The Vision
California Forever is attempting something that has not been done in a century: create a new community that has density, mixed-use, public life, and scale. The scale matters not just because it provides a larger contribution to housing needs, but because it means the development can get to critical mass to support services and jobs.
The new community would be built on 15,700 acres of low-quality pastureland in Solano County and avoids the county’s most sensitive habitats, including Jepson Prairie, Suisun Marsh, and Cache Slough. Over decades, the plan will accommodate 400,000 new residents in 170,000 new homes, 2,500 acres of parks and open space, and the Solano Foundry, a 2100-acre advanced manufacturing district.
Streets + Greenways – The Foundation of the City
Streets are arranged in a grid, providing widespread connectivity. Dedicated transit streets run at approximately half-mile intervals, with car and bike streets located in between. Within the grid of movement, super blocks composed of neighborhood streets create a safe, fine-grained fabric. Slow streets and alleys make up 65% of the street network. At 56 feet in width, they are designed to function as public spaces that prioritize street life. A network of car-free greenways will provide safe and delightful connectivity throughout the city.
Parks + Open Space – A Framework for Community
The vision for parks and open space creates compelling, easily accessed open spaces that set the stage for family, community, and civic life; draw people to spend time together; and bring connections with nature into the everyday experience of residents. The plan includes an ample mix of different types of open spaces that are distributed to ensure all residents are within a 5 to 10-minute walk of a quality park.
Top Left: Open Space Framework; Bottom Left: Open Space Walksheds; Top Right: Open Space organized by frequency and type of use; Bottom right: Open Space distribution within urban fabric.
Central Park
Great cities often include large-scale parks that are emblematic of those places — Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Central Park in New York are two quintessential examples. Like these parks, the Central Park at the center of the Suisun Expansion Plan will be the jewel of the parks and open space network.
District + Neighborhood Parks + Squares
District Parks ranging from 2 to 6 blocks provide a larger open space serving multiple neighborhoods. They have room for amenities that draw on a larger population. Sometimes they are located near schools to share facilities. Neighborhood Parks are smaller parks, plazas, and squares that will be distributed throughout the urban fabric. These will be centers of daily community life for residents and provide opportunities for everyday activities and recreational needs and community gatherings.
Planning for Urban Nature
The streets, parks, and open spaces aim to make the community more livable and resilient for people, plants, and animals by integrating urban nature. They are focused on two key strategies: designing for biodiversity and a flourishing urban forest.
Real cities are never “done,” they evolve and change over decades and centuries. A city plan is a platform to enable many different people to come and make their lives, and many different companies to come and build. Well-planned and managed cities create something magical and wonderful, a whole that is so much more than the sum of its parts. We believe the Suisun Expansion Plan holds that potential.
