San Francisco Recreation & Park Department Climate Action Plan: Repositioning to a Sustainable Parks & Open Space System

The Planning, Design and Development Project (PDDP) establishes a Climate Action Plan for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, whereby repositioning its parks and open space system as a strategic contributor to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The PDDP, San Francisco Recreation & Park Department Climate Action Plan: Repositioning to a Sustainable Parks & Open Space System, directly contributes to San Francisco's quality of life by repositioning its park system from a recreational amenity to an ecological high-performing urban infrastructure. For the first time in its history, San Francisco's park operations are measured utilizing environmental performance indicators; hereby, establishing a two-year baseline of consumption of energy, water, and combustible fuel; and a corresponding two-year baseline of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. A carbon sink is substantiated based on the share value of San Francisco's urban forest, located specifically on parklands. The PDDP establishes a carbon sink and GHG emission baseline as a planning tool, and gages for future reduction initiatives.;The San Francisco Recreation & Park Department Climate Action Plan: Repositioning to a Sustainable Parks & Open Space System identifies sustainability strategies to create a planning and policy framework that expands the function of San Francisco parks toward mitigation and adaptation of the effects of global climate change. Detailed strategic actions and recommendations are provided to immediately initiate a regeneration of ecological benefits, in an effort to reduce the park system's vulnerabilities, today and fifty years from now. As a foremost achievement of the PDDP is the development climate action planning and policy framework to effect change and correctly reposition an urban park system to respond and adapt to climate change. Its vision, strategic directions, strategies, and environmental measures are tenets that hold true and are applicable to any medium-size and large-size urban park system.