Yumana Urban District

Over the course of the 12-month planning process, Sasaki collaborated closely with the developer, land owner and a team of interdisciplinary consultants to draft a holistic vision that synthesizes the ecological, humanistic, and market potential of the site into an actionable roadmap for development. The plan responds closely to the symbiotic relationship between Tijuana and San Diego, as well as the environmental and neighborhood context of Yumana.

A vibrant corridor 

Yumana sits high on a plateau overlooking the city and the sea front below, and its existing surroundings include residential neighborhoods, educational institutions, industrial uses, and commercial and recreational destinations. With the United States Consulate, the Tijuana International Airport, and the Otay Mesa border crossing all in close proximity, the site is primed to operate as a strategic nexus that strengthens connections throughout the city across scales.

Home to a total population of around 5.7 million and the busiest border crossing in the world, the Tijuana-San Diego borderlands conurbation is an economically and socially vibrant nexus. Cost of living and geographic proximity to opportunities and resources are contributing to the steady growth of Tijuana, creating a vital need for mixed-use developments like Yumana. 

Regenerative transformation

With a strong industrial sector and service economies, Tijuana has been undergoing rapid growth and urbanization in recent years, leading to a lack of open public spaces. The Yumana site is devoid of major vegetation, offering an opportunity to create more vibrant and resilient shared environments through ecological restoration and regeneration. The plan takes advantage of the ravines and terraces to build out the character of the landscape, and incorporates native flora throughout the parks and boulevards that unfold across the neighborhoods.

The development of the hillside will integrate ecological regeneration practices to restore the landscape and build resilience on the site of the former quarry. A phased soil regeneration process, along with water-sensitive design strategies to manage stormwater runoff are integrated throughout the site to help promote biodiversity and set a model for sustainable development in the region.

People-oriented neighborhoods

The property is divided into a series of neighborhoods organized around urban anchors, each with its own unique identity and connective corridors that facilitate access to public space and community amenities. With a focus on wellness and uplifting quality of life, the neighborhood format emphasizes walkability and generous access to shared open spaces to foster a sense of community.

In the residential South Point neighborhood, the hillside topography–formerly a barrier that divided the site from the surrounding urban environment–is reimagined as an opportunity to diversify the urban experience through hillside housing, terraced gardens and public spaces that integrate slope stabilization to take advantage of the dynamism of the hills and the panoramic views they offer. Nonresidential clusters like the Innovation District and the Wellness Hub foster the growth of health and services industries and provide indoor recreation opportunities to support the Yumana community at large. 

Yumana Park functions as the backbone of the interconnected landscape, meandering through the neighborhoods to bolster the network of recreational spaces and sustainability infrastructure. It is bookended in the north by the indoor recreational facilities of the Wellness Hub, and in the south by the Nature Legacy Center, an area where the hillside regeneration efforts will be concentrated, showcasing the vibrancy of the Baja California ecology.

The site will feature a range of housing typologies adapted to the landscape and different lifestyles, with a priority on access to public spaces and outdoor views. With over 4,000 residential units planned, housing will compose around a quarter of the development area, similar in scale to the amount of land allocated for open spaces across the site.

Phasing and implementation

With a clear path towards implementation, the first phase of the master plan focuses on the 16-hectare (39.5-acre) core mixed-use heart of the development and introduces over 1,600 residential units. Early activation strategies are currently being planned as a means to launch the project and open the site to a broader audience. Future phases will consist of 20-hectare tranches with an emphasis on placemaking, connectivity to the larger framework, and market absorption.