What if the Pacific were a new culture, different from the Atlantic cultures, a new way of understanding our place in the world? What if the countries and people that live by this grand lake thought of themselves as a family? This almost seems hopelessly naïve, but if we are able to imagine it, it is then possible. Could we be at the door of a culture for the celebration of our gifts and diversity? I believe so: we live in a place unmatched in the diversity of nature, by our overflowing rich cultures and all their unique ways of celebrating life. —James Hubbell

The Pacific Rim Park Project organization designs and builds friendship parks around the Pacific Rim. It is a way to bridge cultures, establish new connections, and help define an emergent Pacific Rim community. Within each park is a central pearl element in its design. In contrast to a “ring of fire,” we envision the Pacific draped with a “string of pearls.”

The parks are designed and built by predominately by architecture students under the supervision of leading artists, architects, builders and planners. The students come from cities around the Pacific Rim. They transcend their language and cultural differences through a shared vision to design and build a park within a time frame of just 30 days. After a new park is completed, it is given as a gift to the citizens of the Pacific and to the sponsoring organization or institution in the host city. All parks are for the public, and are directly connected to the Pacific Ocean.

The parks that have been created over the past 20 years — Soil & Soul in Vladivostok, Pearl of the Pacific in San Diego, Entre Corazon Y Mar in Tijuana, Salinlahi in Puerto Princesa, Stepping Stones of the Pacific in Jeju, Pacific Birth in Kaohsiung, and Tides Park in Yantai— are a way of exploring an imaginative vision of a new consciousness waiting to be born. Founded by James Hubbell, Pacific Rim Park is a project of the Ilan-Lael Foundation (ILF) a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization based in Santa Ysabel, California.