America's biggest cities are experiencing a land rush, with the wealthiest residents buying up property and squeezing out the middle and lower classes.

In San Francisco, the battle has reached crisis levels, in part due to factors unique to the area.

The booming tech industry, with its high-paid workers, casts a singular power over this city. There's the geography: a peninsula of just 46 square miles surrounded by beautiful waterfront. Then there are the city's artistic heritage and progressive values, which affect politics and policies and inform the worldview of nearly every resident.

In this special report, Business Insider's Andrew Stern talks to evictees, homeowners, activists, renters, and policymakers at the center of this fight over the future of this city.

Reported, produced, and edited by Andrew Stern. Cinematography by Sam Rega.

Executive produced by Diane Galligan

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