Plans have been unveiled for a new state park near downtown Los Angeles, and though the plot is slated at 32 acres, many of the big-name architects presenting plans were not afraid to push the boundaries by a couple thousand percent.
Plans were released Saturday in Los Angeles for a new state park at the city's historic corn field site north of downtown. The plans vary widely in function and size (32 acres on the low end and more than 1,000 acres on the high end), but all seek to address the shortage of greenspace in the city.
"Proposals by Mia Lehrer+Associates, a Los Angeles firm, and San Francisco's Hargreaves Associates focus on sustainability, concentrated blasts of architectural innovation and links to surrounding neighborhoods and the banks of a restored river. By contrast, the design by the New York landscape firm Field Operations, working with architect Thom Mayne, calls for almost impossibly grand, macro-level thinking; it proposes a land swap that would build a new Dodger Stadium on the end of the park site nearest Chinatown, among other oversized features."
FULL STORY: Fielding dreams

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

San Antonio Remains Affordable as City Grows
The city’s active efforts to keep housing costs down through housing reforms and coordinated efforts among city agencies and developers have kept it one of the most affordable in the nation despite its rapid population growth.

What Forest Service Cuts Mean for Cities
U.S. Forest Service employees work on projects that have impacts far beyond remote, rural wilderness areas.

North Texas Transit Leaders Tout Benefits of TOD for Growing Region
At a summit focused on transit-oriented development, policymakers discussed how North Texas’ expanded light rail system can serve as a tool for economic growth.
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