These pressures have affected how the plan has been implemented. A variety of economic, social, and political pressures are viewed as separate from, and more important than, the frequently misunderstood non-quantifiable issues of urbandesign. Despite the noble intentions of the Urban Design Plan, within the web of the city bureaucracy’s decision-making process, urban design as a component of human needs is frequently not even on the table. While urban designers, including those in the San Francisco Planning Department, maintain an assumption that their work improves the city, the work of the profession is often fragmented and marginalized. The question for urban design in this context is, what effect will these transformations have on the physical city and how might they be guided to sustain qualities that San Franciscans cherish? Do the assumptions,conclusions, and objectives of the 1972 Plan meet the challenges of 1999? Maritime and industry have been supplanted by tourism, multi-media, and services housing costs are prohibitive and spatial patterns of live-work-play are no longer predictable. But while San Francisco might not be exploding, it is still changing. The development pressures facing San Francisco (and American central cities in general) in 1999 are not as apparent or blatant as they were in the late l960’s. As such, it was a reflection of the social and political ethos of the late 1960’s, an era in which many in the design professions held hope for the impact of design on improving people’s lives. Postulating that the city’s image is essential for the wellbeing of its residents, the Urban Design Element of the General Plan proactively merged a socially conscious agenda with the physical city. The physical environment of San Francisco was under tremendous pressure, with much of the residential area of the city “built out,” the economy undergoing transformation, and the downtown area poised for significant expansion. The San Francisco Urban Design Plan, adopted in 1972, was a groundbreaking and ambitious document.The culmination of five years of analysis and design development, the plan outlined a vision for the physical future of the city of San Francisco, a vision predicated on understanding the past, looking at the present, and anticipating the future. The San Francisco Urban Design Element of the San Francisco General Plan The Plan is a definition of quality, a definition based upon human needs.” It is a concerted effort to recognize the positive attribute of the city, to enhance and conserve those attributes, and to improve the living environment where it is less than satisfactory. The Urban Design Element is concerned both with development and with preservation. There are constant pressures for change, some for growth, some for decay. San Francisco’s environment is magnificent, and the city is a great city, but the unique relationship of natural setting and man’s past creations are extremely fragile. “The Urban Design Element concerns the physical character and order of the city, and the relationship between people and their environment.
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