Entrance steps and plaza for a community service hub in Central Oakland
The Oakland Plan identified a need for community service hubs (CSHs) throughout Oakland to provide gathering space and access to after-school programs, child care, Wi-Fi, technology, and other services.
Building on this recommendation, last semester graduate students in Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Urban Design program created “community hub as neighborhood catalyst” proposals for Frazier Field, Herron Hill Pumping Station, Zulema, Central Oakland, and Oakcliffe Square.
OPDC is sharing these imaginative proposals to stimulate public conversation about the vision for CSHs in Oakland. All views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not constitute an endorsement from OPDC.
Share your thoughts on CSHs in the comments or contact us directly. Check out the video above for all the details!
Frazier Field—Food for Thought
Frazier Field CSH entrance from the re-constructed Frazier Street
By Aditi Shreedhar and Aniket Surve
It’s a pleasantly warm morning on a Sunday in August 2033—just another day in the flourishing neighborhood of South Oakland. Tulip poplars dressed in a fall yellow amply shade Ward Street. Beneath them, electric vehicles are parked at charging stations, interspersed by the neighborhood’s flower beds. Eliza steps out of her newly acquired community land trust home and walks her Labrador as she greets passersby on bicycles. The neighborhood shuttle drops off her neighbors Henry and Justin before turning onto bustling Thora Way. The Farmer’s Market there extends along its length, championing produce from Frazier Farm and local enterprises with fresh food and homemade treats.
“Food for Thought” affirms the relationship between human values and the neighborhood. Neighborhoods always improve when their people get to know and care for each other, share resources, and take responsibility as a collective. This gives the neighborhood a sense of community, identity, and protection.
This project aims to reshape the perception of land in the neighborhood from property/private use/exploitation to protected institution/housing/recreation in a self-sustaining model.
The project goals are:
To create a win-win situation for the environment as well as the community.
To create a lens to experience the land as home and livelihood and not just a commodity.
Learning Deck at Frazier Farm
Centered around four activities—growing, dining, learning, and playing—the CSH at Frazier Field operates as a community-governed, multi-purpose facility, providing access to fresh produce, child care services, wellness, sports, classes, and community gatherings.
Recognizing that South Oakland is currently a food desert, Frazier Field is designed for community gardening. It will also host sports and neighborhood events. The vision extends beyond the field to improve last-mile connectivity, enhance the quality of streets, encourage local enterprise, and address growing concerns of absentee home ownership in the neighborhood through a phased twenty-year strategy.
Leadership in guiding and implementing the strategy would be provided by the South Oakland Neighborhood Group (SONG), which would support and manage three kinds of neighborhood cooperatives: Community Supported Agriculture, the South Oakland Housing Cooperative, and the South Oakland Mutual Aid Cooperative. These cooperatives will strengthen the community’s voice, mobilize co-action during adverse conditions, and build collective wealth by ensuring the profits remain within the neighborhood.
Herron Hill Pumping Station
Flexible, modular spaces throughout the community
By Koushik Srinath and Yash Parikh
This proposal envisions Herron Hill Pumping Station in North Oakland as the nucleus of a network of community public spaces.
A key aspect of this project is the celebration of Pittsburgh’s water infrastructure—the connection between the Pumping Station and its reservoir in the Upper Hill District is one of historical note. The project, therefore, looks to expand on these existing infrastructure connections and connect North Oakland to the surrounding neighborhoods of Upper Hill, Bloomfield, Shadyside, and the rest of Oakland to the south.
While studying the location, the students found that the site possesses great potential for transformation. It consists of two buildings, the main Pumping Station, which faces Centre Avenue, and the ancillary Lab structure to its north. Both buildings have stood at their original location since their construction and continue to play a key role in the water distribution system of Pittsburgh. The Laboratory, although defunct, was crucial in advancing the water and paving analysis for the city in the last 60 years. The Station mainly pumped water to higher elevations such as the Hill District and Squirrel Hill.
North Oakland is dominated by large high-rise, mixed-use buildings with very limited open spaces, parks, or community activity areas. In addition to this, the blocks are fragmented by large parking lots.
