According to the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, the size of Civic Center Plaza ranges from 4.53 to 5.38 acres (1.83 to 2.18 ha).

[1][3] Civic Center Plaza is approximately symmetrical from north to south (across an imaginary east–west line drawn along the former route of Fulton Street).

[10] The remodeled Helen Diller Playgrounds were designed by Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture and used concepts that drew inspiration from local weather phenomena, including Karl the fog.

[11] After San Francisco was selected in 1911 to host the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, numerous civic improvements were proposed, and a commission was set up to judge entries for a City Hall design competition.

After he assumed office, a large influx of homeless people started to move into Civic Center Plaza during the summer of 1989, prompting some to dub the new tent city Camp Agnos.

The preceding mayor, Dianne Feinstein, had periodically ordered people to be removed from the plaza; in contrast, Agnos's campaign pledge exposed him to criticism after the homeless were described to be aggressively panhandling visitors.

As a compromise, in July of that year, Agnos ordered police to remove tents and makeshift shelters but not the homeless residents.

[15] Agnos again ordered encampments removed in July 1990, but refused to move the homeless people to another site until two permanent shelters could be built, which opened later that year.