San Francisco Shared Spaces Sustainability Strategy

The San Francisco Shared Spaces Program, initiated in Spring 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been the centerpiece of the City’s small business stabilization and retention strategy. To date, it has impacted hundreds of locally-owned small businesses, thousands of their employees, and dozens of neighborhood commercial corridors. The Program also continues deliver on other policy outcomes related to racial and social equity, pedestrian safety and climate action, neighborhood resilience, mental health and social well-being.
The Shared Spaces Sustainability Strategy was initiated in the Summer of 2021, in the early startup phase of the Pandemic program. It has been a living blueprint for for guiding growth and priorities; aligning them with the City’s policy objectives. It has been updated in May 2023, after the end of the Pandemic phase of the Program.

In order to maximize accessibility and participation, centralized coordination, streamlined Service, and equity were key considerations when developing the Program. This required breaking department silos in a complex, inter-agency effort that is unprecedented in San Francisco in terms of the scale of inter-agency collaboration and coordination. This necessitated the creation of new systems for administration, case management, and public education which should be sustained and refined. Many of the implementation items in this Strategy have outcomes centered on equity, accessibility, and continued streamlining of City administration. Critical implementation items in the Sustainability Strategy span multiple departments and jurisdictions. The recommended actions are grouped in areas of Policy & Strategy, Administration & Operations, Public Education, Impact Evaluation & Storytelling, and Equity. Within these groupings, implementation items are listed in order of urgency and priority.

Download the report here.

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