Los Angeles: APA boosterism

Los Angeles is in transformation! We all want to believe it, but is it really true. According to the American Planning Association, it is very true. They decided to include an article in the January issue of Planning touting all the great changes in LA lately.

I'm a skeptic. After all, this is a city that was founded on sprawling, low-density, suburban design. It's not like other cities (such as our very own Chicago), which started as dense industrial clusters only to transform into sprawling metropolises in the 50s and 60s. I have faith that Chicago can become more transit-oriented and walkable because it once was. LA is a different story.

The article mentions that single-family home construction is now nearly nonexistent. I'm not sure if that signals a cultural shift or merely tells us that they've run out of room for that type of development. They also mention the unprecedented subway construction boom in recent years in LA. I will admit that it's intriguing that a public referendum, calling for a tax hike to fund subway construction, passed with a two-thirds majority in the county. I think that means Angelenos are committed to public transit. At the same time, I'm not sure if the money is going to useful projects or shiny new subway lines that nobody uses but are good for publicity. I've heard a little bit of both.

So the APA decided to locate its national conference in a city that is the antithesis of everything urban planners work for. Now they have to justify it with articles like this proclaiming all the great changes in LA. Much of it may be true, and only time will tell. Of course, I'll still go to the conference and check it out for myself. We all need to keep an eye on LA in the coming years to see if any of these new trends bring about real change. If nothing else, this type of good old-fashioned boosterism might build some support for the planning revolution Southern California so desperately needs.