The San Francisco Civic Center is the local manifestation of the City Beautiful movement. City Beautiful was created to house governmental activities in palatial public buildings around a public square to make government more open and to give citizens a way to be a part of the City through such buildings. Libraries, auditoriums, museums and opera houses were also included in the complex to provide enlightenment and uplift as well.

Today, these grand open spaces of Civic Center Plaza, UN Plaza, and the stretch of Fulton Street in between, are poised for a transformation, with resources now available for a Civic Center Public Realm Plan and a coordinated near-term effort to immediately enhance activation and stewardship to better serve the neighborhood and work for everyone on a daily basis.

Join us for a brief history of Civic Center with local expert Jim Haas. A panel discussion will follow led by Project for Public Spaces’ Senior Vice President Ethan Kent featuring Mary McCue of MJM Management, and Tyrone Mullins of Green Streets. This dialogue will showcase best practices for improving and managing public spaces by examining case studies from around the country. Examples from Detroit, New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles as well as San Francisco will be presented in order to discuss topics including best practices for activation, stewardship, and stakeholder engagement in public spaces that serve many different populations.