Here’s one approach in Bristol, England, where they call it “Playing Out”:

When we learned we’d be rolling out San Francisco’s contribution to the Play Streets movement, our talented designer Michelle Shofet offered to help explain the idea in a little more detail. Scroll all the way down and enjoy!

And when you’re done, join us this May for one of our workshops in the Western Addition, Bayview, the Tenderloin, or the Excelsior. You can live anywhere in SF and still attend! The workshop is free, like the food we’ll serve, and participating means that you’ll be equipped with the latest in ninja-level playtime techniques.

Learn more about Urban Planner Jonathan Snyder’s groundbreaking research in Scenic America’s article here, or download the full report.

We’re getting in on some hot design action hosted by the cool kids at Grey Area Foundation for the Arts and Intersection for the Arts – UP:SF.

Urban Prototyping for the city. “What is this?”, you ask. It’s a design contest to make SF more awesome, and we’re all about it. The idea is to create a project that:

• uses technology and a public space,
• is open source and scalable, and
• affordable (materials budgets are not to exceed $1000).

We asked you and our design community to help define our project parameters with a quick survey.

Here’s what folks had to say:

1. Should our project be an active or passive part of its environment?

44.4% COMBO: You are drawn to it by something else. Ex. Ice Cream truck and music
33.3% ACTIVE: You can see it from far away. It helps define the environment. Ex. Parklet
22.2% PASSIVE: You might not see it at first. It fits within the existing environment. Ex. Sidewalk stencil

2. What level of tech should be required of participants?

0.0%   HIGH: Participants must engage through their mobile device. Ex. podcasts
22.2% MEDIUM: Participants must actively engage through provided technology. Ex. stationary bikes
77.8% LOW: Participants can passively engage through provided technology. Ex. digital projection

3. Which senses should be activated?

We’re excited to share these results with you and will be bragging about our awesome project proposal as soon as we’ve submitted it!

If you’re interested in getting involved contact us! If you’d like to submit a proposal of your own, check out http://sf.urbanprototyping.org/ where it’s all happening.

LiveLovely.com, an apartment-hunting site, pissed off SF this week by stealing tweets (with users’ names & images) and then posting them (probably) illegally around the City. The idea was to create a buzz on Twitter about their brand.

There is one massive problem with this advertising campaign in my view: no one wants to be friends with a jerk.

Andy Wright (@andyjeanius) at the Bay Citizen did a great job breaking this “guerrilla” gaffe. From her article we learn that the campaign was the brain child of the LiveLovely marketing intern* with “the goal of getting a conversation started on Twitter”. The problem is that the boss, Joel Goyette, Community & Marketing Manager at LiveLovely (who “has been creating and nurturing communities long before “Community Manager” became a job title”, seriously it says that on his bio.) didn’t think about the communities he was trying to monetize before he pulled the trigger on this asinine campaign.

Lesson one on creating and nurturing community: be a good neighbor. Don’t step up all NKOTB and piss off the communities you’re trying to get in with. Seriously. It’s not awesome.

Twitter has a policy about using other people’s tweets, it goes like this: Get users’ permission before…when you don’t, they write creeped out blogs like this one. And last I checked, people hate it when you litter in their neighborhood.

Anyhow, it’s nothing new. Companies do this all of the time. Go check your gate – if you live in my neighborhood you’ve got at least one pizza/Chinese/house-painting flyer tied to your house, or under your windshield wiper. It’s annoying and it’s litter. In fact it’s such a pain that President of the Board, David Chiu sponsored a new handbill ordinance to combat this type of problem.

Let’s be good neighbors to each other, and let’s think twice about what community really means.
*We think interns are awesome and have creative, cool ideas – but not every idea is a winner.

Apparently, we’re slobs.

Dolores Park and Fort Mason were overwhelmed this week with the leavings of our celebration of national independence. The 320 cubic yards (about 9,600 gallons) of trash is just a drop in the bucket compared with what we do nationally every year. Who trashes the places we love? And why?

We hear, “it’s the tourists” or “there weren’t enough trash cans/volunteers/dumpsters/gardeners”. Truth is, people did it. Park users, like you or me, left the trash in the park. According to research by Keep America Beautiful, a national organization that works to engage people in the care of their local environments, “About 85% of littering is the result of individual attitudes. Changing individual behavior is key to preventing litter.”

The solution is simple, choose not to litter.

The research shows that your choice to “give a hoot” encourages others to do the same. It’s contagious. Pass it along. Pick it up.

SFist and SF Examiner on Fort Mason dumping.

SFGate on Dolores Park trash.

We’re excited about this development on Market, and we can’t wait to see how Shorestein spruces up the place.

With techies Twitter, Yammer, CallSocket, and fancy home furnishers One Kings Lane all on-site…what’s missing? what retail options would you put in downstairs?
(Starbucks and Patrick & Co. are already across the street)…

Read more about the move here.

Watch the video. Donate to our campaign to Protect Prop G, and help us keep the pressure on the City and on illegal billboard operators.

“No new billboards” means no new billboards.

I came across this little gem this morning. I’ve been reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in this passage, Ben was waxing poetic about street sweepers in olde time New England (clearly they hadn’t invented parking tickets, yet!).

Who are the unsung heroes in your neighborhood that bring you daily “little advantages” and make you happy? We want to know.

For forty years we’ve been awarding the best in neighborhood beautification, public activation, community organizing, or historic and environmental preservation projects.

Nominate someone today for a 2012 Beautification Award.