Application #41
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Slogan: Unpave the past and Plant the Future of Los Angeles
Manifesto:
Los Angeles was not always meant to move at 70 miles per hour.
It was sold that way.
Once, this city imagined itself as a network of neighborhoods—connected by rail, stitched together by walkable streets, defined not by distance but by proximity to one another. It was, and still is, a mosaic of cultures—block by block, language by language, flavor by flavor. Then came a different vision, one paved in asphalt and profit. A vision that dismantled public transit, widened roads beyond reason, and quietly handed over the shape of the city to the automobile. This was not progress. It was a transaction. And we are still living with the consequences.
We inherited a city designed for throughput instead of togetherness. A place where time is lost in traffic, where air is traded for convenience, where public space has been eroded into lanes, lots, and leftovers. A place where isolation masquerades as mobility—and where the vibrant micro-communities that define Los Angeles are too often separated instead of connected.
But Los Angeles is not finished. It is unfinished.
And that is our opportunity.
The future of this city does not belong to the systems that constrained it. It belongs to the people who live here now—and to the cultures, traditions, and communities that give it life. A Los Angeles designed at the human scale is not a fantasy. It is a return. A correction. A rebalancing.
We can choose streets that invite walking instead of demanding speed. We can choose shade over glare, trees over concrete, and parks over parking. We can design neighborhoods where daily life unfolds within reach—where food, work, culture, and community are not destinations but surroundings. Where a short walk becomes an encounter: a shared meal, a conversation across languages, a moment of recognition between neighbors who might otherwise never meet.
We can build housing that serves people instead of speculation. For too long, the cost of living here has been shaped less by what communities need and more by what markets can extract—driving rents beyond reach and pushing out the very people who give this city its character. A more just Los Angeles recognizes that housing is not merely an asset, but a foundation for life. It insists that teachers, artists, families, service workers, and elders all deserve a place here—not as an exception, but as a baseline.
We can invest in transit that connects rather than divides—not just physically, but culturally. We can transform empty lots into shared gardens, turn corridors into greenways, and create public spaces that invite gathering, expression, and exchange. Spaces where the many identities of Los Angeles are not siloed, but seen, heard, and celebrated together.
Sustainability is not a feature—it is a foundation. It is clean air that does not have to be earned. It is infrastructure that works with the climate instead of against it. It is density that creates vitality, not congestion. It is resilience that comes from interdependence, from the strength of communities that know one another and show up for one another.
This is not about nostalgia. It is about agency.
The same city that was reshaped by coordinated interests can be reshaped again—this time by collective will. Policy can change. Priorities can shift. Streets can be redesigned. What once felt permanent can be reimagined.
But only if we decide that it should be.
The future Los Angeles is greener, closer, and more connected. It is a city where cultural richness is not something to pass by at speed, but something to experience, participate in, and protect. Where community is not incidental but intentional. Where design creates the conditions for exchange, for understanding, for belonging.
We are not stuck with what we were given.
We are responsible for what comes next.
And together, we can build a Los Angeles that reflects all of us—and remembers what cities are for.