Urban Design Studio Paves the Way For a Walkable Downtown

L.A.'s Community Redevelopment Agency and the Planning Department's Urban Design Studio have created draft design guidelines for downtown, to be adopted as a pilot program in the coming months. Informed by the neighborhood design principles of creating transportation choices and safe, shared streets, the Urban Design Studio is out to create a walkable downtown.

The Urban Design Studio is proposing that context sensitive street standards replace the single-purpose street classification system that isn't working for downtown. In other words, instead of widening roads which are not built at a pedestrian-scale and encourage fast-moving traffic, the Urban Design Studio is asking that streets be designed with:

o bike lanes

o curb extensions

o medians

o wider sidewalks (by setting buildings back from the street)

o enhanced sidewalks and crosswalks

o improved bus stops and street furniture

o trees

o landscaped parkways and medians

o street lights

The Urban Design Studio is helping the City of Los Angeles take a major step forward by halting the widening of roads that would hinder the creation of a walkable downtown. Our hope is that these guidelines will greatly reduce road widening in other parts of the city and in the end, create a more walkable L.A.