Los Angeles
L.A. Law Exempts Affordable Housing From Time-Consuming Review Process
Affordable housing and other qualifying projects will no longer be subject to Site Plan Review under a law signed by the city’s mayor last week.
L.A. Metro Launches Fare Capping Program
Transit fares will be capped at $5 per day for all riders who pay with TAP cards, whether or not they have weekly or monthly passes.
L.A. Approves ‘Park Block’ Program
Inspired by Barcelona’s superblocks, the program aims to limit car traffic in small areas to improve safety and create new park spaces.
Group Urges L.A. to Build Housing on Vacant Lots
A survey of city-owned vacant lots identifies properties that could be developed into affordable housing or shelter.
Newly Opened Regional Connector Redefines Light Rail Transit in Los Angeles
Three rail lines have become two rail lines in Los Angeles, providing one-seat rides from four corners of Los Angeles County.
L.A. Metro Pushes for More Freeway Expansion Funds
After the last expansion project, traffic on I-405 only got worse. Metro wants to try again.
Enforcing Housing Discrimination Laws Falls Largely on Tenants, Nonprofits
With few enforcement mechanisms even in cities that have bans on source-of-income discrimination on the books, it’s up to nonprofit lawyers and tenants to sue landlords for retribution.
Congestion Pricing Could Be Coming to L.A.
The infamously car-centric city is weighing a proposed congestion pricing pilot program to reduce traffic and encourage public transit use.
Los Angeles Reveals New Citywide Adaptive Reuse Proposal
An adaptive reuse ordinance limited to the city’s downtown core helped create roughly 12,000 units of new housing.
Well Intended Housing Tax Could Wreak Havoc in L.A.
A new transfer tax that intends to fund affordable housing might end up crushing Los Angeles's multifamily market—at exactly the wrong time.
Los Angeles Finalizing Three Long-Awaited Community Plan Updates
Los Angeles is poised to approve a trio of long-planned zoning code updates—for the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Downtown, and Hollywood—as the first test cases for a new citywide zoning code update known as re:code LA.
Opinion: To Improve Transit Safety, Boost Ridership
Research links high ridership levels with lower crime, signaling that, rather than introducing new security measures, transit agencies should focus on bringing riders back to their systems.
Bipartisan Lawmakers Support L.A.-to-Vegas Train
Legislators from California and Nevada are calling on Secretary Buttigieg to support a private effort to build a high-speed rail line between Southern California and Las Vegas.
Boba as a Symbol of Identity and Culture
The Chinese American Museum in L.A. currently features an exhibit exploring the drink’s journey from the cassava root in South America, to the tapioca balls in the Taiwanese confection, and back to the U.S. as a symbol of Asian American identity.
Eviction Protections Expire in Los Angeles County as Evictions Rise Around the U.S.
L.A.’s pandemic-era renter protections are credited with stabilizing homelessness in the region, but they ended at the end of March. Meanwhile, evictions are on the upswing around the country, led by L.A.’s neighbor to the east, Las Vegas.
The Deepening Transit Crisis: L.A. Times Reports Drug Use on Transit
An article by the L.A. Times earlier this week has raised the temperature of the debate about drug users and crime on rail transit. Concerns about public safety on transit are a common symptom of post-pandemic transit around the country.
Study: L.A.’s Wealthier Residents ‘Export’ Air Pollution to Poorer Neighborhoods
Residents of Los Angeles who drive less are exposed to higher rates of air pollution due to policies that have encouraged commuting through low-income neighborhoods.
Financial Dire Straights for L.A.’s Skid Row Housing Trust
Terrible news about the financial situation at one of L.A.’s most prominent homeless service providers broke earlier this month.
Extreme Heat Responsible for Growing Death Rates Among Unhoused People
Extreme heat events like the ‘heat dome’ that baked Southern California last summer kill a disproportionate number of people experiencing homelessness, who have fewer resources to protect themselves from the scorching sun.
New All-Affordable Zone Proposed for L.A.’s Skid Row
A Los Angeles Times editorial argues that Skid Row’s future should learn from the mistakes of the past.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
