Metro Talk: Conversation with John King, San Francisco Chronicle Urban Design Critic

A Metro Talks event on Thursday, Dec. 14th at 5:30 p.m. at the Bay Area Metro Center will feature San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic and author John King, talking about his latest book, Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities. King will be interviewed by Jeff Wood, Principal of the Overhead Wire and Talking Headways Podcast.

This Metro Talks is hosted by MTC, the regional transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area; and presented by the Bay Area Regional Collaborative, a consortium of regional and regionally-oriented state agencies working together to address issues facing the Bay Area.

Conceived in the Gilded Age, the Ferry Building opened in 1898 as San Francisco’s portal to the world, the terminus of the transcontinental railway and a showcase of civic ambition. In silent films and World’s Fair postcards, nothing said “San Francisco” more than its soaring clocktower. But as John King recounts in Portal, the rise of the automobile and double-deck freeways severed the city from its beloved structure and its waterfront — a connection that required generations to restore. Now this iconic structure faces the challenge of sea level rise.

Register for this free event, which will  be held in person at the Bay Area Metro Center, 375 Beale Street, San Francisco, CA. The talk starts at 5:30 p.m. Reception and book signing to follow until 7:30 p.m.

Metro Talks is a series of public forums aiming to seed and exchange ideas on how the Bay Area can transform for the better. The forums bring together prominent leaders and experts to discuss significant regional issues like housing, community development, climate change, the economy, technology and transportation.