Midtown Ventura Wellness District Urban Design Concept Plan

This report resulted from an academic exercise by a team of graduate-level students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s City and Regional Planning Department during the Spring Quarter, 2016. With the support and encouragement of the City of Buonaventura, the team proposed a development concept and an urban design concept plan for the Midtown that explore the notion of wellness in a holistic manner, and are consistent with the General Plan and the city’s economic strategy. This plan was motivated by the results of the 2005 Midtown Charrette and the 2013 technical assistance workshop by Urban Land Institute which suggested the potential for a special district around the concept of wellness. This idea was motivated by the expansion of two important hospital sites, the Community Memorial Hospital and the Ventura County Medical Center located at close proximity to each other. Totalling over $600 million dollars of investment in facilities and infrastructure, the redevelopment of both sites together with the concentration of medical-related uses around them generates an important community and economic hub in Midtown. Communities across the nation are recognizing the critical link between the built environment and public health. Consciously improving the physical design of communities has the potential to reverse downward trends in people’s overall health and life span. Designing and planning healthy communities is a process that involves bringing together a wide range of stakeholders who can incorporate community values and implement best practices to actualize them