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South El Camino Real Corridor Urban Design Plan
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Graduate and undergraduate students from CRP 553 and 203 respectively, under instructor Vicente del Rio, are collaborating with the City of Atascadero's planning department and San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) to develop a vision for the future of Atascadero’s El Camino Real, from Santa Rosa Road to Highway 41.
El Camino Real has been a major contributor to the growth and development of Atascadero since the early twentieth century, but the current conditions of its southern stretch are not living up to economic and social potential. The thoroughfare is noisy and unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists, and the many underutilized parcels, big-box stores, and large parking lots make the environment even less walkable and visually unpleasant. It lacks identity and does not welcome community interaction. Currently, its design does not comply with the new State of California’s "Complete Streets Act". Students hope their proposals will help make South El Camino Real more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, and more comfortable for motorists while improving safety, livability, and economic revitalization.
Alumni Social at Darden Architects in Fresno Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Please come and join colleagues of your alma mater at Darden Architects in Fresno. This event is co-sponsored by Ed Darden Architects, and by the Architecture and City and Regional Planning Departments. During the reception, Haley Gipe (B.Arch 2006) and Tim Alatorre (B.Arch 2006), of sloArch.com -which is a news and entertainment site dedicated to strengthening the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Architecture community, will conduct their monthly podcast event.
Thursday, April 26th, 2012,
between 5:00 -7:30pm
Location: 6790 N. West Avenue, Fresno, CA 9371. Phone: (559) 446-1765
Directions:
http://www.dardenarchitects.com
RSVP: Architecture Department architecture@calpoly.edu, or 805 756-1316
Alumni Social at Architecture for Education Incorporated (A4E) in Pasadena -Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
Please come and join colleagues of your alma mater at Architecture for Education Incorporated. This event is co-sponsored by Gaylaird Christopher, architect and principal of A4E, and by the Architecture and City and Regional Planning Departments. Guests will enjoy tours of Gaylaird's office which is Greene & Greene's first residential project in Pasadena. Built in 1903 it is the "original Craftsman" showcasing the beginnings of their architectural style.
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012,
between 5:00 -7:30pm
Location: 65 N Catalina Ave, Pasadena, CA 9110. Phone: (626) 356-4080.
Directions: Map A 4 E
RSVP: Architecture Department architecture@calpoly.edu, or 805 756-1316
CRP leaves a mark in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Games
CRP faculty Vicente del Rio was one of the team members that presented the runner up entry in the international competition for the Olympic Park Master Plan for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Winners were selected in August from 59 entries from all over the world. Besides serving the games, the plan considered a legacy mode that included a sustainable neighborhood to be developed in a 30-year horizon. Professor del Rio’s team included the SWA Group and Gensler (both through their Los Angeles offices), CDC and MPG (from Rio), Herrera Environmental (Seattle), and other consultants. The competition results can be see at <http://www.iabrj.org.br/vencedores-concurso-parque-olimpico>
CAED Multi-disciplinary team places 1st in Design for Post-Earthquake Resilience of Cities: Multi-disciplinary Design Ideas Competition
Cesar Torres, of Cal Poly's CAED Landscape Architecture Department, Shani Siong, MCRP student and Loise Schiller, LArch Lecturer won this international competition "Design for Post-Earthquake Resilience of Cities" for a poster based on the Acapulco Mexico hazard profile.
Eight entries were recieved for the competition, they were displayed and judged at the 2011 PCEE Conference. The competition brief is available to view here. The winning entries are presented in the table below.
First Place |
Cesar Torres, Schani Siong and Louise Schiller |
|
Runner up |
Swee Ngee Low and Simon Berg Krogh |
|
Highly Commended |
Kevin Lin, Junho Park and Yosop Ryoo |
|
Emma Buchanan |
Portugal as a Learning Environment for Planning and Urban Design
From June 18 to July 15, a group of nineteen Cal Poly undergrads lived and studied in Lisbon, Portugal led by CRP faculty Vicente del Rio and Zeljka Howard, with the support of the Universidade Lusofona and faculty of their urbanism department. The group included thirteen students from CRP, five from Landscape Architecture and one from Architecture. This was the first time the CRP department offered an international study program of such duration.
The main part of the program consisted of an urban design studio at the university campus that lasted the whole duration of the trip. Divided into five interdisciplinary teams and joined by five Portuguese colleagues the students’ task was to design a mixed-use development for a 12-acre parcel located in a very busy area with important avenues, a train and a subway station, and a bus terminal along its edges. Originally occupied by a cattle market and used for a popular amusement fair for decades, the site is now vacant waiting on court decisions on its future. The project was a big challenge for our students not only because of their immersion in a totally new context but also because of the site’s important cultural past and its potential as one of the last big land reserves in central Lisbon. The teams responded to the site’s opportunities and constraints extremely well, and came up with creative but feasible solutions that impressed the local faculty and the director of Bragaparques, the proprietors of the parcel.
