Community Planning
In Spring 2024, graduate students from the San José State University Department of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Studio in Community Planning course partnered with the office of San José Vice Mayor and District 1 Representative Rosemary Kamei to complete an assessment and develop a set of preliminary recommendations for the area surrounding the Paseo de Saratoga Urban Village. The Community Assessment presents a comprehensive exploration of the Three Places study area, a unique urban environment located at the intersection of the cities of San José, Saratoga, and Campbell.
Chapter one introduces the purpose of the project and objectives. Chapter two provides an overview of the study area’s demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, the relevant regulatory landscape of the three jurisdictions, and future development planned for the area. Chapter three discusses the methodology and findings of our community assessment, identifying the major themes of mobility and safety, economic vitality, and placemaking.
The area’s transportation infrastructure heavily favors automobile traffic, transportation infrastructure heavily favors automobile traffic, with limited consideration for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit users. This imbalance contributes to safety concerns, diminishes walkability, and restricts the overall accessibility of the area. Further, the high cost of living, coupled with a significant discrepancy between owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing units, poses challenges for housing affordability and accessibility. This economic barrier threatens to exacerbate issues of displacement and socioeconomic disparity. While certain public amenities exist (e.g., neighborhood parks, grocery stores, and a dog park) they are often isolated and not well integrated into the broader urban fabric, diminishing their potential impact on community well-being and cohesion.
Chapter four explains our community engagement process and outcomes. The study revealed a strong desire among residents for more inclusive and effective community engagement methods to ensure that development aligns with community needs and values. Chapter five lists Study Area Recommendations for the study area – a total of nine recommendations split into three categories based on our community assessment and community engagement:
1) mobility and safety,
2) placemaking and economic vitality, and
3) establishing key leaders and amplifying community voices.
Chapter six, Project Continuation, lists our accomplishments and provides next steps for the next semester of students that will be continuing our work.
The Three Places, while rich in economic activity and diversity, faces significant challenges in terms of transportation accessibility, pedestrian safety, and the lack of cohesive, place-defining features that foster a sense of identity and community. This area stands at a crossroads, poised for transformation.
Note: This sections narrative was taken directly from the report created by the SJSU Masters of Urban Planning Capstone Studio Class of Spring 2024
Accomplishments in 2024
Through our planning efforts, we accomplished several milestones that will help local governments and community stakeholders in the Three Places study area make progress towards implementing the Urban Village planning strategy adopted by the Envision San José 2040 General Plan. The accomplishments include:
1.
Conducting an assessment of existing conditions and challenges within the study area.
2.
Coordinating outreach efforts to collect community feedback through the distribution of a community survey, pop-up events, and a focus group.
3.
Developing high-level Urban Village recommendations to guide the future decision-making of planners and elected officials with regard to the built environment of the study area.
Faculty Lead
Rick Kos (Fall 2023 & Spring 2024)
Past Projects (2005 - 2023)
2005-2006: Five Wounds/Brookwood Terrace neighborhood
Project Leads:
Professor Dayana Salazar (Urban Planning)
Paul Pereira of the City’s Strong Neighborhoods Initiative
The following quote was taken from Chapter Three of the book cited below, titled “Building a Partnership for Service and Learning” by Terry Christensen and Melinda Jackson.
Civic Service: service-learning with state and local government partners
Edited by David P. Redlawsk, Tom Rice, and associates; foreword by Kay W. Barnes
Publisher: San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
1st Edition, 2009
ISBN: 9780470373743
“The flagship project for year 1 of CommUniverCity was a community planning project to update the FWBT (Five Wounds/ Brookwood Terrace) neighborhood priorities for both the city’s SNI program and CommUniverCity projects. Over the course of the 2005-2006 academic year, eighteen master’s students in urban and regional planning, under the leadership of Professor Dayana Salazar and Paul Pereira of the City’s Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, worked with over ninety FWBT residents to update priorities for neighborhood projects. Completing over three thousand hours of service, students assembled research data on the current state of the neighborhood and the progress toward meeting priorities set five years previously, interviewed residents and city staff, and presented their preliminary findings to the community as a basis for subsequent planning. This was followed by three community workshops in which residents, supported by students, professors, and city staff, developed recommendations for future priorities and conducted an elaborate voting process to determine the top ten projects for FWBT. Resident participation more than doubled from the first round of goal setting in 2001—from forty-three to ninety participants—and FWBT was the first of the nineteen SNI neighborhoods to update its action plan. Once the residents agreed on priorities, they became the basis for city and CommUniverCity programming in FWBT.”
