Just Oakland
2022
2022 Urban Land Institute Hines Competition Finalist
Client: City of Oakland, California.
Collaborators: TR Radhakrishnan, Chandani Patel, Pranav Thole, Siddarth Somana.
Client: City of Oakland, California.
Collaborators: TR Radhakrishnan, Chandani Patel, Pranav Thole, Siddarth Somana.
Just Oakland: Restorative Spatial Justice Framework is a project that prioritizes equity in its design to address the BIPOC community's historical barriers to physical and economic mobility. The project aims to reframe Oakland's divisive Nimitz freeway infrastructure as an urban commons that connects the neighbourhood and activates the site as a resource centre and place for justice. The proposal restores community trust by reclaiming existing law enforcement sites as institutions for restorative justice and community-run resource centres. The mixed-use development is anchored by cultural expression, affordable housing, and health, all of which drive the site's growth as a model for marginalized neighbourhoods.
By positioning affordable commercial space and retail spaces for makers at this cultural intersection, the project strengthens the connection between the Black Arts Movement business corridor to the north and the Jack London Maker district to the south. An above-ground BART station is built on the site to mark a pivotal moment in the neighbourhood's access to public transportation networks in the Bay Area. This project promotes mobility, visibility, and a just approach to development that respects the rich cultural landscape and a resilient community.
By positioning affordable commercial space and retail spaces for makers at this cultural intersection, the project strengthens the connection between the Black Arts Movement business corridor to the north and the Jack London Maker district to the south. An above-ground BART station is built on the site to mark a pivotal moment in the neighbourhood's access to public transportation networks in the Bay Area. This project promotes mobility, visibility, and a just approach to development that respects the rich cultural landscape and a resilient community.
This 2.6 million-square-foot mixed-use development project will be built in four phases over eight years, with 468 affordable housing units and commercial programs. The project will cost $1.7 billion, with funds coming from equity, senior debt, tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and federal subsidies. On an unlevered basis, the project will generate a 9.1% IRR and a 1.22 multiple, and on a levered basis, it will generate a 24.6% IRR and a 1.22 multiple. The first phase will include a commuter rail station, Jefferson Park, and the Black Futures Underpass Museum, all of which will drive investment in the neighbourhood.
Just Oakland places equity at the center of the design to reframe the relationship of divisive infrastructures with the black community. The freeway is reframed as an urban commons that connects the neighborhood and activates the site to become a resource center and place for justice. The mixed-use development is anchored by cultural expression, affordable housing and health that drive the growth of the site as a model for marginalized neighborhoods.
History of Resilience:
The history of the Nimitz freeway in Oakland is the history of red-lined neighborhoods across the country, where already isolated communities were broken apart. Highways have come to represent a systematic oppression of the black community that have also disproportionately borne the brunt of a regional infrastructural expansion. Rather than begin at the site as it stands today, our approach is to develop a framework of equity that addresses these historic barriers to physical and economic mobility. This allows us to initiate interventions and catalyze opportunities in a just manner, honoring the rich cultural landscape and a community that is already resilient.
Building Trust
The proposal seeks to rebuild trust with the community by reclaiming the sites of existing law enforcement as institutions for restorative justice and resource centers that are run by the community. These include mental health care, homeless resources centers and free clinics among others that perform the labor of community trust building. Further, the fifth and sixth street sections are transformed into green buffers emanating from the Jefferson Park, using the water captured from the freeway to sustain restorative natural spaces. These are programmed as year-round public spaces anchored by the Black Futures museum, a cultural landmark that brings together expressions of the past and future by local artists. The museum weaves through the underpass, interspersed by light-based installations and productive landscapes to activate a vibrant civic space.
Catalyzing an Opportunity Landscape
At the scale of the district, the proposal strengthens the connection between the Black Arts Movement business corridor to the north and the Jack London Maker district to the south, by positioning affordable commercial space and retail spaces for makers at this cultural intersection. This leverages the innovation already underway in Oakland driven by black led organizations. The proposal calls for inclusivity through affordable mixed income housing reinforcing an investment into the community and home insecure residents.
The urban form of the development acknowledges the existing fabric through podium heights, positioning towers to maintain the street scale, and frames the art plaza through a verdant ecological edge. High quality public transportation is essential to economic mobility, especially to a community that was segregated to benefit the transportation of those who lived and worked elsewhere. To repair this legacy, an above ground BART station is introduced on the site along the existing metro line, marking an inflection point in access to public transport networks for the neighborhood. This signals to the city and region a commitment to equitable development as it catalyzes mobility, visibility and a just approach to development.
