The land beneath Foster City was once San Francisco Bay. A system of levees and fill created the buildable terrain in the mid-20th century, and Foster's development plan organized the reclaimed land around a series of interconnected lagoons that serve both aesthetic and drainage functions. The lagoons give Foster City its distinctive character -- a suburban community where many homes back onto water, where small boats are moored behind backyards, and where the flatness of the terrain reflects its artificial origin.

Foster City's master plan included everything: residential neighborhoods organized by housing type, commercial centers at strategic intersections, parks distributed throughout the city, and a school system sized to the projected population. The result is a community that functions with remarkable efficiency but can feel somewhat uniform to visitors expecting the organic variety of older cities. The streets are wide, the landscaping is maintained, and the lagoons provide a consistent visual amenity.

Foster City's location between San Francisco and Silicon Valley has made it attractive to technology companies and their employees. The city's relatively newer housing stock and planned infrastructure provide amenities that older Peninsula communities cannot match. Visa, Gilead Sciences, and other major companies maintain offices here. The city represents one version of Bay Area life: engineered, efficient, and comfortable, built on land that humans created from water.