Menlo Park is a peaceful, walkable suburb about an hour south of San Francisco that borders Stanford. I have lived there my whole life, and it has greatly influenced the person I’ve become. The community and start-up business culture have served as a bubble within which I’ve been exposed to the value of education and hard work. Menlo Park is mostly suburban, with a quiet, one street downtown that has an intimate small-town feel. Ironically, Menlo Park is now home to one of the largest companies in the world: Facebook.
Facebook moved to the outer boundary of Menlo Park in 2011, when I was 8, and its stature and size changed the profile of the city while leaving the small, intimate downtown intact. Facebook has grown to 250 acres and has brought the city into the international spotlight. There has been little to no additional congestion or traffic within the core city area, and the feel of the downtown and popular areas has not changed; even within the campus there is still a peaceful laid back feel without much traffic. Just minutes away from where I live, Facebook inspires me to learn more about the technologies surrounding me all across Silicon Valley.
As I learn about City Planning and the intricacies of designing cities, I find it incredible to have a small quiet suburban town that also includes the ever-expanding headquarters of this multi-national force. I find it particularly fascinating that they are able to mostly avoid impacting the quiet feel and smooth functioning of traffic in the city core. I attribute this to the fact that Facebook was sited and developed so as to be largely self-sufficient, creating housing, eating and recreation opportunities within its campus, so that the many people it brings to town do not bleed into the surrounding area and has had little effect overall on the surrounding area. Ordinarily, when large companies set up in a new place and bring in thousands of employees, it creates a bustle, increases traffic within the town and results in a radically changed atmosphere. An example being, only 15 minutes away from where I live, is Apple’s campus which totally took over the surrounding area and neighborhood and made it very difficult on the town. However, Facebook has not had this effect on Menlo Park and shows that large companies can coexist with peaceful suburban areas with adequate urban planning.
Thoughtful urban planning is an important component in supporting the needs of businesses that provide jobs and taxes to support the community, while preserving the character of the community. Urban planners can influence where and how businesses are built-out to complement rather than harm the quality of life in the city. My community matters to me, and that is one reason that being an Urban Planner is so appealing - you have the ability to impact not just the layout of a city, but the way it functions and flows, for the good of the community.
“Menlo Park - Illuminate Properties.” Illuminate Properties, 10 Dec. 2021, https://www.illuminateproperties.com/community-details/menlo-park/.