In Spring 2026, Canal Alliance partnered with students from UC Berkeley to re-imagine the Canal Community Garden based entirely on resident and stakeholder input.
As a part of Civic Imagination Studio: Democratizing Planning in the Institute of Urban & Regional Development, master’s in urban design student Nicola Noriega (MUD ‘26) and undergraduate in sociology Sara Landsberg (UCB ‘26) collaborated to design an expanded Canal Community Garden and create a scenario-based card game that encourages residents to mix-and-match cards based on topics ranging from ownership to stewardship.
Over the span of eight-weeks, the students met and interviewed staff from Canal Alliance, the City of San Rafael’s Program Coordinator, Patty McCulley who oversees the Canal Community Garden, and six residents from Canal Alliance’s Nuestro Canal, Nuestro Futuro’s (NCNF) Cultural Preservation work group, a focus group dedicated to ideating ways to uplift culture and belonging in the Canal neighborhood. In these stakeholder meetings, students were able to deduce the current gaps and uncover future opportunities for the Canal Community Garden.
The students deliverables were largely shaped by residents’ input from the Cultural Preservation work group. Here, residents shared major drawbacks in the Canal Community Garden such as high costs and expectations, lack of accountability and respect among plot owners, and wasted resources such as produce and water. As solutions, residents presented having a low/free cost admission but vetting process for future plot owners, adding security to prevent theft and vandalism, and building infrastructure and culture that promotes community such as creating gathering spaces and a system for distributing food to ensure no waste. These comments and more were recorded by the students and applied to the design features of their proposed garden and shaped the questions posed in the scenario-based card game.
Introduction slides of UC Berkeley students’ presentation to NCNF’s Cultural Preservation work group on Tues, Mar 24, 2026 (Nicola Noreiga & Sara Landsberg/Canal Alliance).
Question slides UC Berkeley students asked the NCNF Cultural Preservation work group on Tues, Mar 24, 2026 (Nicola Noreiga & Sara Landsberg/Canal Alliance).
Before bringing their products back to the community, the students unveiled their design and card game at a tree planting and tabling event organized by Frontline Catalysts and Trees for Oakland at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, CA. Surrounded by community members with experience in community gardening, the students found that many people shared similar challenges as what Canal residents had expressed, indicating the issues with the Canal Community Garden are not singular or isolated cases.
Community members engaging with UC Berkeley student Sara Landsberg (left) their Canal Community Garden project at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, Calif., on Sat, Apr 25, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
UC Berkeley student Sara Landsberg (left) and Nicola Noriega (right) engaging with community members at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, Calif., on Sat, Apr 25, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
Community members stop then discuss their experience with community gardens with UC Berkeley student Sara Landsberg (left) at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, Calif., on Sat, Apr 25, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
Example of a scenario for a future Canal Community Garden at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, Calif., on Sat, Apr 25, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
UC Berkeley students Sara Landsberg (left) and Nicola Noriega (right) standing next to their poster board of their Canal Community Garden project at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland, Calif., on Sat, Apr 25, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
Canal Alliance staff was able to relay their new park design, card-game, and feedback from the tabling event to residents. To our delight, the only feedback residents delivered was to “add in gates” that open and close for added security. Otherwise, the design and game were “a good start.”
Members of the NCNF Cultural Preservation work group after recapping the UC Berkeley students’ project at Canal Alliance’s HQ in San Rafael, Calif., on Tuesday, Apr 28, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
This partnership was spearheaded by our CivicSpark Fellow, Daisy Alvarez. As an auditor of the class, Daisy was able to facilitate a partnership with Lecturer in Urban Design, Yulia Gringkrug and the Planning, Advocacy, and Civic Engagement team by presenting a centered around the Canal Community Garden. After hearing about some of our residents’ dissatisfaction with the community’s garden but without the proper capacity for staff to undertake, she thought a project designed to re-imagine the project made the most sense for students to undertake.
Throughout the course, Daisy used her unique position as a student and project manager to participant in a separate community-based project with Cultural Strategist, Rashida Chase and consultant Randolph Belle with the Black Arts Movement and Business District in Oakland, CA and oversee and quality-test the students’ work in class.
UC Berkeley students Sara Landsberg (UCB ‘26) and Nicola Noriega (MUD ‘26) introducing their initial idea for the scenario-based card game in class at Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, Apr 20, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
The students closed out the course with a final presentation giving an overview of their project and its process at UC Berkeley on Monday, May 11. Canal Alliance’s CivicSpark Fellow and Assistant Planner, Nicole Aguilera, were in attendance. Other faculty from the Urban Design department and visitors such as PlaceIt! founder and East LA-based urban planner James Rojas were also present.
UC Berkeley student Nicola Noriega (MUD ‘26) at Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, May 11, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
PlaceIt! Founder James Rojas (center right) giving feedback to UC Berkeley students Sara Landsberg (UCB ‘26) and Nicola Noriega (MUD ‘26) at Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., on Monday, May 11, 2026 (Daisy Alvarez/Canal Alliance).
With an initial design under our belts and a community-engagement game at the ready, Canal Alliance aims to leverage the students’ work and use it as a starting point for future considerations of the Canal Community Garden. When the funding and partnerships align, rather than starting from zero, the community organization, agency, or local government that ends up overseeing the garden will be better prepared to tackle the Community Garden.
UC Berkeley students’ proposed rendering of a re-imagined Canal Community Garden (Nicola Noreiga & Sara Landsberg/Canal Alliance). This rendering was presented at an NCNF Consejo meeting at Canal Alliance’s HQ in San Rafael, Calif, on Thur, March 28, 2026.
UC Berkeley students’ scenario-based card game. Each category has five options for residents to mix-and-match (Nicola Noreiga & Sara Landsberg/Canal Alliance). The card game was presented at an NCNF Consejo meeting at Canal Alliance’s HQ in San Rafael, Calif, on Thur, March 28, 2026.