01

Multivariate site analysis - public life to location analytics
Feasibility Studies / Site testing
Public policy around urban design
Public and private development
Development Proposal Review

Development & Planning Strategy

We help visualize the future of sites for both public and private stakeholders. We help determine their capacity, their potential, and the options for what is possible. Our work is evidence based, using tools from user research and surveys, geospatial analysis, market, and ethnographic studies to develop our strategic moves. We understand the partnership between developers and planners and help our clients understand the opportunities for land uses, building typologies, built form, and the public realm. We work at all the initial stages of development when ideas are conceptual and details are murky. We love to dream, iterate, explore, and advocate for the greatest public benefits a place has to offer. We plan and define development standards and we work with cities to help make sure planned dreams are delivered.

Relevant Projects:

Milpitas Metro Specific Plan

City of Albany, San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan

SJSU Campus Master Plan

North Hollywood Metro Joint Development

Dublin Downtown Preferred Vision

Dublin SCS Properties

Belmont Harbor Industrial Area Specific Plan

Livermore BART Station Area Master Plan

San Jose Urban Villages

Moreno Valley General Plan Update

San Ramon Crow Canyon Specific Plan

02

Public realm frameworks

Open Space Planning
Streetscape design
Landscape design

Living Master Plan Frameworks
Design Standards and Guidelines
Conceptual Architecture and Landscapes

Masterplanning & Urban Design

Bringing a place to life means establishing its circulatory system, activating its heart, and making sure the foundations of growth are there to provide a strong sense of place and community. Our master planning approach is one that balances design practicality, financial feasibility, community support, and long-term success. We distill what we learn from site, community and stakeholder feedback to make the most of opportunities and constraints. We work to increase mobility for all types, to strengthen the activity around future gathering nodes, and create public spaces that have an adaptable, attractive, and enduring design.

We love working at the conceptual stages of the project to help set the framework and facilitate early discussion of the potential of a site. We are there to help both private and public clients create a vision, and define it with design standards and guidelines to keep later steps on track. We bring our experience with building typologies and the way people use public spaces to bear on the places we help bring to life. We want the communities that we live in to be well-designed, well connected, lived in, and loved.

Relevant Projects:

Scotts Valley Town Center Specific Plan Update

Alisal District Identity Master Plan

Morgan Hill Design Guidelines

Calistoga Streetscape Design

Churches of Almaden Site Feasibility Studies

Oakley Library Studies

Palo Alto Car Free Streets

Brentwood Innovation Center

North San Jose Urban Design Guidelines

03

Mobility & Community

Where we go and how we get there are critical to the enjoyment and success of a place. Our work on corridors, transit areas, and regional transit, including High Speed Rail catalyzes a move away from the American dependence on the automobile. We love working on stations as nodes of our community and to explore the urban design of places and spaces surrounding stations. The transition of our communities to a more transit orientation, including multi-use development, will be a large task for our culture and is a service that we have provided to cities, agencies, developers, and institutions.

We are big transit fans and love to geek out about trains, buses, ferries and micro-mobility. As avid walkers and cyclists, we want to make sure the last mile is carefully supported with the right development, activity, and networks that make traveling on foot and by wheel as pleasant as possible. We can see the patterns of movement changing in our urban landscape and the way we use our streets and rail is quickly evolving into one that is more equitable and varied. We strongly advocate for the design of cities to be more usable by bus, micromobility, and on foot. Designing our existing landscapes and streetscapes to adapt and serve pedestrians, the old and the young, and people with all abilities and disabilities, is our passion.

Relevant Projects:

Deutsche Bahn/ California High Speed Rail

Fresno Early Site Activation

Irvington BART Station Area Plan

Livermore BART Station Area Plan

Diridon Station Area Plan

04

Research Engagement, Education, & Advocacy

Simply, we want to make the world a better place. In order to do that, we eagerly listen, carefully look, and enthusiastically learn about what makes places special. We love to help communities better understand their built environment, their options, and work through sticky issues. We coordinate and conduct user and public life research within communities we work to build a shared understanding of the problems and potentials of their neighborhoods. We help translate dreams onto the page to visually communicate with each other. We try to demystify the development process through the workshops, visual aids, and using online tools to facilitate dialogue. We use our teaching skills and design skills to reach a wide range of audiences. We are facilitators in trying to make the process tangible, relatable, and more inclusive. We believe good places are formed by inviting a wide range of perspectives, representative of those that benefit from it and are impacted by it.