As the central character in the Broadway musical “If/Then,” currently on a national tour that begins in California, Elizabeth Vaughan may be the most famous urban planner in the country.
Mobility Plan Nudges Los Angeles Towards New Transportation Modes
The City of Los Angeles has, finally, formulated an ambitious vision — some say too ambitious — to redefine nearly every facet of mobility in the city.
Book Review: Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change
Tactical urbanism’s entry into the mainstream comes in the form of the enthusiastic volume Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change.
Los Angeles Metro Tackles First Mile, Last Mile Problem
The challenge Metro now faces – on a scale arguably larger than that of any other major city – is of getting riders to and from its trains and buses.
Cities Seize Chances to Avoid CEQA Review through Voter Initiatives
In the cities of Carson and Inglewood, competing sponsors of stadium proposals are employing, simultaneously, a newly legitimized tactic to exempt their projects from review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Pasadena Ushers in Era of VMT Metrics
The City of Pasadena implemented metrics that measure projects’ impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act in terms of vehicle miles traveled rather than level of service.
California Cities and the Innovation Economy: Q&A with Enrico Moretti
In his recent book The New Geography of Jobs, Enrico Moretti, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, explains how cities promote innovation and, importantly, how innovation affects cities’ economies.
A Vivid Warning for Coastal Cities
Sink or Swim was curated by Frances Anderton, known locally for hosting KCRW public radio’s DnA: Design & Architecture show. She spoke with CP&DR’s Josh Stephens.
CEQA: The Cause of All Problems in California
Somehow, among all the laws, regulations, micro-, macro-, and global economic trends that impact on and emanate from our state, the overriding cause of California’s malaise is — wait for it — CEQA.
Sprawl Depends on More Than Just Density
Density in L.A. presents an opportunity, and a tremendous one at that. It’s an opportunity to take all the people, buildings, capital, and spirit that are crammed in here at 6,100 people to the square mile and figure out how to design our buildings, transportation network, public spaces, and civic life in a way that makes the most of what we have.
Los Angeles’ Slow Burn
For some urbanists in Los Angeles’ smart growth crowd, the only thing better than the destruction of one faux-Italian megablock apartment complex would be the destruction of four faux-Italian megablock apartment complexes.
Not All NIMBYs Are Alike
The ethics of NIMBYism depend largely on the kind of environment that you’re trying to save.
Slow Train to Los Angeles: Book Review of ‘Railtown’
Elkind could have gone down many spur tracks, into grand discussions of the feasibility of rail and lofty, ongoing debates about quality of life, cosmopolitanism, public subsidies, and transportation economics. He does not.
Smart Growth Literature Hits a Cul-du-Sac
Where is Robert Bruegemann when you need him?
History of Future Cities
Brook contends that the four cities were not built to celebrate their respective cultures or to build indigenous economies but rather to establish beachheads of western modernity on incongruous and otherwise backwards soils.
Beware the ‘Density Cult’
Joel Kotkin, Los Angeles-based urban theorist and persistent critic of downtown revitalization, would have you believe that advocates of smart growth. . . all want to turn their cities into putrid slums.
California Cities Desire Streetcars
While the state plans for its proposed high-speed rail network, a raft of California cities are pursuing a more twee type of rail travel.