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Service
Value
2014-2015: East Santa Clara
CommUniverCity partnered with the City of San José and 67 Urban Planning students to help prepare the East Santa Clara Urban Village Plan. East Santa Clara Street is a major thoroughfare in Central San José, and serves as the principal connector between East San José and Downtown. The City of San José has designated a portion of this street as a future “Urban Village”. Stretching from City Hall to the banks Coyote Creek, this section of East Santa Clara boasts an abundance of historic sites, mom and pop shops, and vivid local character.
According to the San José 2040 General Plan, the goal of an Urban Village is to funnel future jobs and housing into a walkable, bike-friendly, mixed-use area with plenty of recreation and open space. Students did a thorough assessment of the area and organized a series of community workshops, aimed at gathering public opinion on the future development of this busy street.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Service
Value
2016-2017: Northside Neighborhood
In the San José Northside Neighborhood, SJSU urban planning, sociology and political science students reached out to assess the current neighborhood conditions and document residents’ perceptions of their communities. 135 SJSU students conducted and completed 311 door-to-door surveys designed to capture resident’s perceptions of their community. SJSU students presented their survey findings along with a comprehensive neighborhood assessment to the community in an open house format at Grant Elementary School.
During the project, students worked with the businesses along 13th street to identify key issues and concerns. According to feedback and research, the residents wanted familyfriendly areas and businesses where they could spend time and hang out with neighbors. In response, the students installed a temporary curbside café in front of Rollo’s Donuts to have traffic slow down, give residents a place to sit, help make the area friendlier to pets, and provide businesses in the area more foot traffic.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Service
Value
2017-2018: Delmas Park Neighborhood
San José’s Delmas Park neighborhood is home to approximately 1,600 people living in homes and scattered apartment complexes and condominium buildings within walking distance of the Diridon rail station, the SAP Center, and the Children’s Discovery Museum in downtown. It is also at the center of the planned Google downtown village, where an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 employees will work and live. This year, over 75 SJSU students reached out to assess current neighborhood conditions and gauge residents perceptions of and aspirations for their community through door-to-door surveys, visual evaluations, focus groups, and public meetings.
In partnership with the Delmas Park Neighborhood Association and the San José Learning Center, SJSU students also organized a ‘pop-up’ park event showcasing the results of their data collection and analysis. Working together, students and neighborhood leaders helped build relationships between homeowners and renters, promoted local businesses, and assisted residents in identifying high priority infrastructure and community-building needs.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Service
Value
2018-2019: Downtown to Diridon
Over the next 20 years, Downtown San José will undergo major changes as a result of new developments, transportation investments, and Google’s planned urban village complex. A collaboration between SJSU’s Urban and Regional Planning Department Community Planning (URBP295) course students led by Richard Kos, Jason Su, and staff of the City of San José, engaged and gathered feedback from community members and stakeholders through various engagement strategies such as focus groups and open houses.
Throughout the school year, SJSU students assessed neighborhoods around Diridon Station and hosted a culminating Community Open House for residents to partake in.
The Urban Planning students identified opportunities for improved mobility connectivity between Diridon Station and the downtown area. The feedback they received ranged from utilizing open space to fixing unprotected crosswalks to more eateries and cafes.
The open houses created fun, collaborative environments for community members and stakeholders to identify existing assets and neighborhood priorities in the Diridon Station Area. The data collected by SJSU students will be used to advocate for community-specific needs during the development process and to guide infrastructure investments. In addition to the Community Open House, a comprehensive Community Assessment Report was produced for City staff and the community.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Service
Value
2019-2020: Alum Rock Corridor
Faculty Leads:
Rick Kos, Jason Su
Urban & Regional Planning
The Alum Rock corridor of East San José is facing enormous development pressure. As home to some of the only affordable housing and business space left in Silicon Valley, residents and business owners alike are concerned about displacement. In recent years, over 50 local family-owned businesses have been forced to close.
This year, CommUniverCity partnered with the City of San José’s District 5 office, Futuro de Alum Rock, and SJSU students to undertake a cooperative effort in performing a robust community assessment along the Alum Rock corridor. This Fall, more than 80 attendees participated in 6 separate activities led by the students designed to raise awareness of development issues in the community and solicit the feedback of residents. Residents spoke the need to improve infrastructure, schools, transportation, and overall safety in underutilized areas.
The graduate student team in Spring continued the work of the Fall class by focusing on the amenities and neighborhood improvements that are important to the residents, with the purpose of developing a comprehensive list of potential amenity investments for new developers. Due to COVID-19 and the shelter-in-place order, the graduate student team pivoted engagement methods to remote video sessions and one-on-one phone interviews.
