After months of planning, we are extremely excited to announce the final lineup of performances, panels, and projects for this weekend’s Urban Prototyping Festival! For the duration of the festival, 4 blocks of downtown San Francisco will be transformed into a living laboratory of urban experiments. The one-day festival runs for ten hours, from 12 noon to 10 pm this Saturday, October 20.

Three stages of live performance, four discussion panels, and three keynote talks will accent the true focus of UP:SF – the 20+ design and technology projects showcasing the ability of citizens to rethink how we use and innovate in our public space.

We could not be more excited about the lineup of activities for this Saturday and look forward to seeing you there! If you haven’t already, join 1200+ others who have RSVP’d on Facebook, and find us on Twitter at @urbanproto using the hashtag #UPSF. Read more about the lineup below.

– Projects –

The centerpieces of UP: San Francisco are the more than 20 design and technology projects created either as responses to our Open Call for proposals, or prototyped in 48 hours at our Urban Makeathon in September. Collectively, these projects showcase and celebrate principles of rapid prototyping, tactical urbanism, and participatory design – supporting an environment where the city itself serves as a platform for citizens to contribute to improving the public realm.

All of the design and code for the projects will be open-sourced and available online for anyone to replicate and build upon shortly after the festival in San Francisco.

Read more about the UP Program Model to learn how urban prototypes can become replicated, scaled, and adopted by cities around the world.

UP Projects will be installed on the street for the duration of the UP Festival on the 5M Project site, from 5th St. to Mary St. and from Mission St. to Howard St.

– Performances –

Our three stages of audio, visual, dance, and theater performance will explore an extraordinary variety of creative acts in public space. Check the full performance lineup now!

GAFFTA Stage (Minna St. Tunnel at Mary St.)

In addition to three SF debut live performances, in the spirit of collaboration and raising awareness of the city around us, GAFFTA has invited resident DJ’s from 8 of San Francisco’s most essential electronic crews to collaborate with our community of code based visual artists and represent the vibrancy of the Bay Area electronic music community.

5M Placeworks Stage (Natoma St. at Mary St.)

The 5MPW Stage will feature a live performance program with up to a dozen acts and 50 performers, which includes live music, dance groups, comedy, theatre, djs, visual art and more, as well as the UP:SF keynote talks.

Hallidie Plaza Stage (Market St. at 5th St.)

The Hallidie Plaza Stage will feature live dance and musical performances is one of San Francisco’s most central public spaces, curated by the Burning Man Project and Trolley Dances.

– Keynote Talks –

The UP:SF keynotes represent three fascinating perspectives on the application of prototyping to the built environment.

The first keynote is from IDEO General Manager Tom Kelley, a leading author, advocate, and recognized expert in the fields of prototyping, design thinking, and innovation for over two decades.

Second, we’ll hear from Alexa Arena, Vice President of Forest City, Vice Board Chair of SPUR, and visionary behind The 5M Project, which is rethinking real estate development and serving as the host site for UP:SF.

Finally, San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim will speak about the past, present, and future of public space and citizen participation in San Francisco.

3:00 PM // Welcome: Josette Melchor, GAFFTA and Deborah Cullinan, IFTA

3:15 PM // Tom Kelley, IDEO

3:30 PM // Alexa Arena, 5M Project

3:45 PM // John Rahaim, San Francisco Planning Dept.

4:00 PM // Close

All keynote talks will take place on the 5M Placeworks Stage on Natoma St. at Mary St.

– Discussion Panels –

The four-hour lineup of panels has been curated to include a range of discussions around the festival’s theme: Placemaking Through Prototyping: How Citizen Experiments Can Reimagine the Public Realm. One of the incredible parts about UP: San Francisco so far has been the incredible array of disciplines brought together to create new projects and discuss the future of digital and physical urban interventions. The panels reflect this diversity, featuring representatives from The City of San Francisco, IDEO, Rebar, Stamen Design, the Stanford d.school, CCA URBANlab, Gehl Architects, Arup, CMG, Trulia, and more.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM // Art as Placemaking Tool 

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM // Design Thinking in Cities

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM // Formalizing Experimentation: From Prototype to Infrastructure

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM // Urban Insights: Learning about Cities from Data & Citizen Sensors

All UP: SF panels will be held in the Intersection for the Arts Gallery, 925 Mission St. at 5th St.