The Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project aimed to engage San Diego residents in deciding the future of the OB pier, which had reached the end of its service life and needed to be demolished or rebuilt. Cook + Schmid conducted a two-year public outreach campaign to gather input, build consensus, and develop a community-driven pier design. Cook + Schmid placed particular focus on low-income Latino and Asian communities, who were frequent users of the pier but did not typically participate in public planning processes.

Employing public workshops, online engagement, surveys, pop-ups and in-language collateral, Cook + Schmid demonstrated widespread public support for rebuilding the pier and public input guided the design of a replacement pier. The project engaged over 5,000 survey participants and reached over 5,700 residents in person through pop-up events and community workshops.  Media coverage increased 583.3 percent, and a content analysis showed the tone shifted from bad news about the pier and its opposition, to excitement about a new pier and positive coverage about the design process.