Shaping San Francisco hosts Public Talks on a variety of topics on Wednesday nights, about 18 times a year. Our topic themes vary, but we've grouped them over time into these categories: Art & Politics, Ecology, Historical Perspectives, Literary, and Social Movements. These Public Talks have been archived in audio and more recently in video in the Shaping San Francisco collection at the Internet Archive, and embedded in archival pages at shapingsf.org. We are now moving them to the archive at Foundsf.org, a process that will take some months (this note will disappear when the process is complete).
Unlinked Talks mean there is no audio or video available.
Art & Politics
Public Talks: Art & Politics / 2015-2019
- September 11, 2019: San Francisco Poster Syndicate
- April 3, 2019: Chris "L7" Cuadrado
- February 13, 2019: Seth Eisen/OUT of Site
- November 28, 2018: Public Art and Murals: Controversy, Neglect, Restoration
- May 2, 2018: Kal Spelletich--Do Androids Dream of Surplus Value?
- April 4, 2018: Insurgent Country Music and its Roots in the Golden State
- March 14, 2018: Ilana Crispi: Tenderloin and Mission Dirt
- February 28, 2018: Lou Dematteis
- November 8, 2017: Seth Eisen "OUT of Site"
- June 7, 2017: Kent Minault's "Diggerly-Do's"
- January 25, 2017: Packard Jennings
- September 28, 2016: Jenny Odell, Art as Archiving, Archiving as Art
- February 24, 2016: Mauro Ffortissimo with Dean Mermell
- November 4, 2015: Guillermo Gomez-Peña
- September 30, 2015: Nato Green
- March 4, 2015: Sirron Norris
- February 11, 2015: Rene Yañez
Public Talks: Art & Politics / 2011-2014
- November 12, 2014: Janet Delaney
- April 30, 2014: Yolanda Lopez
- March 26, 2014: Norman Nawrocki — Cazzarola!
- January 22, 2014: Songs of Freedom celebration
- April 24, 2013: Rebar
- November 7, 2012: Clarion Alley Mural Project
- May 16, 2012: Amy Franceschini
- May 9, 2012: Rock, Posters, and Politics!
- April 18, 2012: "Reel Hood Heroes": Conscious Youth Media Crew
- March 21, 2012: Jess Curtis: Body of Work
- October 19, 2011: An Open Rehearsal of Trial of Lucullus
- May 25, 2011: Lost Murals, Political Posters, Underground Comix: Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-78
- February 9, 2011: Eric Drooker and HOWL
Public Talks: Art & Politics / 20072010
- October 27, 2010: A Staged Reading of Money, a WPA Comedy from 1937
- September 22, 2010: RIGO
- May 19, 2010: History of San Francisco's Carnaval
- March 10, 2010: Socially Engaged Printmaking Today
- February 17, 2010: Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barraza, and Zachary Karnazes
- January 20, 2010: Patricia Rodriguez
- December 9, 2009: Keith Hennessy
- November 18, 2009: Philippines: Immigration Politics and the Body
- September 23, 2009: From India to the Bay Area: Culture and Economy
- September 16, 2009: Conscious Youth Media Crew
- May 27, 2009: Susan Greene
- April 15, 2009: Russell Howze
- March 18, 2009: Jet Martinez
- February 18, 2009: Doug Minkler
- October 8, 2008: San Francisco Print Collective
- September 10, 2008: Art as Intervention
- March 19, 2008: Favianna Rodriguez
- February 20, 2008: Eric Drooker
- January 16, 2008: Andrew Schoultz
- October 17, 2007: Hugh D’Andrade
- September 19, 2007: Mona Caron
- September 12, 2007: Grant Funding for the Arts in San Francisco: A Discussion
Ecology
Public Talks: Ecology / 2018-2019
- September 25, 2019: Neighborhood Corridors: Memory and Ecology
- May 22, 2019: Local Ecological Justice and Urbanity
- March 27, 2019: Sea Level Rise: Pacific Ocean and the Bay Area
- March 28, 2018: Saving the Bay from the "Future"
- March 7, 2018: Resilient by Design: The Language of Water
- February 7, 2018: Building a Deep Map--Beyond Buildings and Views
Public Talks: Ecology / 2015-2017
- September 27, 2017: Other Food Systems Are Possible
- May 10, 2017: From the Delta to the Bayshore: Adaptation Infrastructure and Rising Seas
- February 8, 2017: Citizen Science/Extinction Culture
- November 30, 2016: Unseen City
- May 11, 2016: What’s Going Right with the Global Environment!
- April 27, 2016: Oil, Soil, and (Climate) Turmoil
- April 13, 2016: Synthetic Biology: DIY Tinkering Meets Big Capital
- December 2, 2015: Tending the Urban Wild
- May 13, 2015: Plumbing California: Past, Present, and Future
- May 6, 2015: Rewilding and the Anthropocene
- April 22, 2015: Telling Stories with Bricks
- February 4, 2015: San Francisco’s Wild Menu: Flora, Fauna, Feast
Public Talks: Ecology / 2012-2014
- November 5, 2014: Trees and History
- September 10, 2014: The Evolving Eastern Shoreline
- May 14, 2014: Political Economy of Bees
- May 7, 2014: Dogs, Density, and Natural Areas
- April 9, 2014: Urban Farming and Urban Nature: Are We Competing or Cooperating?
