Seaport Village Urban Planning Transformation

The successful transformation of Seaport Village is a result of close collaboration between the Port of San Diego, Protea Properties, and SLP Urban Planning. With nearly $8 million in operational and financial investments made by the Port of San Diego, which took ownership of Seaport Village in 2018, the partners revamped the destination through community engagement, placemaking, human-centered design, and integrated communications. In addition to new activations, refreshed design, and other thoughtful changes, the foundation of a human-centered design approach led to upgrades to the open space and public realm. The success of this effort is evident as occupancy increased from 65% to 95% occupancy in a short two years, retained local businesses, and demonstrated >100% increase in engagement on social media. Throughout it all, the vision — to create an attractive and fun waterfront destination for locals and tourists alike — guided the efforts, big or small. The interim activation efforts proved the sky’s the limit for the future of San Diego’s waterfront.