This led to a design strategy that creates a CSH at the Pumping Station, flexible, modular spaces for the community, and reimagined future uses for parking lots. The proposal is phased over 20 years, with each phase incrementally adding to the network. With community feedback, it will be possible to create a vibrant neighborhood with a variety of public open spaces and new community amenities.
“Pockets” of community gathering space throughout North Oakland
The Pumping Station, which will continue to function, has unused space that can house local offices of PWSA and DPW, while the defunct Lab will be converted into a museum for water infrastructure, along with a community meeting and dining room. This will help raise awareness about the historical infrastructure connections among the neighborhoods.
Along with this, the north end of the site will be transformed into an active public space with trellised modules that can be used for performances, markets, cafes, gardens, and even fitness zones. This will allow the community flexibility to change the space. Finally, the parking lots in the neighborhood will become a part of this network with the trellises being used as a connecting fabric for the creation of multi-use public spaces in 20 years.
The CSH proposal will be carried out and operated by a new non-profit neighborhood development and management organization led by community residents and stakeholders. It will be supported by partners such as government agencies, OPDC, and educational institutions. This will aid the CSH network in improving the public realm of North Oakland while combining infrastructure, history, and economic opportunities for the community.
Zulema—The “Place”
A multifunctional community center at Zulema Parklet
By Shreya Mathur and Seyoung Choo
This project proposes a new CSH at Zulema Parklet as an incubator for local and new community businesses.
The Zulema district, which includes the one-acre green space at Zulema Parklet and the surrounding space and facilities, is located on the boundary between Central and South Oakland and is outlined by major roads such as Boulevard of the Allies and Bates Street.
While Zulema Parklet is at the heart of the neighborhood, the Zulema District lacks a multifunctional community center. The site is isolated from Central and South Oakland’s primary service areas and is also difficult to access by foot or public transit. However, the unified ownership status and tightly knit residential fabric can become a center for local economic growth and community engagement. It can be the site that starts the process of turning the neighborhood into a community!
This project, therefore, proposes the creation of a CSH, a new public face at the east end of Zulema Parklet, which will incorporate a collaborative working space, child care, and an “incubator” space that allows the birth of new businesses and expansion of local businesses that will eventually become a catalyst for broader district-wide development over a 20-year period.
Renovated traffic circulation and transportation systems would make the area more pedestrian and eco-friendly
In 20 years, the Zulema district will become a mixed-program district with an abundance of resources and an economically circular loop to expand and support local business, commercial, and residential ownership.
Although the project will be broken down into different developmental phases, each phase will strive to achieve one more of the following overarching goals:
Allow opportunities for small local businesses and start-ups to grow
Create a commercial wall that can cater to everyday needs, but also attract outside visitors
Retain the transient population and create a more diversified residential fabric
Renovate traffic circulation and transportation systems to become more pedestrian and eco-friendly
Utilize green spaces to their full potential to increase community gatherings and interactions
Creating a space where you can live, work, and play
Central Oakland—Community Education Center
Proposed Community Education Center in Central Oakland
By Yihan Liu and Rutuja Badve
Central Oakland is the meeting place of large institutions and a low but dense residential area to the south and west. The Forbes/Fifth corridor forms the north edge of the neighborhood. Central Oakland has a remarkably diverse population in age, background, occupation, and language.
The Oakland Plan suggests introducing new educational resources into the neighborhood. This proposal considers both programmed activities (intangible) and physical urban improvements (tangible).
The purpose of the Community Education Center, which could be an expanded function of OPDC, is two-fold:
Create a facility with spaces for both formal and informal learning for all ages.
Provide a local network of other community functions that improve the livability of Central Oakland.
A Phase Model
The design for the Community Education Center is envisioned in four phases: 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year plans.
In the first two years, a survey of needs and talents throughout the area of central Oakland will be conducted to create an “asset map” of the neighborhood. Also, work will begin within OPDC to expand partnerships with institutions in the neighborhood. Third, a suitable site for the Community Education Center will be identified. This proposal suggests using a parking lot currently owned by UPMC along Sennett Street.
In five years, public space and housing improvements will be in progress, and Community Education Center activities will be initiated in existing spaces while construction on the new building gets underway. The Center is located at the meeting place of the small-scale residential and large-scale commercial/institutional areas. The building mass is highest along Sennett Street and steps down in terraces toward the south to meet the residential properties at their same height. Support for alternative transportation, including new bike lanes on Forbes, will be provided by modular cycle repair stations. This is a prototype that can eventually be replicated throughout Oakland.
