With no "rusting relic" like The High Line's trestle to hang the design on, will James Corner Field Operations create a memorable public park for Santa Monica's coastline?
The new Santa Monica park that Field Operations is designing is modest, with only six acres to speak of. Former home of The Rand Corporation's headquarters, is made up of two parcels, one across from City Hall and one overlooking the ocean.
Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne has a look:
"The park sites are two blocks from the beach, completely open to the sun and sky and cooled by breezes coming off the ocean. On the morning Corner and I visited, a tantalizing sliver of blue was visible on the horizon. The parks promise to be crowded from their opening days, given those nearby attractions and the arrival of Metro's Expo Line, which should be rolling into a station at Colorado Boulevard and 4th Street by 2015. And if the city can ever realize a very expensive dream to build a park capping the nearby sunken freeway, the Field Operations design could be a major element in a newly unified Santa Monica."
FULL STORY: Critic's Notebook: Shifting horizons in Santa Monica parks design
Santa Monica Garage-to-Affordable-Housing Conversion To Receive $2 Million
The city has been awarded $2 million in federal funding to support the conversion of a downtown parking structure into an affordable housing project.
Santa Monica Offers Affordable Housing to Residents Displaced by Freeway Construction
A new program seeks to make restitution for the damage inflicted on Black communities by highway construction and urban renewal.
Businesses Oppose Conversion of Parking Structure Into Affordable Housing
Business owners in downtown Santa Monica have filed a lawsuit opposing the city's planned replacement of a parking structure with housing, despite city studies showing that the city's downtown parking supply far exceeds demand.
The California High-Speed Rail Project Illustrates America’s Transit Issues
Slow progress and a bloated budget have plagued the High-Speed Rail project linking San Francisco to Los Angeles, exposing deeper issues with American transit projects.
What Role Does Health Care Play in Community Development?
Cities are economically diverse and require accessible health care systems, but this can be challenging to implement. Urban developers are working alongside health professionals to create affordable care for city residents.
Density and Driving: A Second Look
A common argument against more compact housing is that increased population density will only reduce vehicle miles traveled at moderate levels of density, as opposed to very low-density and very high-density areas. But this might not be so.
Zoning Reform Works, but Is No Magic Bullet
Improving housing affordability and boosting housing production requires more than just eliminating single-family zoning.
Feds to Award $13 Million for Transit Oriented Development Planning
A newly bolstered competitive grant program administered by the Federal Transit Administration has announced a new round of funding.
Bay Area Transit Stations To Feature Local Writers
A contest in the San Francisco Bay Area will select 30 short stories that will be available at special vending kiosks at transit stations.
Piedmont Environmental Council
City of Oakland, California
Marin Transit
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of San Carlos
City of Redwood City
City of Hot Springs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.
