| This dissertation examines the growth of edge cities in Contra Costa County, California during the 1980s. During that decade, this subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area experienced a ten-fold increase in office space. The research focuses on two case studies, Walnut Creek and San Ramon. The Walnut Creek example is a high-rise, transit-oriented collection of office buildings, built in an existing suburban downtown. The San Ramon example is a campus office park, housing corporate headquarters, built on agricultural land.; The role of public land use planners in the planning and implementation of the edge cities is examined. Also included is the role of California's mandatory general plan legislation, and the California Environmental Quality Act. The research also investigates the impact of traditional growth coalitions and anti-growth voters on the final form of the edge cities.; The results of this research indicate that planners had a major role over several decades in planning the location, form and uses of the edge cities in these two cases, through use of the general plan and planned unit development mechanisms. Further, those planners formed informal growth alliances with professionals in the development community to reach consensus on major projects before approval in the political arena. The research reveals that anti-growth movements, which quickly followed construction of the edge cities, resulted from conflict between local residents and national corporate developers for suburban land. The research also indicates a relationship between radical changes in urban form and anti-growth mobilization.; This research is based on narrative interviews, planning department files, general and specific plans, local and regional newspapers, U.S. Census data, site analyses of typical projects in the new these edge cities, and a wide range of other primary documents and secondary works. |
