California Academy of Sciences, Tuesday, October 21st, 2025
By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer
18 hrs ago
Homes are illuminated by sunlight as the San Francisco skyline is seen in the background, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in San Francisco.
San Francisco hasn’t changed all that much on the whole, according to Benjamin Schneider, a former Examiner journalist and author of the new book “The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution.”
And therein lies the problem, he says. But after a decades-long development drought, change is afoot in San Francisco and other cities all facing varying shades of the same problems.
Schneider, a San Francisco native, delved into the past, present and future of American cities at a time when many are rethinking the very fabric from which they are made — be it where and what type of housing is built, or even whether a beachside highway should be a park.
The Examiner sat down to talk about the book with Schneider, who will appear at a Nov. 15 event at The Book Passage in the Ferry Building with former San Francisco Chronicle Critic John King. The following conversation was edited for clarity and brevity.
SF native’s new book explores how cities can — and must — change
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