It singled out the ferry building for its iconic status as one of the nation's most beautifully restored public buildings and praised the city for reinventing it after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
"The process of rebirth requires wide decisions to be continually made and it's good to come to a place like San Francisco and see that all over the city, but then to be able to honor a place today where we see the rebirth of this building but also as the rebirth of a waterfront, the rebirth of this neighborhood," The American Planning Association CEO Paul Farmer said.
The association began its "Great Places in America" program in 2007 to honor what it calls the gold standard in community planning.