As a part of the ten-year goal, efforts to increase localization in business development will be launched. The business district on Forbes Avenue as well as the local business district of Central Oakland on Atwood Street will be supported by intensified marketing and monthly street markets. Also, a sustainability resource center will be initiated in collaboration with CMU and Pitt, and educational programs with the existing Oakland Avenue Farm will encourage community involvement.
In the fourth phase, with a twenty-year planning horizon, the Community Education Center will be a fully operational facility that will enable Central Oakland residents to find better employment and enrich their lives. Local initiatives will address hillside remediation and a fund for the maintenance of the city steps. OPDC’s expanded role in the neighborhood and its partnership with People’s Oakland will produce a foster home for children and the elderly.
The Community Education Center
Axonometric view of the educational hub and affiliate small installations
The new facility provides not only a variety of learning spaces inside, but also outdoor open spaces at different levels to serve the community as well as the daycare facility, care center for older adults, and classrooms. A plaza along Semple Street serves as a welcoming open space to all the users in the community. The programs in the building attract people of all age groups for learning activities during weekdays, evenings, and weekends. The building street face is reserved for a café and shops. All the spaces in the center are designed to be flexible to accommodate a range of activities.
The success of the Community Education Center will be assessed in terms of resident employment, local business vitality, neighborhood social connections, household and community self-reliance, neighborhood livability, care of the physical environment, and the strength of the sense of place in Central Oakland.
Oakcliffe Square
By Fangyu Huang and Xinyue Zhang
While Oakcliffe is home to many longtime residents, it also faces many challenges: an education level below the Oakland average, a home-ownership rate far lower than the Pittsburgh average, and poor conditions along the Boulevard with a lack of good entrances into the neighborhood. Also, within the neighborhood, green space is fragmented, streets lack trees, and dangerous traffic conditions on the Boulevard cut it off from Oakland's amenities.
The Oakland Plan proposed to locate the CSH in the Community Human Services building on Lawn Street. However, since the development is focused on promoting local employment and local business development, as well as providing a new community center with mixed land use along the Boulevard of the Allies, our team proposes to use the Gulf Research Building as the new site for the CSH. Therefore, this plan develops Oakcliffe Square by purchasing that property and the gas station. It addresses the following four dimensions of community development over the next twenty years.
First, for workforce development, it provides skill training with internships at local institutions and organizations and works with local businesses and institutions to spin off new entrepreneurial opportunities, which will increase access to jobs for local people while promoting a robust local economy. The proposed projects are dedicated to delivering on the vision's promise to create a total of 800 direct jobs in four phases over twenty years to foster sustainable local business development in our neighborhood.
Second, the plan creates suitable street environments that promote attachment to place and a sense of intimacy with the neighborhood for local people. A tree-planting program will dramatically improve the neighborhood's tree canopy, which is complemented by installing crosswalks and upgrading street paving. Affordable housing is created in the building vacated by Community Human Services and by offering incentives to improve other existing housing, especially along the east side of the neighborhood.
Third, the team envisions a local park that connects to a broader green network. By adding trails and bike lanes along the hillside, it connects residents to other parts of Oakland and Schenley Park. Stewardship of the urban forest will result in a coherent ecological corridor. In addition, projects that promote a fifteen-minute neighborhood will include mixed land uses along the Boulevard of the Allies, local business incubators, and affordable, high-quality housing. Oakcliffe Square will expand the original hub of services into a vibrant, multi-functional center. There will be accessible open spaces with a sense of place and facilities for all ages. Along with great streets, this will improve walkability and connectivity throughout the community.
The initial Hub is a catalyst for four phases of strategic development over the next twenty years to increase reinvestment and resilience throughout the community in all four dimensions of community life. This process diagram above shows how these projects contribute to order, vitality, and resilience—the qualities of a successful ecosystem. The left side of the diagram shows the projects by phase, and the right side shows the expected outcomes and their impacts.
This process values local feedback loops in each stage to help improve programs and make more effective use of resources. Accomplishing this vision means that in twenty years, no matter what happens to our neighborhood, Oakcliffe will be able to thrive.