Los Angeles was built imperfectly, at an imperfect time. Now it is trying to reinvent itself. Into what?
That’s Topic A for authors Frances Anderton (Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles) and Josh Stephens (The Urban Mystique) when they sit down to talk about Los Angeles, community and urbanity today – from the house to the megalopolis.
As “home” moves from the suburbs to thoroughfares and backyards, Frances considers how to sustain the region’s vaunted easy living – by adapting LA’s legacy of innovative, bucolic and socially centered multifamily housing. Meanwhile, Josh tries to make sense of the cultural, political and real estate interests that make “shoehorning a new city into the old” so frustrating, and so fascinating.
They will take on the struggles over housing, the clash of scales that shape LA’s cityscape, the arterial development that offers the chance for enlivened streets, and the “zoning, floor-to-air ratios, density, NIMBY-ism, YIMBY-ism and all manner of arcane, acronym-laden planning ideas” that, in Josh’s words, shape our idiosyncratic Southland.
The event will open with refreshments and viewing of Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip Hop Architecture, an exhibition co-presented by Helms Bakery District, SoCal NOMA and A+D Museum.
An Evening of Urbanism:
Frances Anderton & Josh Stephens
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Helms Design Center
RSVP required – go to westsideurbanforum.com
