natural gas, which produces 86 percent less carbon monoxide and 83 percent fewer hydrocarbons than gasoline. Five...

Angola Project Wins Planning, Architecture Contest