Welcome to The AIA/LA Design Advocate

Welcome to the AIA/LA Design Advocate.  

This bi-weekly blog will serve as an open forum to update the AIA/LA membership (and the architecture & design community in general) about imminent & pending legislation at the local, regional, state and federal level that may have impact on the natural & built environment of the City of Los Angeles and/or impact your profession as an architect or firm principal.

Ideas for subjects to track, areas to focus on and topics to further research can be sent to Will Wright, Director of Government & Public Affairs for AIA Los Angeles at the contact information below.

Will Wright

Director of Government & Public Affairs

AIA Los Angeles

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800

Los Angeles, CA  90010

will@aialosangeles.org

(213) 639-0777

Streets: Utilitarian Corridors or Livable Public Space

A great and inspiring video about what they've done in NYC:

http://local.theoildrum.com/node/4711

Streets: Utilitarian Corridors or Livable Public Space

Posted by Glenn on October 30, 2008 - 9:11am in The Oil Drum: Local
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: livable, new york, public space, streets, urban [list all t

In just the last year and a half, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has begun a dramatic transformation of New York City's streets from mere utilitarian corridors into livable public spaces.

This is no happy accident. It took advocates (and bloggers!) years and years of hard work to make this possible. Only three years ago Mayor Bloomberg proudly stated that traffic was a side effect of the city's growing vitality. Now he's leading the charge on putting into place practical ideas that make the city less dependent on automobiles, more livable, more desirable and inviting to new families that would otherwise choose to live in exurban developments.

This may seem like just a feel good story about something that just increases quality of life for some people in NYC that doesn't have much implication for the rest of the country, but consider this: As the Commissioner states, NYC is planning on a million new residents over the next 20 years. Think about how many square miles of suburban/exurban development that will save for farming. Think about how many less cars will be produced if those million people come to NYC. What if every city across the country was more desirable place to live, work, play, shop than their surrounding suburbs?

As we think about our future, we will need to be very conscious of how we can make low energy consumption urban areas more desirable than high energy consumption suburban areas.

____________________________________

Will Wright,  Director of Government & Public Affairs

American Institute of Architects / Los Angeles

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

(213) 639-0777 phone | (213)639-0767 fax

will@aialosangeles.org | www.aialosangeles.org

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.

http://cityplanning.lacity.org/StaffRpt/InitialRpts/CPC-2008-4482.pdf

____________________________________

Will Wright,  Director of Government & Public Affairs

American Institute of Architects / Los Angeles

3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010

(213) 639-0777 phone | (213)639-0767 fax

will@aialosangeles.org | www.aialosangeles.org

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.