Thursday, April 02, 2015

High Above San Francisco in POPOS: What's That?

Our beautiful City is blessed with spectacular views from an elevated location and I've discovered two new sites to enjoy some of the scenery.

The San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic John King has long called for much-appreciated attention to POPOS, which stands for privately owned public open spaces, and folks visiting the spaces. 

POPOS were created by downtown developers as part of the City's incentives to construct more public spaces in congested areas. Accessing some of the locations is now easier since large signs are now posted outside the buildings with a POPOS inside.

The executives at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research group, SPUR, have a terrific guide to most of the POPOS available as a PDF for printing or an app, to better assist people who want to visit the semi-public spaces. Check out their "Secrets of San Francisco" guide and map here.

While these public spaces with great views are breathtaking and relaxing oases in the urban jungle, and well worth a visit, don't overlook all the street level POPOS sites. Videos of those locations coming soon.




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