The program also included a series of talks, visits and studies of projects and places in Lisbon, Porto (Portugal’s second largest city), Cascais, Obidos, Sintra, and Lourinha. Accompanied by local faculty the students experienced cityscapes, castles, palaces, parks, museums and epic places dating from the roman and medieval to the contemporary. In Lisbon, for instance, they studied the Baixa (an area totally rebuilt after the big earthquake, tsunami, and fires of 1755) as well as the hilly areas of Bairro Alto, Chiado, and the Alfama (originally the Moorish district) where the medieval morphology, the baroque architecture, and the mixed land-uses generate engaging and hospitable environments of beautiful views and active social life.
The Lisbon summer study program was a big success that allowed students to experience one of Europe’s most attractive capitals and several other cities and towns that represent well the astounding mix of history, cultures, social capital, and urbanism that provide so many planning and urban design lessons.
Half Moon Bay City Planning Department hires CRP Graduate Studio to develop an urban design for its downtown
Half Moon Bay is a lovely costal city of a little over 11,000 residents located in San Mateo County at a twenty-minute drive south of San Francisco. Besides its attractive beaches and natural settings, the city has a lovely historical downtown located between Highway 1 and the coastal mountains. The city’s planning department hired CRP’s graduate project planning studio (CRP 553) to develop an urban design plan for its downtown under the supervision of faculty Vicente del Rio and Zeljka Howard. The plan’s five major goals were: a) increase identity and provide attractive gateways; b) provide circulation and streetscaping solutions for better connectivity and walkability; c) propose a system of parks and public spaces; d) provide guidelines for contextual architectural design. The class followed a design process that included meetings with local leaders, field surveys, a community workshop, a focus-group workshop, and a final public presentation. The plan builds upon the strong opportunities in Half Moon Bay and the inputs from the different stakeholders, and it provides the community with a strong design vision that will help direct future development.
Link to Half Moon Bay Urban Design Plan
City Hall Plaza view from Main
Partial view of pedestrian-bike bridge over
CRP Undergraduate and Graduate Studios Present Projects to Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and the Community
In Spring 2011, CRP203-01 Urban Design Studio and CRP 553-02 Project Planning Laboratory worked with the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and local communities to develop plan proposals for two areas of Long Beach, CA. Under Dr. Toker's supervision, CRP 203-01 developed three urban design plan proposals for Atlantic Avenue area. Under Dr. Toker and Dr. Dandekar's supervision, CRP 553-02 developed four specific plan proposals for East Anaheim Street Area. Both studios developed their proposals through participatory processes, meeting with local residents, community organizations and business owners multiple times through Spring 2011. The students presented their work to the Redevelopment Agency Board and the local community in early June 2011.
Click here to visit Atlantic Avenue Urban Design Plan Page
Click here to visit East Anaheim Street Area Specific Plan Page
Cal Poly Housing Collaborative Wins the Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge
SAN LUIS OBISPO, California –
Cal Poly Housing Collaborative Wins the Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge
With their dynamic presentation, exciting video, and compelling proposal featuring a local San Luis Obispo site and developer, an interdisciplinary team of 10 undergraduates and two graduate students (6 City and Regional Planning, 3 Business School, 2 Landscape Architecture and 1 Construction Management) won the annual Bank of America Low Income Housing Challenge. With partner developer, Madonna Enterprises the hypothetical project named Entrada Ranch, located on Los Osos Valley Road, adjacent to the Irish Hills Plaza creates 135 units of affordable housing much needed in San Luis Obispo. Rich in amenities the project creates quality work force housing that is sustainable, green and affordable. See http://polyhousingcollaborative.com/2011/.
Fresh off their win against teams of masters students from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine, the Cal Poly Housing Collaborative Team will present their project to San Luis Obispo’s Planning Commission May 25th. The hope is see a project built that draws inspiration from their award winning concept.
Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning Department
Ranked No. 1 in Nation
May 10, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michell Gipson
805-756-1315; mgipson@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly’s City and Regional Planning Department
Ranked No. 1 in Nation
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Planetizen, the only national ranking organization for planning programs, has ranked the Cal Poly City and Regional Planning Department’s graduate program (MCRP) No. 1 nationally of all programs without a Ph.D.
Since the 2009 rankings, the MCRP has moved up five spots – from 25th to 20th – of all graduate planning programs in the nation. Cal Poly’s MCRP program was placed 6th in the top 10 graduate programs in the western United States.
