Gift Article<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixed-use Haussmann buildings like those on Montorgueil Street are typical throughout Paris. The French capital is about the same land area as San Francisco but houses more than twice as many residents.Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco has a habit of framing its housing debates in extremes. Density or \u201cneighborhood character.\u201d Growth or preservation. Victorian or nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a binary that has proven politically useful to generations of politicians and functionally disastrous for our housing market and for developing a coherent urban vision for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Francisco has spent decades treating density as something to be negotiated, deferred or railed against. That\u2019s in part because single-family homes are the norm here \u2014 a strange thing for a city, if you think about it. Vast areas are locked into low-rise, while taller buildings are clustered in just a few designated zones. It\u2019s a pattern that produces scarcity by design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paris, meanwhile, though about the same size as San Francisco, manages to house more than double the number of residents. It does so with a particular building type that is not exceptional; it is the default. Yet these buildings bring density without overcrowding and reinforce the city\u2019s social fabric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Six stories, no notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n A recent trip to Paris had me falling in love all over again with these ubiquitous \u2014 and I\u2019d argue, perfect \u2014 Haussmann buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Built in the late 19th century during a sweeping redesign of Paris led by Baron Georges-Eug\u00e8ne Haussmann, these elegant and functional buildings are usually 40 to 65 feet tall, with pale limestone facades, generous windows and balconies, and mansard roofs. Restaurants, offices and retail are typically on the ground floor, with apartments above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one \u2014 OK, I\u2019m sure some people \u2014 complains they\u2019re too tall or cast shade or any of the other familiar NIMBY arguments made against mid-rise construction in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s ridiculous to suggest this city should become Paris, but it\u2019s not so ridiculous to seriously consider the Haussmann block. It\u2019s a form that can provide what many call gentle density \u2014 while still being compatible with the scale of most San Francisco neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d point to one neighborhood as an example of how this might play out: Mission Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There, a collection of architect-designed multifamily buildings \u2014 many of them affordable, including Five88<\/a> by David Baker Architects and Mithun\u2019s 1180 Fourth Street <\/a> \u2014 have recently been built alongside resident-serving retail, a pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade public school, cafes, restaurants and a plethora of new public space. People don\u2019t need to drive to shop. They live on top of the Gus\u2019 Market, its produce spilling out onto the sidewalk to lure people in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It feels like a real neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Mission Bay was essentially built from scratch. But that doesn\u2019t preclude other blocks across the city from adopting the elements that work so well here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not overnight, and not uniformly, but over time, as part of a clear and predictable framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has been so hard to achieve thus far, in part because so much of the multifamily housing built in the city over the past several decades is nothing to celebrate. Eager to deliver much-needed housing despite the obstacles, we\u2019ve hit a sort of lowest-common-denominator model of building. They\u2019re often five stories of wood framing built over a concrete podium using a limited palette of materials and colors. There\u2019s little or no ornamentation or texture, but often there are unusable balconies. The sameness is an attempt to rein in costs, but it has resulted in a sort of nationalized homogeneity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n No wonder people don\u2019t want more of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s \u201cFamily Zoning\u201d<\/a> plan opens the door to more units in areas that have historically resisted them and, importantly, to units that can accommodate households larger than a studio or one-bedroom. This is a good thing. But what it doesn\u2019t do is provide any sort of aesthetic roadmap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, I am not proposing housing that looks like 19th century Paris (or 19th century Victorian San Francisco \u2014 let\u2019s keep the great stock we\u2019ve got of that housing type and move on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But San Francisco is an early adopter in everything. Why can\u2019t it be more bold in its design direction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, there are lots of reasons: A significant portion of multifamily housing is designed not by licensed architects but by developers, builders or draftspersons. Often, this results in standardized unit plans; an architect may still sign and stamp the plans for compliance, but is likely not involved in the conceptual design or spatial layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Land and labor costs continue to grow, so much of what seems to get built is focused less on inspiring design and more on getting projects to pencil out. The building industry loves a formula that works \u2014 and it\u2019s an industry that is loath to change. But a more creative approach could go a long way toward public acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just about form and aesthetics \u2014 it\u2019s about function. By design, Haussmann buildings promote something San Francisco is letting slip away: social interaction. If you need a light bulb, a coffee or a pair of socks, the default seems to be Amazon or DoorDash. Gig workers are increasingly dispatched to grocery shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Paris, you go out your front door and can pick up what you need in minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paris has heavily invested in expanding transit and removing cars from its streets: People don\u2019t drive because they don\u2019t have to. Only 28% of households own cars, which means the streets are lively all day because people are walking on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t simply a function of historic development patterns. Mayor Anne Hidalgo actively made the capital greener, pedestrian-friendly and cyclist-friendly over the past two decades. The March mayoral election between Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire, one of Hidalgo\u2019s deputies, and Rachida Dati, a pro-car candidate, was seen as a referendum of sorts on the city\u2019s urbanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gr\u00e9goire won decisively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my la vie en rose<\/em> view, embracing this model in San Francisco would reintroduce things like social interaction, neighborliness and support for local business \u2014 things I\u2019ve seen erode dramatically over the past decade as more people opt for convenience over community, optimization over livability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Family zoning is beginning to shift the density conversation, but we need to pair it with a broader willingness to embrace density not as a threat, but as a way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Opinion<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight<\/strong> are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect<\/strong> the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about our transparency and ethics policies<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re seeing the result in Mission Bay, which is booming<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The six-story neighborhood provides a template for growth that is substantial and humane \u2014 dense enough to address a housing shortage, modest enough to fit within existing neighborhoods, exciting enough to get you out the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allison Arieff is a columnist and editorial writer for the Opinion section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 5, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Allison Arieff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Columnist<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allison Arieff is an Opinion Columnist and Editorial Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle with an emphasis on housing and transportation policy, design and urbanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She joined the Chronicle from MIT Technology Review, where she was the Editorial Director of Print. Arieff was previously Editorial Director of the Bay Area urban planning and policy think tank SPUR, and was a regular columnist for New York Times\u2019 Opinion section from 2007-2020, focusing on cities, design and technology. She was the Editor in Chief and founding Senior Editor of the design and architecture magazine Dwell, which won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence during her tenure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paris, about the same size as S.F., manages to house more than double the number of residents. It does so with one building type \u2014 six stories, no notes By\u00a0Allison Arieff, Opinion Columnist April 5, 2026 (SFChronicle.com) Gift Article Mixed-use Haussmann buildings like those on Montorgueil Street are typical throughout Paris…. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-6-1024x683.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n