Urban Orchard Park

Urban Orchard Park

Urban Orchard reclaims a 7-acre post-industrial site in the City of South Gate, transforming a long-vacant and environmentally burdened landscape into a multi-benefit public park. The project is the first phase of a broader 30-acre vision developed in Studio-MLA’s 2018 Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan. The project addresses longstanding environmental, health, and equity issues, while creating a resilient, green public space for a historically underserved community.

Challenges & Solutions
The project site lies in a highly polluted, marginalized neighborhood where nearly 40,000 residents lacked access to a park within a 10-minute walk. High asthma and low public health scores, limited public space, and degraded land conditions defined the context. Studio-MLA’s design directly addressed these environmental justice challenges through native habitat restoration, expanded tree canopy, stormwater infrastructure, and recreation features that promote physical activity, improve air and water quality, and foster resilience. The park also provides local job opportunities through partnerships like the Conservation Corps of Long Beach.

Collaborative Planning & Engagement
Urban Orchard Park was shaped through close coordination between the City of South Gate, Trust for Public Land, community organizations, and multiple public agencies. Engagement was embedded throughout, from early visioning through final design, ensuring the park reflected community needs, honored Tongva Tribal cultural arts, and addressed local environmental priorities. Studio-MLA helped navigate a complex funding landscape, securing support from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, Proposition 1, and Measure W. The result is a highly coordinated project demonstrating our experience managing layered partnerships in large-scale, equity-driven park planning.

Design Approach
The park delivers layered benefits: more than 200 fruit trees, an acre of wetland, native gardens, an educational hub, Tongva history, and a nature-based playground all contribute to environmental restoration, public health, and neighborhood revitalization. Designed as both a local resource and regional model, Urban Orchard repositions green space as critical civic infrastructure in underserved communities. Its phased implementation ensures continued progress and measurable outcomes, while offering a replicable approach for complex, multi-stakeholder public landscapes. Now, the community has a park intentionally designed to help curb those issues and inspire a deeper connection to the benefits and joys of the outdoors.