Shaping the City from Below

Abstract

This article surveys social movements in San Francisco that have resisted and blocked various development schemes from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21st century. Notable examples include fights against redevelopment in the Fillmore and South of Market, gentrification in the Mission District, the campaign to save the International Hotel, the fight against “Manhattanization” of San Francisco through high rises downtown, the rise of community-based nonprofit housing developers alongside the establishment of rent control, and the contentious battles over space during the dot-com boom and bust from 1999 to 2000.