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The city of San Buenaventura has population of around 107,000 and is situated between Santa Barbara to the North and Los Angeles to the South. The city has a moderately dense downtown business districted and is committed to residential infill. The east end of the city is characterized by suburban sprawl and has no center of interest. The recently developed Kimball Park serves vital community needs and is a very popular destination for team sports, aquatics and recreational walking, jogging and cycling.
The idea of this plan is to create a cultural center for the East side of Ventura that would complement the ongoing downtown revitalization project. East side residents would be able to walk or bicycle to a wider variety of shopping, entertainment and educational venues. There would also be increased workplace opportunities.
Because of Ventura's commitment to preserving open spaces and creating a sustainable future the centerpiece of this proposal would be a ranch-style Open University campus with public temporary spaces. This type of public space use has been modeled successfully in the
Volkspalast project in Eastern Germany. The Rancho Alta Open University would have residential housing, classroom space and workshop space for guest professors who want to work on projects similar to
UCSB's Container Project. Rancho Alta projects would be available to anyone in the community in an Open University format.
Rancho Alta would also have large conference and event spaces that could be rented by community members, churches and the like. There is currently a shortage of large event space in the city.
The Rancho Alta Open University connects to Kimball Park on the North and is part of a walkable corridor that includes a permanent Farmer's Market for locally grown produce. South of this is a mixed use residential and shopping space envisioned as an "artisan's colony" with affordable high density housing and studio space. This space would complement the artist spaces on the far west end of the city and could serve as incubator space in connection with the Open University. The idea is that this would be a practical space for people to make and sell local products.
Transit improvements would be made, including improved bus service throughout the city and regular light rail along existing rail lines.
Finally, a large parcel of open space would be set aside in perpetual conservency. A portion of this land would be dedicated to continued outdoor education opportunities.
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