We expanded our reach and documented more of San Diego's development than ever before. We went from 32 projects on BuildSD.org in January to over 90 projects now, and the website reached record highs of nearly 12,000 monthly unique visitors.

We also got to report on new, exciting, and reactivated projects like Riverwalk, SDSU West, and the San Diego International Airport's new Terminal 1. We advocated for reforms like the new Clairemont and College Area community plans, denser redevelopment of the San Diego Unified Normal Heights property and the Oceanside Transit Center, and stronger patterns of development across the region.

We created a map projecting SB 79's transit-oriented upzoning across the San Diego region, and broke down the bill along the way. We presented to the UC GIS community about why working with government open data isn't so easy.

And, we're continuing this work into the new year, with more "SB 79 Deconstructed" articles coming to the website soon. For the first time, we dedicated an entire section of BuildSD.org to legislative analysis and mapping.

We added two new writers to our core team, and drove more members to our Discord server than ever before. We crossed the 100 member mark on Discord and continued to build a thriving, engaged, and diverse BuildSD community.

We expanded our reach and collaborated with more organizations than ever before. We tabled along with RideSD at the San Diego County Bike Coalition's CicloSDias open streets event in City Heights. We presented about what makes good TOD projects at BikeSD's Cross-Pollination mixer. We signed onto open letters from various organizations, including supporting denser development in Normal Heights with Circulate San Diego and supporting transit signal priority (TSP) with BikeSD, RideSD, and local environmental groups.

We teamed up with Transbay Coalition and Seamless Bay Area, co-creators of the Bay Area's long-running Transit Month, to host the first ever San Diego Transit Month! Along with our friends at RideSD, the California High School Transit Alliance, Strong Towns San Diego, The Locals SG, and other organizations, we created a month-long program of events to celebrate and engage transit riders.

Transit Month converted online lurkers into bona fide IRL "Transiteers" with a month-long Ride Contest, Transit Trivia Night, Fantasy Map Night, and more.

We gave BuildSD a shiny new look and feel, with a new design language we termed "humanretrofuturist" - an unwieldy term, for sure, but one that represents what we want BuildSD to look and feel like.

The soft green and beige makes BuildSD feel like home, with typography intended to evoke the golden age of print. We also redrew and modernized vectors with a bolder color scheme.

We look forward to breaking down new and existing legislation and advocating for legislation that matters for urbanism, development, and transit. Look out for more SB 79 related content in 2026, as well as reporting on changes in local and regional policy.

Look out for more produced, scripted video content from us on platforms like Youtube and TikTok - as we look to expand our media footprint. We're also working to get our articles into applications like Google News and further across the internet.

We're currently testing and planning ideas for live events where the BuildSD community can engage with us in real life. We want to host events that our community members that matter and that bring people together.

If you (or someone you know) is interested in housing, urbanism, or transit, reach out to us: team@buildsd.org.

We are looking to expand our writing team, as well as move further into media content that requires motion graphics and advanced editing skills. Or, if you just have a big idea for a big project, we'd love to talk too!