MIG led a multi-disciplinary team to develop the West Village Master Plan for the University of California-Davis campus. This bold mixed-use project is the largest planned Zero Net Energy community in the country. Located in a semi-rural and agriculturally rich area, the City of Davis and the University wanted to ensure that the proposed development was based on sustainable and smart growth principles. The plan guides development of a new community that will accommodate more than 3,000 students, faculty and staff over the next several years. Additionally, the new community will include an elementary school, town center, recreation fields, a neighborhood park, and bicycle paths separated from vehicles. Phase one opened in the Fall Semester of 2011 and serves as a model for new university housing and mixed-use development nationwide. Instead of following typical residential development patterns, MIG’s planning and design includes a range of housing types and densities; innovative mixing of uses at a neighborhood center; cutting-edge energy production and water conservation strategies; special attention to habitat; and open space and urban-agriculture edge boundaries. The West Village is an integrated and sustainable community that is environmentally, socially and economically beneficial.
The project won an ASLA Award for Sustainability.

Related Service Areas

• New Community Development
• Campus Planning and Design

The Village Square is the hub of community life. (Photo by Karin Higgins/UC Davis)