The latest Planetizen surveyed hundreds of educators and students – along with the schools themselves – to gather information about what makes a good planning school and to find out which schools meet those criteria.
“These rankings are a testament to City and Regional Planning’s superb faculty and evidence of the outstanding training the program provides to prepare students for the professional work force,” said Hemalata Dandekar City and Regional Planning department head. “I am delighted at the recognition of the quality and commitment of our students and faculty.
“It’s an indication of the service our students will be able to provide to the State of California and to the profession through innovative and creative work with diverse communities,” Dandekar said.
To see the Planetizen go to:
For more information about Planetizen, go to http://www.planetizen.com/topschools.
Global Engagement: CRP in Mexico
GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT is one of CRP's educational objectives. Erin Cooper, a CRP dual master's degree student (MCRP and MTransportationEngineering) is part of a three-country project to understand sustainable urban management practices in Puebla Mexico; Montreal Canada, and San Francisco, USA. Erin was in Puebla in December 2010 to present her work in San Francsico, meet other students, and expand her knowledge of transportation systems in other countries. Erin went to Puebla with CRP Professor William Siembieda, who is the US faculty member for this research project supported by ColMEX, a Mexican research organization. Click here to learn more.
Graduate Studio Creates TOD Proposal for San Luis Obispo
Graduate students in the CRP 553 Project Planning Laboratory, lead by Professors Vicente del Rio and Paul Wack, dealt with a typical scenario encounted by professional planners. They were posed the question "what if you had been hired to amend the recently approved Orcutt Area Specific Plan for the City of San Luis Obispo"?. The intent was solely educational and a new scenario was posed as the reason for the ammendment: the "clients" now wanted the community to be denser and prepared for a future light rail station along the existing train tracks. This exercise allowed students to develop practical planning skills starting from an existing EIR and specific plan, and the amendment process allowed them to engage in real-life planning while still providing a relatively "blank slate" for design innovation. City officials and original designers of the plan were brought in to present and give feedback to the class. The project was aptly named Righetti Station (after Righetti Hill, a prominent natural feature at the site and one of San Luis Obispo's the nine volcanic morros). The class produced the Righetti Station Specific Plan, developed around a new vision and five principles (quality, connection, vibrancy, engagement, innovation) and including policies and guidelines for land use and development standards; conservation, open space and recreation; circulation; and community design.
Click here to download the summary of the Righetti Station Specific Plan.
Click here to download the full plan document.
CRP Develops Avenue 12 Corridor Redesign Plan in Madera County
In 2009 the CRP Department signed a contract with Madera County's Planning Department to help them develop a plan to redesign Avenue 12 at Madera Ranchos. Connected with a grant from Cal Trans to Madera County, this job resulted from the county's concerns about current and projected traffic along Avenue 12 and the impacts of a future bypass on the community's walkability and quality of life. In the summer of 2009, CRP's assistant professor Umut Toker conducted a series of community workshops at Madera Ranchos which resulted in the Vision Plan for Avenue 12. In the spring and summer quarters of 2010, professor Vicente del Rio (CRP) and instructor Vangeli Evangelopoulos (Landscape Architecture) joined their urban design studios to advance on the Vision Plan and traffic studies, and developed the Avenue 12 Corridor Redesign Plan. This Plan presents a series of short and long term development scenarios for both public and private realms, providing the community with ideas on how to accommodate future growth and invest in place making and walkability. In paralel to these efforts, CRP associate professor Cornelius Nuworsoo developed a series of traffic studies later combined with the redesign plan and resulting in the Transportation Plan.
Cal Poly's work has been very well accepted by the community and the final plans are currently going through the public review process before adoption by the Madera County Planning Department. The final reports are available here.
Items of Note
CRP Department Mission
The City and Regional Planning Department (CRP) promotes sustainable and diverse communities within cultural and human systems. We provide an interdisciplinary professional planning education based on a learn-by-doing approach, community outreach, and applied research to help communities aspire for better, livable places. Click Here to view Department Goals
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs for current and prospective CRP students.
Tips for finding an internship
Computer Requirement for Incoming Students
City & Regional Planning Brochure
Click here to view the CRP Brochure (PDF)
City & Regional Planning Newsletter
Click here to view the CRP Newsletter (PDF)
City & Regional Planning FOCUS 2011
Click here to view the CRP FOCUS
CRP in the News
Read about the growing popularity of the planning profession and MCRP in the American Planning Association's Central Coast Section publication The Open Space.
Hearst Lectures
Go to the CAED Hearst Lecture Series web page for information.
Go to the Opportunities web page to learn about the awards and recipients.