What Makes a Great Place?
Desert Hot Springs, located at the northern edge of the Coachella Valley, is a community uniquely poised for transformative placemaking. Great places don’t happen by accident however—they are the result of deliberate and sustained efforts by those who live and work there. As part of a year-long planning initiative, the Downtown Vision outlines incremental improvements that develop community assets. The centerpiece of this effort is a "placemaking playbook," that offers specific steps to activate underutilized spaces, provide programming that supports economic development, and build towards permanent improvements that collectively reinforce the community's unique identity and values.
Community Outreach
The City and Regional Planning Department at Cal Poly holds an annual second-year masters studio over the course of two quarters (20 weeks). Work for Desert Hot Springs studio began in September of 2022 which included a collective effort to produce an Existing Conditions Report, Community Outreach Report, and a Concept Plan for the downtown. Outreach was conducted over two site visits. For the first visit, tables were set up at two grocery stores and the community center to directly engage with the public. During this time a street audit was also conducted, assessing the quality of buildings, frontages, and pedestrian amenities that were included in the Existing Conditions Report. On the second visit, a community-wide visioning event was held at City Hall with Downtown stakeholders, including residents, small business owners, and City staff–concluding with the vision statements produced below. Further outreach conducted at Desert Hot Springs HIgh School by interviewing and allowing students to post ideas on visioning boards. As further research for the Placemaking Playbook, I conducted a photographic inventory of downtown that included personal interviews with downtown Desert Hot Springs businesses.
Prioritizing Policies for Placemaking
For years, Desert Hot Springs has faced challenges in filling vacant storefronts and developing empty lots within its downtown core along Pierson Boulevard. While growth in cannabis, tourism, and real-estate have been a recent boon for the City’s finances – the City has built a new city hall and made streetscape improvements at the intersection of Palm and Pierson Boulevard – this has largely failed to materialize in large-scale private investment downtown.
Start-up costs can be prohibitive for new businesses and traditional financing mechanisms may not support the types of development the community values. The result is a discontinuity in downtown space that can support economic and social development.
The basis of this project is derived from the Project for Public Spaces, which establishes core components needed for effective placemaking. These components were categorized into three groups to prioritize policies: (1) “Lack of,” (2) “Need for,” and (3) “Abundance of.” A “lack” identifies areas where the community could benefit from more resources, a “need” highlights essential elements, and an "abundance" identifies key assets that the community can leverage for placemaking.
Phase 1: Building Sociability
According to Project for Public Spaces, "Sociability can be one of the most difficult qualities for a place to achieve because it results from complex social mechanisms that are not easily quantified or controlled." Throughout community outreach, Desert Hot Springs demonstrated a strong sense of community alongside signs of planning fatigue. Rather than beginning with major capital projects, the framework prioritizes relationship-building through small, visible successes. Low-cost, community-led initiatives create opportunities for residents to participate in shaping downtown, building the trust and social connections necessary to support long-term investment.
Phase 2: Activating Vacant Spaces
People are drawn to places because of the activities they support. While physical improvements make downtown more comfortable, programming gives people a reason to visit, interact, and return. Temporary events, pop-up businesses, farmers' markets, and informal entrepreneurship provide low-risk opportunities to test ideas while activating vacant storefronts and underutilized public spaces. In Desert Hot Springs, this approach builds on successful events such as Fridays on Pierson and the City's existing vendor culture, allowing temporary activity to evolve into permanent businesses that reflect the community's identity.
Photo Credit: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Photo Credit: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Photo Credit: Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Phase 3: Permanent Improvements
As activity increases, investment can shift toward permanent improvements that enhance comfort, safety, and flexibility. Shade structures, street trees, seating, drinking fountains, and other public amenities respond to the realities of the desert climate while improving the everyday experience of downtown. Streetscape improvements should also reinforce the flexibility established through temporary programming by accommodating events, outdoor commerce, and changing patterns of use. Like the Ramblas in Barcelona, or Lancaster Boulevard in California, streets can function as adaptable public spaces rather than corridors dedicated exclusively to automobiles.
Phase 4: Public Space Network
Successful public spaces should not exist as isolated destinations. Over time, individual improvements can be connected into a cohesive network of streets, plazas, and gathering spaces that reinforce one another and strengthen the identity of downtown as a whole. As the network expands, each successful place attracts new people, businesses, and investment, creating a cycle in which social connections, economic activity, and public life continuously reinforce one another. Rather than relying on a single signature project, the long-term vision is a connected public realm that reflects the unique culture of Desert Hot Springs while supporting a vibrant and resilient downtown.
