The semi-palindromic nature of the names Ella and Galle, while coincidental, are poignant nonetheless. They are two sides of the same coin. The question is whether that coin is a guilder, a pence, a rupee—or the almighty dollar.
The Transit Crisis Is Really A Housing Crisis
Los Angeles’ shortage of housing and shortage of high-density transit-friendly neighborhoods has run headlong into the obscene, bacchanalian overabundance of automobiles
Undoing the Legacy of Segregation in California
However integrated the United States may be today, Rothstein pointed out a damning truism: the country cannot de-segregate just because laws have changed.
The Opposite of Gentrification
If these communities are going to, at the same time, decry the invasion of newcomers and oppose most development, then they face but one option: they must promote development elsewhere.
Cannabis, Urbanism and Storefront Ethics
If we’re going to condemn one form of legal commerce on ethical grounds, we might as well take a look at all the others while we’re at it.
A Sermon for the Homeless
A recent conference hosted by the American Institute of Architects in Los Angeles shined a light on efforts to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles—and demonstrated just how much work must be done nationwide to solve this humanitarian crisis.
Churches, City Making, and the Sacking of Tbilisi by Global Architecture
I find myself speculating not just on the purpose of Tbilisi’s churches but indeed about the purpose of religion itself. Particularly the triumphalist version of religion that seeks not merely to venerate a deity and instill virtues but that also sees fit to impose itself on God’s creation.
Conquering Fears of Public Space on Halloween
The scariest thing about Halloween is that it illustrates just how un-neighborly many communities are and how averse to pedestrianism they are on the other 364 days of the year.
Battle Brews over ‘Bodega’ and Bodegas
Residents of California can be forgiven for wondering what a bodega is.
A Missed Lesson in the Heart of California
Kerman, Calif., teeters on the edge of Red and Blue, making it, paradoxically, an electoral microcosm of the country. And yet, with polarization and geographic sorting, it is near unique among American places.
Radical Left Burns Bridges amid Quest To Build Housing
Honesty and compromise remain admirable values and effective political tools — especially on the local level where policymakers, community members, and activists are literally rubbing elbows with each other.
L.A. Tower Reveals Downside of Skyscrapers
In a city that remains famously horizontal, it’s fun to get excited about something vertical.
How Photography Profoundly Reshaped Our Ideas About Cities
For all the primacy of the way we move through cities, we must also consider how photography changed the way we saw cities and, by extension, the ways we build and experience them.
Why Cities Should Back Off of Setbacks
For all their popularity, setbacks have little basis in engineering or architecture. They are simply regulatory whims.
It’s Time to Stop Demonization of Developers
Among the grandiose promises, half-truths, and outright whoppers that sponsors of Measure S proffered, one of the most consistent messages concerned the depravity of real estate developers.
Trump Raises Stakes For Urban Journalism
At an annual gathering of land use journalists, we came away with more questions than answers about how the Trump administration will treat cities.
Tech Windfall, Deportation Order Threaten to Snap Los Angeles in Half
Deportation is — to say the least — the most perverse way to solve a housing crisis.