Santa Clara Downtown Vision

Years
2015-2017

Client
City of Santa Clara

Services provided
Urban Design
Community Engagement

The Missing Downtown Santa Clara

Santa Clara’s once thriving Downtown was the heart of the City and the center of the “Old Quad” area until it was demolished in the 1960s as part of an Urban Renewal Plan. The perimeter of the historic downtown boundary are Monroe, Benton, and Lafayette Streets, and Homestead Road and included eight city blocks and is now a superblock with a small shopping center, residential, office buildings and large surface parking lots surrounding them. Santa Clara is still missing its former Downtown core as a place to visit, shop, work, and meet.

Downtown Visioning

Urban Field Studio prepared and facilitated a series of nine public community workshops to develop a vision for a reestablished Downtown with pedestrian connections to the surrounding neighborhoods, the Santa Clara University Campus, and the Caltrain Station.

Bringing together residents, stakeholders, city staff, and elected officials, the workshops spurred lively discussions in small groups and the participants worked with sketches, plans, and to-scale models. The workshops resulted in articulating key priorities and ideas for making Downtown Santa Clara a local destination. Several plan alternatives were developed based on these key ideas, informing the Preferred Plan as roadmap for future development and improvements.