The Los Angeles '2 Percent Strategy'

It's ironic that Los Angeles -- a city 'maligned as traffic-choked and strip-malled' -- is emerging as a model for sustainable urban design by focusing development on just 2% of the city's land.

1 minute read

September 25, 2005, 5:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"It's ironic that Los Angeles, a city that's maligned as traffic-choked and strip-malled and pilloried as the poster city for smog and sprawl, is emerging as one of the countryâ€™s premier laboratories for sustainable planning and design. Under the pressures of growth, traffic, and shifting demographics, the metropolis is undergoing a metamorphosis, becoming denser and reorganizing itself around its many centers and transportation corridors.

... Here in Southern California, the place that practically invented sprawl, SCAG's 83-member Regional Council agreed upon what it calls the '2 Percent Strategy,' which directs all new development and population growth (an estimated six million more people by 2030) onto just 2 percent of the land."

FULL STORY: Designer Air

Saturday, September 24, 2005 in LA Weekly

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