Above: Images of San Jose from the Downtown Streetlife Plan. 

Scott Knies is executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, a nonprofit that manages the Downtown Business Improvement District in San Jose, one of 26 Knight communities.

San Jose, the largest city in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, is growing rapidly. It is blessed with 300 days of sunshine, and has a population of 1 million balanced in nearly equal thirds of white, Latino and Asian residents. Knight Foundation’s support of two novel initiatives with a total of $150,000 will focus these assets of smart urban growth, great weather and incredible diversity.  Related Link

“Three Silicon Valley organizations to help build a more vibrant downtown in San Jose with $433,700 in support from Knight Foundation” — July 8, 2014 press release

The first addresses the activation of public spaces through community events as well as assisting new producers to navigate the local event process. The second initiative jump-starts partnerships and implementation around an exciting suite of street life projects to be added in downtown public spaces, such as sidewalks, paseos, plazas and streets. 

Improving the experience of place in downtown San Jose is a goal of both these projects. The explosive future growth projections for San Jose all point to a denser, infill development strategy with downtown at the center. As Silicon Valley companies continue to embrace urban locations for their employees, place becomes a premium in recruiting and retaining talent. 

Improving downtown’s sense of place – with special events, outdoor activities and street life projects that add beauty, whimsy and fun – will contribute to a public realm that has a profound effect on all who use the center city, whether they live there, work there or are visitors. 

The Public Space Activation Project will distribute five micro grants to local event producers who must agree to walk through the entire event production process with a project manager. The manager will assist each grantee from permit application, to city service negotiation, to day-of-event logistics and inspections. The experience of these five events, and others, will be the basis for process improvements with the city on permitting, logistics and policies. The micro grants will be awarded to proposals that best pull together San Jose’s diverse audiences, produce in targeted outdoor public spaces and support initiatives identified by Knight as quick means of engagement, such as citywide lectures and learning nights or community lunches.

The Street Life Project focuses on initiating the Downtown Street Life Plan commissioned earlier this year by the downtown property assessment district. The plan features a wide variety of public improvement projects that range from temporary installations of modular stages, street furniture and shade structures; interim projects such as pocket gardens, dog runs, wall features and parklets; to long-term urban design changes in downtown gateways, wayfinding, seating and lighting. 

Many of these projects provide exciting opportunities for partnership with both public and private properties to create an overall network of inviting public spaces. Knight support will enable a street life initiation manager to coalesce support around these compelling projects and move several projects through implementation while preparing others to be shovel ready.