One of the most significant plan documents in San Diego history was developed by John Nolen in 1908. You can download the entire plan here. This is a very large Adobe Acrobat file (21MB) that will take several minutes to download, but it’s worth the wait.
Since 2004 community members in Alpine, CA have been conducting Revitalization efforts to improve this unincorporated area of eastern San Diego County. The home site for the Alpine Revitalization effort is www.4RCommunity.com. The vision of Alpine in 2015 is just one of the evolving products created in this ongoing process.
This effort has invited all community groups in the Alpine area (over 150 different groups!) to participate. In 2005, delegates representing 50 different groups, (more…)
The City of San Diego’s General Plan documents are online and offer explicit visions for the future for the City. Summaries of each section of the General Plan are presented with links to greater detail as desired.
General Plan Update
A comprehensive update to the City of San Diego’s (City) General Plan is underway. The update is guided by the City of Villages strategy and the citywide policies adopted as a part of the General Plan Strategic Framework Element. The City of Villages strategy allows San Diego to evolve harmoniously with its natural beauty and the unique character of its neighborhoods. It links people to what is important to them: housing, shopping, jobs, education, civic uses and open space.
The City of San Diego “Community Orientation Workshop” or COW 2005 workbook contains very readable and full history of planning and visions in San Diego called “San Diego: Looking To The Future by Lynne Carrier.
You can access the work book here and you will find the history of visions and plans on page B-1. For the history of planning only click here.
The rest of the workbook is a treasure trove of descriptions, tools, and policies relating to planning issues in the City of San Diego. The workbook description and table of contents follow.
“This handbook accompanies the Community Orientation Workshop - a discussion of the roles and responsibilities of the community planning volunteers as they relate to Citywide planning issues, community plan preparation, and the development of regulatory processes of the City.”
Neil Morgan spoke to the Downtown San Diego Rotary (33) on August 12, 2004. He provided a marvelously concise history of San Diego and posed provocative questions about the future of the City and region.
Neil has been a writer and editor in San Diego journalism for over 50 years and is the author of 12 books including “Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel” (with Judith Morgan), and “Westward Tilt.” As a journalist, his decades of prodding regional efforts have helped to make San Diego a center of higher education and scientific research. Neil is also one of the founders of voiceofsandiego.org , a nonprofit, independent online newspaper focused on issues impacting the San Diego region.
Neil Morgan - Speaking to San Diego Rotary 33
August 12, 2004
This is a celebration day for us in club 33. I want you to join me in playing a nostalgia game about San Diego’s past…..to learn how our beautiful city got where it is today, and where we are headed.I want to take you on a light-hearted San Diego tour from mission bells to genetic labs. We will look back and skip rapidly to the present…trying not to hurt too many feelings of great San Diegans who have been a part of these years. And finally, I’ll ask what we might care enough to do to hold on to this San Diego that we love.
Opening Remarks by Michael Stepner, FAIA, FAICP, FIUD, former San Diego City Architect and now dean of the New School of Architecture & Design at the AIA HRC Sessions at the Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference in Washington, DC in 2004.
This is an excellent overview of San Diego past, present and potential future.
Overivew of the Evolution of San Diego
As a former public official and a past president of the local chapter, let me officially welcome you to San Diego.San Diego is not necessarily a center of architecture, spelled with a BIG “A”; but, as I believe you will see, we are on the right track with a small “a.”
We think this was validated by a recent survey in Travel and Leisure magazine that ranked America’s top 25 cities. We were ranked #2 with best outdoor activities, the best parks, and the best-looking people. We were also ranked the best destination for getting around by car; and, I hope that latter “best” is correct because your Saturday tours are very tightly scheduled!
What prevented us from being #1 was architecture. We were ranked #16 out of 25.
However, we were ranked #3 as a “Creative City” by Richard Florida; and, sense of place and urban design are included in his criteria. Although he recently dropped us to #12 due to high housing costs.
This week, Partners for Livable Places ranked us as one of the ten most livable big cities in the United States. And, two recent books, Get Urban: The Beginners’ Guide to City Living and Making Places Special were both highly complimentary to San Diego in recognition of its efforts at city building.
Nevertheless, I’m afraid surveys should be taken with a grain of salt.
And, we in San Diego don’t always see the things other see; but, what others see result from a long-standing community interest in the built environment.
Visit the AIA site for Mike Stepner’s entire speech or download a pdf version here. It is excellent context for thinking about the future of the region.
“PLAN: Prevent Los Angelization Now.”
Growth Controls: Policy Analysis for the Second Generation by Peter Navarro and Richard Carson
This vision and set of strategies were intended to show how to slow the rate of growth in the San Diego region so that quality of life would not be impacted by increased congestion and other problems associated with growth.
The 1970s spawned a first generation of growth controls which featured explicit (or implicit) restrictions on residential housing construction. These restrictions were typically implemented in small, affluent, and predominantly white suburban communities. Policy analysis responded by focusing almost singlemindedly on how such supply-side restrictions might increase housing prices and drive out the poor. The 1980s and 1990s have, however, given birth to a more comprehensive second generation of controls which many major cities and metropolitan areas are considering. This generation ties commercial and industrial as well as residential development to the reduction of the negative externalities and congestion costs associated with growth. To fully evaluate this second generation, policy analysis must take into account not only housing price effects and the rate of job creation but also the full range of amenity effects associated with differing rates of growth and attendant levels of traffic congestion, air pollution, and other public bads. We develop a framework for such second generation growth control analysis using San Diego as an example.
The original academic article is available at Springer Link for a fee. We are looking for a version of the article, and other related PLAN documents, that can be posted here for free public access.
Toward Permanent Paradise by Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3)
“In an effort to update San Diego’s 20-year old planning resource, Temporary Paradise?, C-3 has developed this introductory brochure. ” The 6-page introductory brochure can be downloaded from C-3 and viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader®: Toward_Permanent_Paradise.pdf (2 MB).
“As our mission statement … indicates, Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C-3) is dedicated to translating vision into action in Toward Permanent Paradise.”
“Temporary Paradise? A Look at the Special Landscape of the San Diego Region” published in 1974 by Kevin Lynch and Donald Appleyard, through a grant from the Marston Family, is considered the forward-thinking document of its time.
Download the entire vision document (61MB) here. Excerpts can be found in San Diego - Perfecting Paradise by Roger M. Showley (published in 2000 by Heritage Media, Carlsbad, CA)
Welcome to the San Diego Regional Vision compilation site. We’re just getting underway, so visit us again soon to explore the breadth and depth of vision in our area.