- March 12, 2014: Saltworks and Shorelines: a Visual and Social History of the San Francisco Bay
- February 26, 2014: Design Radicals: Berkeley 1960s and Today
- February 5, 2014: Becoming a Biodiversity City
- October 30, 2013: Liberation Biology
- May 22, 2013: Talking About Ecology and Science in Public
- March 27, 2013: Designing Resilient Landscapes: What history teaches us about San Francisco and the Bay-Delta Estuary
- January 16, 2013: The Tigers of Market Street: Butterfly Habitat along a Busy Urban Corridor
- December 5, 2012: Planning 4th Street: Remaking a San Francisco Corridor
- August 28, 2012: The Next Step in Sustainability
- May 23, 2012: What Are Our Streets For?
Public Talks: Ecology / 2010-2011
- November 9, 2011: In Search of San Francisco's Eradicated Landscapes
- October 26, 2011: Urban Homesteading
- September 28, 2011: Did Laguna Dolores Exist?
- September 14, 2011: Endangered Species Campaigning
- June 8, 2011: Ecology and Food of the 1970s: Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-78
- March 30, 2011: Reciprocal Bio-Regional Culture from the Bay Area to the Sierras
- February 23, 2011: Underground Food Politics
- February 16, 2011: Vanished Waters: A History of San Francisco's Mission Bay
- January 26, 2011: Environmental History of Golden Gate Park
- November 17, 2010: Watersheds from California to Mexico
- November 10, 2010: Eco-Politics, a Strategic Roundtable
- May 26, 2010: Twin Peaks Bioregional Park: A Conservation Strategy for the Heart of San Francisco
- May 12, 2010: Circle the Food Wagons!—Local Food Economies
- February 24, 2010: San Francisco Golf Courses, Parks, Natural Areas
- January 27, 2010: Urban Forest
Public Talks: Ecology / 2008-2009
- October 28, 2009: Climate Change/Climate Justice
- September 30, 2009: Ecology and Redevelopment in Bayview/Hunter's Point
- May 13, 2009: Can Capitalism really “Go Green?”
- April 29, 2009: Permacultural Transformation for the Urban Dweller
- March 25, 2009: Toxic San Francisco
- February 25, 2009: Bees in the City
- January 28, 2009: Lake Merced Natural Area's Future
- November 19, 2008: Green Streets: Redesigning San Francisco One Block at a Time
- October 29, 2008: Candlestick Point: State Park for the People
- February 27, 2008: San Francisco's Imperiled and Surviving Birds
- January 30, 2008: Endangered Species Big Year
Public Talks: Ecology / 2006-2007
- November 28, 2007: Food Security & Urban Agriculture
- October 24, 2007: New Politics for Green Cities
- September 26, 2007: San Francisco Water Sources
- May 30, 2007: San Francisco Ecology: Butterflies in the City
- May 2, 2007: Immigration, Work, and Agriculture: From Enclosures to Fast-Food
- April 25, 2007: The National Park Where We Live
- February 28, 2007: Laying a Foundation for a Green City (3 podcasts)
- January 31, 2007: Grassroots Activism to Save San Bruno Mountain
- November 29, 2006: Native Habitat Restoration: Frogs in San Francisco
- October 25, 2006: Recycling Activism: Trash and Toxics
- September 27, 2006: Activism in and for the San Francisco Bay Ecosystem
- May 31, 2006 : Can San Francisco Feed Itself? (3 podcasts)
- May 10, 2006: San Francisco's Food Revolt
- April 26, 2006: Reclaiming Bay Area Military Bases (2 podcasts)
- March 29, 2006: Natural Disasters and Community Response (4 podcasts)
- February 22, 2006: Nature in the Urban Environment
- January 25, 2006: Natural Areas of San Francisco: a Pre-Urban View
Historical Perspectives
Public Talks: Historical Perspectives / 2006-2009
- December 16, 2009 : Rick Prelinger's Lost Landscapes of the East Bay
- November 11, 2009: Alcatraz: 40th Anniversary of Indigenous Occupation
- September 9, 2009: Final Tap: An Unofficial History of Beer
- February 11, 2009: Rick Prelinger's Lost Landscapes III: Film Fragments of San Francisco
- January 21, 2009: FoundSF: San Francisco History Wiki Workshop
- November 12, 2008: The Invisible Public Legacy of the Great Depression
- September 17, 2008: SF State Strike 40th Anniversary
- December 19, 2007: Rick Prelinger's Lost Landscapes: Film Fragments of San Francisco
- April 11, 2007: Lowriders: When the Mission was Low and Slow
- February 14, 2007: A History of Land Grabs in San Francisco and Some Counter-efforts
- December 6, 2006: Rick Prelinger's Lost Landscapes: Film Fragments of San Francisco
- November 8, 2006: Sexual and Reproductive Freedom Since the 1960s
- June 14, 2006: Films by Calvin Roberts: A San Franciscan’s Lost History
- April 12, 2006: Black Exodus and Black Eviction in San Francisco
- February 8, 2006: Philippines & San Francisco: Connected Through History
- January 18, 2006: Labor strength: Historic Bay Area General Strikes
Literary
Public Talks: Literary / 2010-2017
- March 8, 2017: Local History in Your Ear
- November 11, 2015: Literary Liberalism and the Western Voice
- November 13, 2013: Literary Treasures of the North Mission
- October 16, 2013: Unsettlers: El Cabe
- May 8, 2013: Unsettlers: Migrants, Homies, and Mammas in the Mission
- April 13, 2011: History of the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co.
- March 23, 2011: The Radical Futures Of The Book
- October 20, 2010: Hard Boiled for Hard Times—Crime Authors in the City
- October 13, 2010: Outspoken Authors Speak Out
- March 24, 2010: Science Fiction and the Struggle for Justice
- March 17, 2010: Crime/Noir Writers Describe Their Crimes in the City
