Refurbishing a Waterfront Park to Reflect Local Culture
Port Park at Barrio LoganSan Diego, CA—USA
Today, the Port of San Diego is actively working on the 2.8 acre park’s refurbishment, aiming to enhance amenities, ensure environmental sustainability, and reflect the vibrant, local heritage and culture of San Diego’s Barrio Logan community.
Year
In Implementation
Client
Port of San Diego
Services
Vision Planning, Urban Design, Landscape Architecture
Project type/category
Civic/Municipal, Parks & Recreation, Pier, Waterfront
Expanding on a decades-long relationship, Civitas is partnering with the Port of San Diego to guide a community-based design process that will shape the future of the Barrio Logan park. The current park, which opened in 1990 as Crosby Street Park, provides vital public access to open space including a soccer field, picnic and playground areas, restrooms, a gazebo, and a recreational viewing pier that extends into the San Diego Bay.
Having updated other portions of the park in recent years — including the addition of shade trees, lighting, picnic tables and pier telescopes — the Port’s current focus is the park’s southeastern corner, which offers limited amenities and feels disconnected from the rest of the park. Through numerous stakeholder interviews, public events and an online survey, Civitas has gathered input about this next phase of improvements and the specific design elements that will best serve the community.
The public engagement process makes clear that the pier and access to the waterfront are currently the primary reasons people visit the park, while there’s strong interest in more spaces for creative play, social interaction, community events and celebrations. The park is already appreciated as a peaceful, natural retreat within the Barrio Logan neighborhood, whose residents desire spaces that feel welcoming, secure and cared for by the community.
Civitas has incorporated the public’s input into a preferred conceptual design that is guided by five principles:
- Celebrate the culture and heritage of the surrounding community
- Enhance the bayfront experience
- Welcome the community, ensuring comfort and accessibility for all
- Balance ecological enhancements with placemaking and activity
- Unify the park by linking a series of experiences
The design prioritizes a strong connection to the pier, which also serves as the park’s primary axis linking existing parking areas — visitors’ primary mode of access to the park — to the waterfront. Marked by gateway signage a serpentine path links users to a new splashpad, an existing concession building, and the pier itself. A new lawn area serves as the community yard and provides space for picnics or play, and is flanked by a small covered plaza for shade, and gazebo-like garden room.
The waterfront experience is further enhanced by a public gathering space perched above the bay. A resilient landscape, including a low, subtidal marsh zone, serves as a natural barrier between the water and the new perch that’s integrated with an existing concrete seawall.
Following the completion of a detailed design, construction is anticipated to begin in 2027.
