SF Survey - Citywide Cultural Resources Survey

Methodology diagram



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Engagement diagram

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Community engagement is a core part of the SF Survey methodology. The Survey relies on input from community members to understand how places are used, remembered, and valued, especially in ways that may not be visible through architecture or written records alone.

SF Survey engagement builds on the Planning Department’s larger SF Cultural Heritage work, including approaches that recognize intangible cultural heritage, support community capacity-building, and use a range of engagement tools such as storytelling, interviews, mapping, and multimedia submissions. This approach helps ensure that histories important to communities are shared according to the priorities and preferences of those communities.

The SF Survey’s Community Engagement Framework was developed with guidance from community members and partners. It aligns with the Historic Preservation Commission’s racial and social equity resolution and focuses on building relationships with communities that have been historically underrepresented in preservation efforts.

Through this engagement, community knowledge directly informs research, documentation, evaluation, and review, strengthening the Survey’s findings and supporting  inclusive outcomes.

Survey work begins with fieldwork  and continues through research and evaluation. Planning staff collect information about buildings, sites, structures, objects, cultural landscapes, and districts, and refer to the Citywide Historic Context Statement to understand how places connect to broader cultural, architectural, and historical themes.

SF Survey generally focuses on properties that are 45 years old or older, which is a standard threshold used to consider potential historical significance. Using historical research, field observations, and community input, staff evaluate previously unevaluated places to determine whether they may qualify as historic resources.

Survey work includes three main stages:

• Fieldwork documents existing conditions and how places relate to their surroundings
• Research gathers background information and community knowledge, typically through the Historic Context Statement process
• Evaluation brings together field observations, research, and community input to identify historic resources

In parts of the city where historic surveys were completed in the past, staff review and update earlier findings to ensure they align with current standards and reflect updated understanding.

As part of the SF Survey, properties are assigned a California Historical Resource Status Code, which indicates whether a property may be eligible for listing on the California Register of Historical Resources or the National Register of Historic Places.

For local planning purposes, these findings are simplified into two categories:

• Category A – Historic Resource Present
• Category C – No Historic Resource Present

These classifications inform planning and preservation decisions. They do not, by themselves, designate a property as a City Landmark.

The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) holds public hearings on the adoption of SF Survey findings for individual properties. At each hearing, the HPC may elect to immediately adopt the findings with or without modifications, or they may take no action and direct the team to incorporate revisions or provide additional information.

Prior to those hearings, the SF Survey Team conducts outreach to share and discuss the context statement and/or findings of historic resource status with the community and key stakeholders.

Property-specific reports and detailed information are available on SF Cultural Heritage online platform, the City’s public website for accessing survey findings and cultural resource information.

Once draft survey findings are adopted, they are reflected in the San Francisco Property Information Map (SF PIM) and used during the historic resource review process for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), building permit applications, development projects, and area plans. Staff also transmit a copy of the SF Survey Findings to the State of California Office of Historic Preservation and to the Northwest Information Center at Sonoma State University for reference.

The Planning Department considers Survey findings to be a "living" record and may further refine these findings to incorporate new information or address comments provided by the public, the Historic Preservation Commission, or California Office of Historic Preservation staff.