#densification

This is good: The area around the United Center is getting a multi-year upzone to create a high-density hub of mixed-use residential, retail and offices!

Here’s the current view and a rendering of the project by master planning firm RIOS. It’s replacing a bunch of surface parking lots, and it’ll be served by new stations on the Pink and Green lines. With luck, this will serve to spur further densification between this area and the Loop.

Calgary should do something exactly like this around the Saddledome (or whatever replaces it), because it’s a similar urban stadium surrounded by parking lots and the Stampede grounds which sit vacant most of the year - not the best use of productive urban land - cutting off access to the riverfront too. Ideally this would be combined with burying or traffic-calming MacLeod Trail which is a barrier to pedestrian access.

Pelargonium (tender geranium)

Beauty and the Beast

All the well loved and tended gardens and trees will be uprooted. Sure there will be a park but they won't keep thes plants.

I just stumbled upon an interview with Christopher Hawthorne (architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times) talking about a “third Los Angeles.” 

His argument is that the first Los Angeles ran from about 1880 to World War II, and was characterized by a form of urbanism that most of, today, do not associate with LA. It was a city of streetcars, innovative multi-family housing, and local landscapes.

The second Los Angeles was the second half of the 20th century. And it is the LA that probably comes to mind for most people when they think of LA. It is the city of freeways, single-family homes, and sprawl.

The third Los Angeles is the city’s most recent iteration and started sometime around 2000. Like many things in life, it is in some ways a return to the past: namely the first LA. It is about urban intensification, transit, and more drought resistant landscapes. It is a city that senses its geographic limits.

I like how he talks about some of the challenges associated with intensification and this third LA:

Ottawa Committee Rejects Urban Expansion as Cities Pivot Toward Density

A unanimous decision by Ottawa's planning committee to deny an urban boundary expansion in Stittsville reflects a global trend where infrastructure costs and land-use efficiency are prioritized over sprawl.

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Keep up with LAist. If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. A controversial housing bill that would pave the way for more apartment buildings near major bus stops and train and subway stations across urban California is one step closer to becoming law after…