This Must be the Place: Writing the City

What interesting forms can writings on cities and urbanism take and how would they seek to draw the audience?

This is the context for the evening’s literary event where Urban Extraordinaires from around the Bay divulge about Cities Past, Present, and Future--cities that were, cities that are and cities that might be, amidst all their truths and deceptions, glories and catastrophes. From a once-gritty New York’s etchings of financial woes and cultural renaissance; to a fictional Eden Valley’s mysterious saga of sprawl and money; from memoirist brushstrokes of othering, agency, and empathy in present day Seattle; to the Bay Area’s blundering path to resegregation; and from a speculative weaving of San Francisco’s full commons alternatives and fascist futures; to other visceral imaginations of place and time; all these and more. Come hear stories of urban struggles and potential and speculate on the limitless promise of cities’ futures still to be dreamed, schemed, and fought for, featuring Alex Schafran, Chris Carlsson, Fernando Marti, John Beutler, Tony Samara, and Vinita Goyal.

With space for audience participation and a deeper dive on the different facets of “writing the city” whether as the writer’s own journey in giving a deeper meaning to their exploration or in creating a relationship with the reader (you)!

Come join us!

Doors open at 6pm. Program starts promptly at 6:30pm.

Presenters:

Alex Schafran is the author of The Road to Resegregation: Northern California and the Failure of Politics (UC Press, 2018) and The Spatial Contract (Manchester UP, 2020). He lives and works in Oakland, where he hosts the Housing After Dark Podcast and works as a consultant trying to transform California’s housing system.

Chris Carlsson, co-director of Shaping San Francisco and chief curator at Foundsf.org, has written four books and edited six anthologies. His extensive experience in storytelling will be highlighted in his presentation when he shares excerpts from the new 2nd edition of Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes, and Radical Histories (Pluto Press: 2025).

Fernando Marti is a writer, printmaker, community architect, and housing activist based in San Francisco. His writing, artwork and constructions reflect his formal training in urbanism, his roots in rural Ecuador, and his current residence in the heart of Empire. His writings have appeared in publications as varied as El Tecolote, Street Sheet, Geez, Milvia Street, and Shelterforce, as well as his own self-published zine, Amor y Lucha.

John David Beutler is an urban designer and registered city planner immersed in the issues of sustainability, sprawl, and transportation. He has published numerous articles about these subjects, including contested ones like the upcoming standoff between pedestrians and autonomous vehicles. Given the wonkiness of some of these topics, he is now struggling to explore the compelling stories and themes of cities in a screenplay.

Tony Samara has worked in housing justice for the past decade and before that was an academic sociologist studying urban inequality. His publications include: Cape Town After Apartheid (University of Minnesota Press), A Fine Balance: Social reproduction and the geography of inequality in the Bay Area (Counterpoints), and Don’t blame SF’s “left-leaning, anti-growth, NIMBY homeowners” for the city’s housing crisis (Salon). He is based in San Mateo.

Vinita Goyal, trained as an architect and urban planner, advances regenerative and restorative models that center the leadership of low income communities of color. She serves as Community Investment Director of Full Spectrum Labs, a US-based think tank, incubator, and accelerator, and on the board of the San Francisco Community Land Trust. Vinita's work has appeared in Panorama, Progressive City, Shelterforce, Next City, and Streetsblog.