A special thanks goes to the community, the Alum Rock Urban Village Advocates, and our partners within the City of San José, the office of District 5 Councilmember Magdalena Carrasco, the city’s Department of Housing, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Planning, School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, SOMOS Mayfair, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County and AARP.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Student Service
Value
2020-2021: Reimagining the Civic Commons & Alum Rock
Faculty Leads:
Richard Kos, Jason Su
Urban & Regional Planning
Central San Jose and the Alum Rock corridor of East San Jose face enormous development pressure. For example, Alum Rock is home to some of the only affordable housing and business space left in Silicon Valley. Residents and business owners alike are concerned about displacement. In recent years, over 50 local family-owned businesses have been forced to close. Additionally, green space in the city is at a premium, but often goes unutilized due to perceived safety issues or lack of cleanliness.
In Fall 2020, the students and faculty partnered with the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and a national effort called Reimagining the Civic Commons to conduct physical assessments and administer hundreds of surveys to people using the Guadalupe River Park. The park runs alongside the Guadalupe River and offers visitors an environmental education center, community garden, and 2. 6 miles of walking and biking trails.
Data collected by the students will be part of the research directing municipal and regional investment to transforming the park into a key physical green asset that connects two sides of downtown which are currently kept separate by a highway overpass.
In spring 2021, SJSU Masters of Urban and Regional Planning students conducted a local business assessment and visioning process with business owners, employees, customers, residents, and other relevant organizations. The assessments will help guide future business development, community investment and urban planning decisions. In March, customer surveys were conducted at Wash America. A second customer survey event was held at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The class organized two forums for project partners and stakeholders to display the progress that the students made throughout the semester and get feedback on how to improve their analysis of assets and issues in a way that reflects community knowledge.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Student Service
Value
2021-2022: Guadalupe River Park Conservancy
Faculty Leads:
Rick Kos, Ahoura Zandiatashbar
The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy (GRPC) sought to understand the challenges that park users face at the Guadalupe River Park. WIth the assistance of the SJSU urban planning graduate capstone studio class, surveys were administered to existing park users.
To begin planning the project, SJSU professors of the capstone studio graduate course, Rick Kos and Ahoura Zandiatashbar, began regularly, weekly, check in meetings that offered space for CommUniverCity to
work closely with Sarah from the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and the professors to determine walk through tour dates. We were able to determine best dates for a tour of the park to allow students to understand the existing park infrastructure. We also added a date to visit the Recovery Cafe. The Cafe served to assist students in understanding the depth of the challenges faced by homeless populations, considering that the Park hosts a great number of the city’s unhoused residents.
Project Impacts
Residents Engaged
Students Engaged
Hours of Student Service
Value
2022-2023: Guadalupe River Park Conservancy & Reimagining the Civic Common
Building off the initial phase of research completed in the Fall of 2020, 16 graduate students in San Jose State’s Regional and Urban Planning Department, in partnership with the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, completed the second phase of a three-year initiative spearheaded by Reimagining the Civic Commons (RCC). The second phase of research evaluated the value of investing in GRP using intercept surveys and direct observations to collect the second round of data for RCC’s four goals (Environmental Sustainability, Civic Engagement, Value Creation, and Socioeconomic Mixing). In addition, findings from 2020 were compared to findings from 2022 to identify any trends or changes within GRP.
The City of San José has embraced the complete streets concept with tweaks based on context. The contextual approach allows for adaptability based on the street’s purpose for highest users. This approach is necessary on a street like East Santa Clara Street, which has been designated as a “Grand Boulevard”. The designation of Grand Boulevard lends East Santa Clara Street to prioritizing transit and transit passengers.
The designation includes features such as bus lanes, high visibility crosswalks, bus stop shelters, wayfinding, outside furniture, and wide walking paths. For the spring 2023 semester, students in the San Jose State University’s Master of Urban Planning program partnered with the City of San José to study the corridor, connect with active users and the surrounding community, and develop a set of recommendations for integrating a complete streets vision along East Santa Clara Street. East Santa Clara Street is a transit corridor connecting the Almaden neighborhood to the Alum Rock Neighborhood while running directly through Downtown. Along the corridor, there are a number of notable destinations such as the SAP Center, Diridon Station, San Pedro Square, and City Hall. Amongst the thousands of diverse residents, the downtown corridor is a highly trafficked section of San José. The project was split into two phases: existing conditions (phase one) and visioning and recommendations (phase two).
IMPACTS
Community Engaged Learners: 12
89% Higher visitorship on the weekend
49% Decrease in daily average visits from 2020 to 2022
