The second-level promenade of the Embarcadero is nearly empty on Thursday. Not many people visit the downtown San Francisco center these days.

The Embarcadero Center was once an urban destination. Activating these blocks with art could bring new activity to downtown.

The second-level promenade of the Embarcadero Center is one of the more scenic, beautifully landscaped, well-maintained spaces in San Francisco. Spanning five blocks, this city within a city was designed in a sort of gentler Brutalist architectural style by John Portman in the late 1960s.

Yet despite its charms, the Embarcadero Center is also one of San Francisco’s most-underutilized spaces. I was there on a recent Wednesday — the day that downtown feels most full of life these days — but there was nary a soul to be seen. In San Francisco, where a place to sit is often hard to come by, there were blocks of unoccupied tables and benches even on an unseasonably warm day.

It doesn’t have to be like this.  

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In fact, Embarcadero Center can and should be our High Line — only better.

The art-filled High Line Park transformed Manhattan’s west side into a major destination for locals and visitors to New York.

A public park in New York built on an elevated rail structure, the High Line was transformative for Manhattan’s west side. It’s a refuge from the noise and traffic below it, a place to walk through gardens, look at works by established and up-and-coming artists, and view the city from a different perspective. It attracts 5 million to 8 million visitors each year — and those visitors shop, eat, go to nearby art venues and stay at surrounding hotels.

The High Line has spawned a host of imitators despite formidable challenges to its creation: a........

© San Francisco Chronicle