Tesoro Viejo Goes to Class

What does it take to plan and implement a master-planned community? A group of City and Urban Planning students from Fresno State University recently found out. The twelve budding planners and developers have been using Tesoro Viejo as an urban planning case study, visiting the community seven times over the course of the semester for ‘boots on the ground immersion.’

“The case study class was by far the most unique class I’ve taken at Fresno State,” said city and urban planning student Eileen Mitchell. “We experienced the development of Tesoro Viejo first-hand and learned about concepts you wouldn’t have the pleasure of learning about in a traditional classroom setting.”

This is the first time Case Study in Urban Planning: Tesoro Viejo has been offered at the university, which recently reinstated City and Regional Planning as a degree option after a 25 year hiatus. On the ground at Tesoro Viejo, case study students learned from experts in the field, including Madera County officials and industry leaders representing the fields of biology, land preservation, infrastructure design, resource agency permitting, construction management and housing trends. Observing the ongoing development and posing questions, students got a feel for the real-world work bringing a new community to life. For Eileen Mitchell, at the very least, it made a profound impact. “I learned about the details and intricacies of the process that I could likely be helping to accomplish on a project one day.”