Fast Company details the ambitions of a plan that would add thousands of homes, open space, and commercial development to the home of Google in the Silicon Valley.
Adele Peters reports on Google's plans to transform its headquarters in Mountain View, California—currently the stereotypical picture of a suburban corporate campus—into a walkable, liveable neighborhood.
[T]he designers working with Google on the redesign hope that it can become a model for turning other pavement-filled suburbs into green spaces where people are less likely to drive," according to Peters.
In addition to 5,700 new homes, "[t]he plan calls for 3.12 million square feet of office space and as much as 400,000 square feet of new retail space along with the homes," according to Peters. "Twenty percent of the housing will be affordable. It’s a response to a plan passed by the city in 2017 that rezoned the area, called the North Bayshore district..."
According to Laura Crescimano, quoted in the article as the founder of Sitelab Urban Studio, the urban design and strategy firm that led the creation of a proposed plan, the plan attempts to address the region's housing shortage as well as reducing car trips.
Read the full story: Google’s new housing development will get suburban workers out of their cars
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority