Part Seven, Eight, and Nine

What is Being Done Now to Spare Animal Habitats
The Endangered Habitats League (EHL) is an organization established to instill widespread growth management, resource protection, and efficient patterns of development state-wide. At the same time, the EHL has numerous initiatives in progress in the Inland Empire, San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties to help protect the environment from development.
An ambitious Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan created by the County of Riverside is designed to protect more than 150,000 acres of pristine natural habitats. This project will ensure proper completion of protection plans and ultimately help to subsidize the protection of local and natural resources. This attempt to secure a stabilization of ecosystems will help to ward off further development in Greater Los Angeles. There is more being done to protect the wildlife from sprawl and it is helping to change the look of the landscape in regions impacted by sprawl. EHL, again within Riverside County, has made “compact Community Centers with ‘Transit Oases’ centerpieces of Riverside County's visionary Integrated Project, which combines land use, transportation and habitat planning.” (Endangered Habitats League) Not only does this planning approach benefit the lifestyles of people, it lessens the use of gas and cars, which in turn means fewer pollutants in the air due to sprawl. A collaborative effort in the Inland Empire is helping to secure a better ecosystem.

With the efforts of EHL in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the Nature Reserve of Orange County is able to make progress in connecting the coastal areas to the riparian foothill community to that of the Los Angeles National Forest. This process of connecting rural landscapes and natural ecosystems allowed the Los Angeles LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) in 2005 to support the necessary litigation to help save critical wildlife corridors from development. (Endangered Habitats League) Also in Orange County, EHL formed “The Heart and Soul Coalition” to save vital portions of the historic 23,000-acre Rancho Mission Viejo, along with other sensitive areas. Collective agreements with landowners and developers allowed for ongoing ranching and future habitat restoration.

In northern Los Angeles County, EHL is working with other organizations to protect Tejon Ranch, where development threatens one of California’s most important landscapes. Wherever the Los Angeles landscape is being threatened by humans and ongoing development, EHL and other environmental organizations are there to combat sprawl and to protect wildlife communities.

Solutions to an Acute Problem
There are many solutions to harness sprawl in more environmentally conscious ways. For example, the city of Portland is at the forefront of sprawl control, green space, and sustainable design. Portland provides examples of what a city should be to keep its people in an urban area. Its well structured grid of streets and parks throughout its urban center show why Portland is able to keep people continually interested in remaining in the city. In order to encourage people to remain in cities across the United States, “at least 38 states have passed laws creating incentives for more compact development.” (Miller 103) For compact development around urban centers, it is necessary to designate an area or perimeter confining urban growth; another name for that is “Smart Growth.” Portland is a leader in “Smart Growth” which in 1973 was required to draw an urban-growth boundary around its metropolitan core to discourage dense development outside the line. “Then Portland enacted the Metro 2040 Growth Concept, a municipal document outlining how, and where, the region plans to grow into the middle of the twenty-first century, specifically developing mixed-use centers.” (Miller 100) Portland packs its urban development all within a regulated boundary and has achieved successful planning for the future. Efforts by Portland’s city government to secure regulation of urban growth and developing city-wide plans is reflected in similar efforts by the Los Angeles’ city government, as a “green” movement has swept across southern California. There are significant anti-sprawl plans currently slated for implementation in Los Angeles city’s government. Los Angeles is slowly trying to change its image as the epitome of sprawl. In October of 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a “bill that will for the first time allow the state to use its transportation funds to reward plans that provide for housing near job centers and transit corridors and that slow the advance of urban sprawl.” (Wedner, Los Angeles Times) Essentially the bill is proposing more urban development in connection with transit-oriented development, in order to reduce the use of the automobile. The bill will also provide incentives to developers for using sustainable strategies in building high-density in transit-oriented development.

While not in the form of legislation, a concept developed by two Vancouver-based architects is encouraging for the future of urban smart growth that minimizes sprawl. Downtown Los Angeles has numerous skyscrapers amidst little open space in a concrete jungle, but one can envision the possibility of continuing the vertical growth pattern. This would relieve stress horizontally allowing for some areas to be used for urban renewal. It would make sense because it increases the density of downtown Los Angeles while increasing the amount of public space, thus creating a greater amount of land per resident in Los Angeles. Proposed by Mari Fujita and Matthew Soules of the University of British Columbia School of Architecture the idea is called EcoMetropolitanism. (Weder, The Tyee) It essentially states that America should build vertically in urban areas to relieve stress on our city perimeters that eats away at the environment. Bringing nature back into the urban centers of Los Angeles gives people the proximity to nature that they need. Just as nature is a necessity to social well-being, cities provide invaluable resources to lifestyles and a laboratory for innovative ideas. Cities have been in a battle between favoring sprawl over density and conformity over difference. Los Angeles is combating this problem with new sustainable urban development. “The Environmental Protection Agency says the city has the nation's most Energy Star buildings, which use at least 35 percent less energy than average buildings.” (Vincent, Los Angeles Times) EPA spokeswoman Maura Beard mentioned that "California often leads the country in being progressive in looking at the environment and looking at what they can do." An interesting notion is that most of the cities recognized last year by the EPA for energy efficient buildings were cities with significant sprawl occurring. These cities are trying to curb the effects of overgrown urban centers and suburban developments by incorporating innovative technology that in the long run helps the environment and potential growth of the cities. The use of government provided tax breaks or incentive can help in “[b]reaking the cycle of subsidies [to] help us curb suburban sprawl while also restraining population growth.” (Miller 163) Offering tax breaks and incentives was beneficial back in the mid-1950s to help pay off the war. Tax breaks continue to be a useful tool in spreading “Smart Growth” planning and development to create more innovative cities.

Conclusion
Los Angeles is a city ripe with opportunity to make beneficial changes to its landscape. People in Los Angeles are increasingly willing to do what is necessary to help improve the image of the city. This trend would help get the public behind an idea to change the landscape for the future of Los Angeles. When the future is contemplated, it is usually filled with robots, flying cars, and unattractive utopian outfits, but in twenty-five years Los Angeles will hopefully be the leader in environmental development. The city is already meeting regulations and enacting new ordinances to further the process of preserving what already exists and facilitating the best of what is yet to come. Sprawl and the tempering effect of the “green” movement have ignited a prodigious change on the Los Angeles landscape and across the United States. If the state and city government officials can follow through with their proposals of creating public spaces, improvements in public transportation, and the preservation of nature, then Los Angeles will become the epitome of environmentally-conscious sprawl.

As hard economic times currently continue to plague the country, sprawl may stall in many areas, but these downturns are cyclical. In essence, sprawl will once again reappear as one of our nation’s primary environmental problems as suburban developments continue to grow and populations move to cities that encroach on natural habitats. Residents of the Los Angeles area need to make tough decisions, ones that may significantly impact their lives and the environment, but those decisions would certainly benefit them and their families over the long run. No longer should people be thinking in a short-term manner, because society is a collective unit of individuals, all of whom can do something to make Los Angeles grow more efficiently, in a better, smarter, more nature-friendly way.

Bibliography
Burchell, Robert W., Anthony Downs, Barbara McCann, and Sahan Mukherji. Sprawl Costs: Economic Impacts of Unchecked Development. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2005.
Fleischer, Matthew. “Why L.A. is Park Poor.” L.A. Weekly 26 March 2008. 20 April 2008

Hinshaw, Mark L. True Urbanism: Living In and Near the Center. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2007.
Ingersoll, Richard. Sprawltown: Looking for the City on Its Edge. New York: Princeton
Architectural Press, 2006.
Squires, Gregory D., ed. Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences & Policy Responses. Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press, 2002.
Miller, Debra A., ed. Urban Sprawl. Michigan: Greenhaven Press, 2008.
Ohland, Gloria. “The Challenge of Growing Green.” Los Angeles Times 21 June 2007. 24 April 2008

Projects. 27 July 2006. Endangered Habitats League. 9 May 2009

Roosevelt, Margot. “Parks Under Utility Towers: Why Not?” Los Angeles Times 5 May 2009. 9 May 2009

“Suit Filed to Protect Endangered Species on Southern California National Forests; Forest Plans Disregard Rarest Plants and Animals.” Center for Biological Diversity. 5 March 2008. 24 April 2009.
Vincent, Roger. “L.A. tops rankings in energy efficiency.” Los Angeles Times 4 March 2009. 5 May 2009

Weder, Adele. “Is Your City Boring? Make It Wild.” The Tyee 19 January 2009.
18 March 2009

Wedner, Diane. “Governor Signs Bill That'll Help Slow Urban Sprawl.” Los Angeles Times 5 October 2008. 5 May 2009

Part Five and Six

Been busy since graduation. If anyone is actually reading this, here is the next section of my senior research.

Loss of Farmland
Given Los Angeles’ developed land, it is possible to believe that there are acres being developed at some alarming rates. “The American Farm Trust calculates that we are losing prime farmland at a rate of 46 acres per hour.” (Squires 26) Lawsuits by the state of California concerning planned development in vast open land have helped direct sprawl away from farmland. “About 3 million acres (roughly the size of Connecticut) of mainly forestland, pastureland, rangeland, and crop land are converted to urbanized landscapes annually.” (Miller 169) Where farmland is being lost, development is going in its place; strip malls and the single-family homes are eliminating prime farmland for non-essential development.

Wherever there is cheap land with stable soil, a housing development is likely to spring up in southern California. Because developments benefit from the same type of soil as crops, there is a constant conflict between retaining farmland or relinquishing it to suburban development. “Deep, well-drained soils and modest slopes are attractive for both farming and development.” On these areas of farmland, “according to the American Farmland Trust, counties with high levels of both prime farmland and development pressure account for 79 percent of our nation’s fruit, 69 percent of our vegetables, 52 percent of our dairy products, and over 25 percent of our meats and grains.” (Squires 26) With the continuation of development in the region, these new developments are being planned with the car in mind, which means bigger parking lots, larger roads, air pollution, the erosion of walkways, and the loss of nature. “The amount of developed land has quadrupled in 50 years, consuming a third of our most productive farmland and more than half of all wetlands (91% in California) and it's bumping up against the boundaries of national parks, forests and other protected lands.” (Ohland, Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles in recent years has seen suburbs of its city bump up against the Angeles National Forest and also threaten other national and state protected sites together with prime farmland.

Loss of Public Space in Los Angeles
As the people of southern California watch their natural landscape being changed by sprawl, it would be in the best interest of Los Angeles to begin designating more land and property for parks and public open space rather than residential or non mixed-use development. Over 31 million people call California home, while over 9 million people reside in Los Angeles County, and millions of others inhabit Orange County and Riverside County. Los Angeles “[h]as the smallest percentage of space devoted to parks in any major American city — a paltry 4 percent — most of it in the rough Santa Monica Mountains.” (Fleischer, L.A. Weekly) On top of that, “[n]o other Urbanized Area provided so little land per resident as Los Angeles (0.11 acre)…[and] despite accepting the densest living conditions in the country…the Los Angeles Area sprawled across another 394 square miles of orchards, farmland, natural habitat and other rural land.”
(Miller 184) The reason for this is the addition of 3.1 million residents from 1970 to 1990.
The population’s proximity to open space in Los Angeles is deficient; in crowded urban areas of “southern California, only one of four residents lives within 440 yards of a neighborhood playground or park [and] in low-income neighborhoods, 1000 people, on average, share a third of an acre of public open space.” In May of 2009, the California State Senate Assembly passed a bill that would allow parks to be built on utility right-of-way property. This bill, if signed into law, will bring green open space to areas of Los Angeles that lack access to parks, particularly in low-income areas. “AB 521 [is] [a] [bill] [that] will give thousands of kids places to play, and bring more green space to our urban areas." (Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times) Efforts like this ensure that there will be opportunities to transform land into something as an antidote to sprawl.

Part Four: Senior Research

Environmental Impact of Sprawl on Natural Habitats

Along with the effects of consumerism in Los Angeles, the most severe impact from sprawl is the deterioration of ecosystems. Thousands of plant and animal species, with nearly 300 plants and animals listed as endangered, inhabit the Los Angeles area. In the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley, and in the Santa Monica Mountains and beyond are 3.5 million acres of coast, foothill, mountain, and high desert terrain, all sheltering 3,000 plant and animal species that occur no where else on Earth. (Center for Biological Diversity) These species are threatened by continuous urban and perimeter sprawl and it has been noted that there is not enough being done to protect southern California’s preserves and National Forests. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service do little to protect federally listed species and critical habitat from many harmful Forest Service activities, including roads, off-road vehicles, power lines, oil and gas, logging, and grazing.” (Center for Biological Diversity) As many environmental agencies as there are in California alone, it is hard to believe that “between 1997-2007, studies [have] suggested [that] both plant and animal species are dying at a rate not seen for millions of years.” (Miller 74) As studies show that animal and plant extinction is on the rise, it may be possible to connect the loss of natural habitats to sprawl.

Sprawl in southern California has caused the subdivision of land with the crisscross of roads and construction of buildings, forcing ecosystems to grow frail and divert animals to what little wild open space is left. The Santa Monica Freeway, also known as “The 10,” stretches from Santa Monica to the east coast in Florida. The portion of the 10 Freeway that bisects much of Los Angeles and eastward through the Inland Empire has imperiled many animals and natural habitats. “[A]nimals are being cut off and isolated...[T]hese animals need large, contiguous blocks of wild or semi-wild landscape, find themselves hemmed in by roads, golf courses and new neighborhoods.” (Miller 96) Even more telling is the fact that “[m]ore than one-third of the known species in the United States are considered in danger of extinction…[and] [s]prawl in California is [the] leading cause of species imperilment.” (Miller 168) With a number of plants and animals possibly lost due to sprawl, the ecological processes that occur in nature are being thrown into disorder, jeopardizing wildlife communities. Within the southern California landscape, the impediments that are created by humans and contribute so greatly to sprawl, redirect animals to unfamiliar ecosystems, and contribute to lower animal fertility rates, and possible extinction. The typical view of the American landscape is that its openness and vastness is such that it does not require any limitation on development. This view does not take into consideration the need for agricultural and recreational land and the need for open space to allow these animals, plants, microorganisms and other life forms to maintain natural systems and biological diversity.

You Go Low and I'll Go High

Today New York revealed their website for the High Line Park. The park is built on top of an old train line that runs above the city allowing for public access for long distances while not having to combat car traffic. This innovative idea will hopefully take off, making sure we utilize the space above us.

Its All About What You Consume: Next Section

Consumerism Redefined in Los Angeles
Factors affecting sprawl today, together with a great period of economic prosperity after WWII, helped cause sprawl to have a direct impact on the spending and consumption patterns of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles area’s excessive land development makes driving a must, especially in view of what is considered some of the poorest public transportation for a city of its size. The amount of drivers on the roads constitutes a considerable detriment to the environment and aggravates the effect that sprawl plays in southern California’s consumption of goods and food. This is because of the carbon emissions and other chemicals that are emitted into the air from driving cars. A significant portion of the energy cost of food production is spent on transporting food from harvest to market and for processing, packaging, and storage. This increases the likelihood of environmental damage to the landscape. Los Angeles’ sprawling nature exacerbates the pollution that is produced from transporting goods, hence the intense smog problem in the region. To mitigate this problem, many people can purchase locally grown, in-season, unprocessed food which would greatly reduce the need to expend as much energy in food production.

A prime example of excessive energy consumption can be found in Los Angeles:
“Suburban Los Angeles residents consume gas at a rate 12 times greater than citizens of Manhattan because of the spread-out development pattern…[S]prawling land use patterns in the United States requires more driving. This leads to the production of more greenhouse gases that fuel global warming, which in turn leads to changes in our very landscapes and even to the culture that is shaped by it.” (Squires 28)

Because of extraordinary consumption of goods in the United States, Americans contribute to draining the Earth of its resources faster than any country. “If the entire world were to consume resources at the same rate as the U.S., we would need three planets to satisfy the demand.” (Miller 45) Citizens of the United States are inordinate consumers of goods, food, and unfortunately vast amounts of natural resources. “U.S. drivers consume roughly 43 percent of the world’s gasoline to propel less than 5 percent of the world’s population.” (Miller 103) Staggering statistics such as those help put into perspective the damage the population of southern California is inflicting on the environment due to sprawl.

More effective means will need to be employed in certain areas of the United States in order to control sprawl. Given the growing population of and other western states, there will be continued influx of residents into the southern California region, further enhancing the need to find a solution to sprawl. “The fastest-growing states, regions, and counties are dominated by…the south and west regions [of] [the] [United States]. Together, the south and west will represent about 80 percent of future employment, population and income growth.” (Burchell 22) Looking at a map of the counties in the United States, there is a definite pattern of smaller counties being located on the east coast while larger counties occur on the west coast. Larger counties in the west have allowed sprawl to continue unabated, while east coast counties were not as affected by sprawl due to the advent of the automobile. We must also consider that the geographical size of the eastern states is much smaller than that of the western states. This size differential may explain why development is more structured and efficient on the east coast as opposed to the west. Furthermore, the eastern regions will not see nearly as much development in the next several decades as will the western and southern states. The latter areas will gain significant growth because of the available land, regardless of the price, causing further sprawl and disruption to the environment.

Next Two Paragraphs of Senior Research Paper

Defining Sprawl in Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles is viewed as the epitome of sprawl. That reputation began with events that occurred decades ago. Main elements of Los Angeles’ sprawl largely relate to World War II. Aspects of sprawl during this period include the following:
1. The automobile – A major American icon which provided an easy means for people to travel and made relocating to more rural locations possible. “Auto and truck travel have exploded in the United States since World War II. That explosion is the key force behind the energy consumption, air quality, and climate changes brought about by sprawl.” (Squires 24)
2. Freeway system – Mindful of the autobahn in Germany, President Eisenhower initiated a freeway system that was originally conceived for the military. This ultimately provided people the means to move freely, encouraging the construction of cookie-cutter homes and developments throughout the landscape.
3. Baby-boomers (Population increase) – Veterans returning from war wanted to settle down and raise a family. During this period in history, America saw a spike in births throughout the nation. The rise in population meant more homes, more roads, and more sprawl.
4. American suburban home – As personal and national wealth was on the rise during the 1950’s, families looked for affordable homes in suburbs outside of cities. Our government encouraged families to live in suburbs as a means to pay off war debts. (Miller 16)

These four elements in American history helped promote sprawl across the United States, with Los Angeles representing the more unconstructive side of that phenomenon.

Factors Influencing Sprawl Today
Three main reasons for sprawl today continue to be growing populations, increasing economic prosperity, and reliance on the automobile. Other features of sprawl include:
1. Leapfrog or scattered development – A form of development that is more inefficient use of land than sprawl. It skips over available land and claims large tracts for development. This process allows for cheaper land to be bought and developed, generally for a single purpose. The farther away the land is from major cities, the cheaper it will be, which is why leapfrog development is so appealing to developers.
2. Single-use development – A type of development that has a single purpose or use. Examples would be strip malls and single family suburban homes. On the other hand, an example of a development with multiple uses would be an apartment complex that has a parking garage, its living spaces, and a restaurant that serves the public.
3. Poor accessibility and automobile dependency – Dependency on automobiles has caused poor public accessibility to locations throughout Los Angeles and elsewhere in the United States. Existing public transportation does not allow for positive accessibility throughout a large and expansive developed landscape.
4. Fragmented open space between scattered developments – Land between developments causes zoning and regulation problems and turns the open areas into unsightly and unused space.
5. Lack of functional open space – Public space that does not meet the needs of its users. Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, for example, is usable, but the design and its users (generally homeless people) make it a poor functioning open space.
6. Lack of nearby conveniences – As developments are being pushed into more rural locations, the necessities of life are no longer conveniently located.
7. Increasing expenditures on infrastructure – As the population grows causing more sprawl, there will be an expected increase in expenditures by local governments.

Culmination of College

I have finished my senior research paper on how sprawl can effect our particular lifestyle habits and the pressure it puts on natural habitats and ecosystems in Los Angeles. Here is my introduction. Please enjoy. (Can't seem to get the whole paper up, if anyone is reading this at all, a little help would be appreciated.)

Sprawl L.A.: The Impact of Sprawl in Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles is the agglomeration of urbanized area throughout Los Angeles County. It is an amalgam of neighborhoods, municipalities, and unincorporated areas. A term for this urbanized growth is sprawl. As defined, sprawl is low-density dispersed development outside of urban city centers. The alterations to the landscape caused by sprawl have an effect on how people live, work, and use energy, but most importantly on the well-being of the environment. As Los Angeles continues to sprawl, it impacts the natural environment significantly, with accompanying deterioration to our ecosystems. California landscape can only suffer further harm if urban sprawl continues unabated. The objective of this research paper is to explore the deterioration of ecosystems resulting from sprawl and the harmful effects of lifestyle promoted by sprawl.

Santa Monica Civic Center: Mixed-Use Residential Maritime Park

These are perspectives of my recent LA 403 design class for the master plan of the Santa Monica Civic Center. I selected the area at the corner of Ocean, Colorado, and Main St.

Concerns of the project are:
1. Functionality (how paths work, buildings relating to other public spaces, etc.)
2. Connecting with the community, the public, the ocean
3. Using art to tell the maritime story of Santa Monica
4. Mixed-Use purposes
5. Continuing Santa Monica sustainability plans

Martha Schwartz has a Photo of Mine

Recently, I was approached by Martha Schwartz Partners in February to use a photo of mine of the Dublin Grand Canal Square. So my photo was used in a booth for the firm and its the one in the top right corner in black and white with the site's unique red poles.

Senior Thesis: Urban Sprawl and its Impact on the Environment and Consumerism

I am in the process of writing my research paper for my LA 465 class on the above topic. In about two weeks I will have a draft available and the final in three to four weeks. The paper covers those impacts mentioned before on Los Angeles specifically.

Eagle Rock Green Infrastructure Development

In my winter quarter of my final year at Cal Poly Pomona, our LA 402 studio was to design and formulate a story to tell through green infrastructure. I developed ideas of green design by recognizing that this area of Los Angeles is traffic riddled. Reasons being the lack of bike lanes, poor store fronts and social gathering spots, and the amount of car traffic that goes through the intersection of Eagle Rock Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. (has one of the highest influx of cars in LA County).

My design is for the streetscape of Eagle Rock Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. intersection, but stressing the fact that Colorado Blvd. would see the brunt of the design. The image below is of the streetscape of Colorado Blvd. looking east from Eagle Rock Blvd. and the accompanying plan view.

The median space contains light structures that recognize passing cars, which cause them to blink for a moment as cars move by. Once the light structure flashes based on the motion sensor within them, it will collect each moment as a form of energy to utilize in some manner.


My concept for the intersection of Eagle Rock Blvd. and Colorado Blvd. was to imply words that epitomizes my group's design and the story that I am trying to tell. I chose the following words and phrases: "Nature at Play" (my group's project name), "Community", "Energy", and " Eagle Rock". Below is the plan view of the intersection design.

The intention in the words help to unit at the center the idea of sustainability in a community willing and able to change to make a difference.