Los Angeles Recruits 'Dense' Talent At AIA Convention

"How we design and construct our environment matters, especially today, when we no longer have a wide-open stage on which to enact our vision. We have reached the outer boundaries of our sprawl and now must turn back, turn inward, building up and taking advantage of infill opportunities."

"And this is the promise of elegant density: To walk beyond your front door, your driveway, your parking garage, to experience your neighborhood on your feet, and to become an integral part of its vibrancy. Every project we build must reflect this ideal -- we must enhance how people live in, move through, and become part of their communities. We must take advantage of the fact that this is the most diverse city in the world and use that diversity to connect to one another, to create distinct neighborhoods with distinct flavors."

"We must intensify this exchange of ideas as we face unprecedented population growth. I am looking to you -- our design community -- to be the confident voice for creativity, for how we accommodate this continuing growth into our built-out environment. It's been said many times that L.A. has more great architects and designers and artists than any other place in the world. Yet, they don’t work in L.A. much. They go to other places. I've come today to say, come back home. And no matter where you may live, come to Los Angeles."