The competition “Housing The Next Ten Million” sought large scale planning visions to manage the continuing population growth and attendant suburban sprawl in the Great Central Valley of California. We proposed to protect the ecological and economic resources of this essential agricultural landscape through a necklace of small cities along the valley rim, connected to each other and the coast via high speed rail. This typical rim city between the Stanislaus National Forest and the Great Central Valley is a largely pedestrian hill town, organized around the train station public square. Its streets, public stairs and system of parks also function as conduits for the rainfall and ground water from the mountain to the valley.

Project Team:

Gans and Company: Deborah Gans