New York City’s Worst Highways Can Lead Somewhere Better

The expressways that Robert Moses carved into the city helped inspire the entire American highway system. Now they can be models for community-led reform. 

ULI Northwest Arkansas 2024 Place Summit

The 2024 Place Summit theme, "Regional Connectivity: Distinct Communities, A Shared Future," aims to foster crucial conversations about preserving our beloved sense of place amid rapid growth in our region and neighboring communities. 

We will tackle the serious challenges and opportunities around Infrastructure, Housing, Transportation, Art, Sustainability and so much more. 

Register for the event

I Am Northwest Arkansas Podcast Interview

Host Randy Wilburn welcomes Alison Sant to discuss her keynote at the ULI Northwest Arkansas Place Summit.

India Basin: If the Big Five of Bayview Could See It Now, Part 2

Like their trailblazing predecessors, a new cadre of leaders won't rest until racial equality and economic justice deliver decent housing, education, job opportunities, and a healthy environment for this community.

India Basin: If the Big Five of Bayview Could See It Now, Part 1

As India Basin Waterfront Park takes shape, Trust for Public Land is honoring the history and legacy of women who fought for justice here.

Share the Road

Op-ed: Shared mobility is the future of city streets. Here’s how to do it right.

Eco-Inclusivity: Ensuring Green Stormwater Practices Benefit All Communities

A panel discussion focusing on Philadelphia's 'Green Cities, Clean Waters' program which utilizes green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) as a means of not just infiltrating storm water, but also improving environmental justice and providing more green spaces for communities. Moderated by author Alison Sant, panelists include: Mark Cammarata, Owen Franklin, Mami Hara, and Kenneth Jessup.

Queens’ 34th Avenue Shows What Open Streets Can Do For People

Op-Ed. “The 34th Avenue Open Street shows how urban roads can be repurposed to make a more livable city. Even more, it is an example of how communities must lead these efforts so that streets reflect a common vision for what communities care about.”

In NYC, Oyster Gardens are Inspiring Residents to Reimagine the Harbor Estuary

'The biggest realization for a lot of people is that there is life in New York’s Harbor.'

Resilience Matters

Contributors to the Island Press Short-form Program captured this hopeful, life-affirming work through a series of articles, op-eds, interviews, and other short-form writing that have now been collected in the latest edition of our e-book series Resilience Matters, available below at no cost thanks to our grant support from The Kresge Foundation and The JPB Foundation.

Vote For A Better San Francisco

Op-ed: The future of San Francisco's car-free streets

Women as Catalysts for Change: Inspirational Experiences and Stories

Women have led forestry solutions in their communities throughout the country. Whether by organizing their neighbors to plant trees along urban streets, guiding forest management practices in our wildlands, or working with communities to study and preserve forest ecosystems, women are making forestry a part of addressing climate change. This panel, moderated by Alison Sant, the author of From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities, explores the unique experiences, perspectives, and stories of women practicing in the field and aim to inspire ways for participants to act in their own lives and professions.

Terre Verde: Creating Resilient Cities

Earth Island Journal editor, Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with Alison Sant about the many pathways towards reinventing our cities to be regenerative and equitable.

The Atlantic Festival

The Possibility of a Sustainable Future: Combatting Climate Change

Smithsonian Earth Optimism X Folklife Festival

Livelihoods and Landscapes, a Panel discussion

Jane Jacobs Lecture Series: Streets For Everyone

A panel discussion with Tamika Butler, a national expert on the built environment and equity; Dani Simons, the Director of Public Affairs for the USDOT; and urbanist John Bela, one of the creators of Park(ing) Day, in conversation with Alison Sant, author of From the Ground Up.

Ditch Cars for Open – and Equal – Streets

Car-centric streets are dangerous and perpetuate inequity, but the pandemic has pointed us to ways we can better use our public spaces.

ThreeSixtyCity Podcast Featuring Alison Sant

Host Greg Lindsay interviews Alison Sant about her book From the Ground Up.

From the Ground Up

Named one of the best books of 2022 by the American Society of Landscape Architects and Planetizen

Living with Water Tours

As members of the Bionic Team for the Bay Area Resilient by Design Challenge, the Studio worked with community- based advocacy groups, including Canal Alliance, Canal Welcome Center, and Resilient Shore, to create the Living with Water tours. This series of public walking, biking, and kayaking tours brought public awareness to the effects of sea level rise on a frontline community where segregation has concentrated its majority Latinx residents, many of whom live below the poverty line, in one of the lowest-lying areas of the San Francisco Bay. These events brought the public into conversation with scientists, designers, planners, government officials, businesses, and advocacy groups who are working to make the San Francisco Bay Area resilient to the climatic challenges ahead. The tours were offered free of charge to the general public, with meals provided. The Bionic Team earned the National ASLA Award of Excellence: Communications Award in 2019.

Pedal In!

Created for the opening of The Commons, a public gathering space at the Headlands Center for the Arts, the Studio hosted a public bike ride featuring a series of talks focused on bicycling as a way of claiming public space from our city streets to our parklands.

Field Lab

As Designers-In-Residence at the Exploratorium, the Studio for Urban Projects created a Field Lab along the San Francisco waterfront to examine the effects of sea-level rise in the San Francisco Bay. Over the course of a month, the Field Lab was a venue for public discussions, hands-on workshops, a research library, and film screenings.

Reclaim Market Street!

Reclaim Market Street! was an exhibition and series of street interventions created by the Studio for Urban Projects to augment the community engagement process in remaking San Francisco's central boulevard. By staging a series of events, from biking and walking tours to temporary playgrounds and film screenings, the Studio engaged the public in reimagining the street from interventions that engaged the public in changing the street.

Public Orchard

An architectural pavilion and public park programmed with a series of talks, workshops, film screenings exploring food security, urban foodsheds, and public space created for the 01SJ Biennial.

An Unnatural History of Golden Gate Park

This audio tour in seven episodes strolls through Golden Gate Park exploring the history of the park and the role that this evolving landscape plays in the social and ecological life of San Francisco. Created by the Studio for Urban Projects.