In a day of motivational speakers, live performances, kids’ activities and arts & crafts, the Western Addition community came together to celebrate peace and diversity on the Buchanan Mall. The Peace Festival was a celebration of non-violence, and honored the memory of beloved community member:…
Urban parks are dynamic institutions that play a vital, but not fully appreciated or understood role in the social, economic and physical well-being of America’s urban areas and its residents. Dating back to the 19th century, these green spaces provided relief from urban intensity for…
The Buchanan Mall “renaissance” is only just beginning. SF Examiner’s Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez documented the first phase of the Buchanan Mall revitalization. “One group of seniors from neighborhood properties and another comprised of neighborhood youth showed each other their visions for the mall, and worked…
Artist Eugene E. White has lived and worked in the Western Addition for 50 years. His paintings and murals document and celebrate Black lives through history, from his childhood in 1930s rural Arkansas to the Civil Rights era to today. White is featured in an installation at…
In a guest blog post for Design Thinking for Museums, designer and social scientist Maryanna Rogers, Ph.D., highlights the Buchananan Mall project as an exemplary case study in embedded participatory design. Rogers concludes “The team’s ‘shoe leather,’ relentless dedication, and respect for community members came…
For the past several months, a large number of Western Addition residents have gathered on Thursday evenings at the African American Art and Culture Complex to discuss the Buchanan Street Mall Activation Project. This Saturday, they’ll celebrate the completion of the first phase of the project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony….
A community board is designing a park that participants hope will help redefine the neighborhood’s identity in a rapidly growing city. Tentative plans include planters, a community gathering space and signs detailing the history of the Western Addition. “We want to unify and stop being…
The Design Task Force met for the fourth week on June 25th to participate in a 3D modeling exercise. This exercise expanded on last week’s 2D drawings by asking the Task Force to think about their ideas in 3 dimensions and with a larger group.
Green Streets visited the Exploratorium’s Studio for Public Spaces for a meeting and sketch session. Afterwards, they brought the architects back to Hayes Valley for a tour through the Buchanan Mall. Tyrone, Roger, Shannon, Jammal and Randolph weren’t just pointing out landmarks; they shared the…
Phase 1 of the design process: free drawing. The designers and architects of the Exploratorium’s Studio for Public Spaces invited the Green Streets team to their studio to envision the built possibilities in the Buchanan Mall. Each sketch illustrates the many ways in which this…