The San Diego region is expected to grow by nearly 1 million people by 2050 and, like San Jose, it has adopted a plan that directs new growth into “urban villages,” mixed-use activity centers connected to transit. At a recent forum, ϴhosted Bill Anderson and Nancy Bragado from AECOM, who helped create the city’s growth strategy, to share lessons learned with San Jose’s planning staff and the community.
Why Did San Diego Decide to Become a City of Villages?
The San Diego region is richly biodiverse, and concerns over open space and sustainability have defined its approach to planning and growth management. San Diego has a long history of planning for open space preservation and protection, including ballot measures to fund open space purchases and city regulations protecting sensitive environmental resources. In the 1970s and ’80s the city identified areas that were urbanized or were planned to develop, and established a tiered-growth management plan that focused growth in those areas.
San Diego’s most recent general plan, adopted in 2008, established a “City of Villages” strategy to direct future growth into “compact and walkable mixed-use villages of different scales.” Potential urban villages are identified across the city’s 52 community plan areas, and community plans and plan updates provide more detailed land use, density and design