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LIVING INNOVATION ZONES In the fall of 2013, the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the San Francisco Planning Department partnered to create The Living Innovation Zone (LIZ) Program. The program seeks to invigorate San Francisco’s streets by creating “Living Innovation Zones” venues for innovation, connection and play in public outdoor places. The LIZ program streamlines innovation, art and design in San Francisco public spaces. The program provides real-world settings for inventors and artists to test new ideas, evaluate next generation technologies, and engage the public about urban challenges. In doing so, LIZ aims to steer San Francisco’s
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tech and creative communities toward sustainable community development, efficient government and a better quality of life for all San Franciscans.
an important neighborhood “icon” and has increased foot traffic in the area.
The first LIZ , a temporary installation on Market Street, is composed of two elements: (1) a pair of large parabolic “whispering dishes” which amplify a person’s voice, making it audible to the person sitting in the opposite dish 50 feet away, and (2) a “singing bench” that plays music when people complete a circuit by touching the bench’s armrests. The LIZ program website states that over 20,000 pedestrians pass by the installation every day. Initial anecdotal reports from nearby businesses (such as the MOMA Store, The Coffee Bean and Bluestem Brasserie) indicate that the installation has become
The Market Street Prototyping Festival could be considered the most recent development in San Francisco’s public space revolution. The Festival engaged residents, designers, and community organizations in coming up with great ideas for Market Street to inform long range plans as part of the Better Market Street capital improvements project. For three days in April 2015, Market Street was transformed into a platform for 50 design teams to showcase exceptional ideas for improving San Francisco’s main thoroughfare.
San Francisco’s first Living Innovation Zone is located on Market Street, San Francisco’s cultural, civic and economic spine. (Photo via the Living Innovation Zone Website: liz.innovatesf.com.)
URBAN PROTOTYPING
The Market Street Prototyping Festival in April 2015 engaged 50 design teams in creating short-term installations representing their ideas for making a better Market Street. (Photos by SF Planning.)