Cupertino Parks & Recreation System Master Plan

In the heart of Silicon Valley, home to high-tech giants, perhaps nothing is more important than access to parks and open space.

Cupertino, a highly diverse urban/suburban community, needed a consultant with expertise in park and facility planning, recreation operations, design, outreach, CAPRA accreditation and natural systems—as well as diversity and equity—to develop a new Parks & Recreation System Master Plan.

By incorporating our local knowledge from working on the City’s General Plan and Stevens Creek Corridor Master Plan, with an existing preliminary parks analysis, we redirected the planning process to identify and respond more closely to the community’s priorities.

The geographic analysis considered different travel modes, actual travel distances, barriers and forecasted traffic congestion areas, and now provides more equitable access to recreation opportunities for previously underserved areas. Newly mapped natural resources and systems better connect people to nature and tie the benefits of park land to ecological functions. And systemwide strategies and new park guidelines led to redeveloped key sites, with a better understanding of operational needs and community benefits.

Residents themselves “cross-checked” the new directions for parks and open space,  recreation facilities and programming.

The new plan re-imagines and re-brands Cupertino’s park system as a driver in establishing the city’s character, interconnectedness, livability and sense of place.