San Francisco Urbanization Analysis

Urbanism at its eclectic finest exists in the city of San Francisco. The name itself brings to mind its many sociocultural icons. The Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, and Alcatraz Island are unique to San Francisco yet do not define the city. From a tiny missionary village to wild west frontier town to love-ins and gay pride to world-class city characterize San Francisco as a distinctive metropolis. Environmentally, San Francisco is far from ideal. At the tip of the peninsula on San Francisco Bay, surrounded on three sides by water, San Francisco is windy most of the time. It has moderately cool temperatures year round and is plagued by dense fog, steep hills, and earthquakes. In spite of this San Francisco has
John Palen (The Urban World 2015) defines urbanization as the process that transforms rural areas into urban areas (9). This definition encompasses population growth as well as physical structures built to service that population. Urbanization began in earnest in San Francisco in 1848-49 when the gold rush was in full steam. The population grew from approximately 1000 in 1848 to over 50,000 in 1856. Prior to California becoming a U.S. territory in 1846 after the Spanish-American war, a mission and presidio to protect it were built in Yerba Buena by the Mexicans. There was much competition in the well-known Bay of San Francisco for a dominant city and on January 30, 1847, the mayor of Yerba Buena issued a proclamation renaming the town San Francisco to establish that dominance. (Maldetto) The city of San Francisco encompasses the entire county of San Francisco. San Francisco is governed by a Mayor and an 11-member Board of Supervisors, which also serves as the City Council. The Board of Supervisors establishes city policies and adopts ordinances and resolutions. The mayor serves as the executive head of both city and county governments.
These figures have been about the same for at least the past five years. (Suburban Stats) Chinatown, hailed as one of the largest such communities in the United States, has remained a prominent district in the city throughout the years and consistently the Chinese make up about 20 percent of the city’s population. (Bryant 18) San Francisco also has a significant homeless population, estimated at slightly less than 6,500 people in 2015; about 40 percent identify themselves as LGBT as reported by Dave Campos in The San Francisco Bay Times. Campos, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, argues that homelessness is one of the most critical issues for San Francisco to address in