November 27, 2006

Price Tags 89 – West LA, Millennium Park

Price Tags is my electronic magazine, mainly devoted to things urban.  Though I have a special attachment to Vancouver, I’ve been trying to feature the cities I’m fortunate to be able to visit.
This issue features an insight that, frankly, wasn’t mine.  At a conference in West Hollywood, Gregory Tung (of Freedman Tung & Bottomley) noted that LA is shrinking.  As the transportaton corridors congest, people focus more on their own part of the city.  Less sprawl, more urban village.
See how Vancouver and Burnaby would fit into West LA here.

Also, pictures of Millennium Park.  Chicago’s new public place lives up to the hype.
So after checking it out, here’s a place to add some comments.  I don’t get all that much written feedback from readers, so take advantage of this link.

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  1. Great pictures of Millenium Park! Truly, that’s an example of an exceptional urban project that had all of the right support and leadership come together to accomplish something amazing. My spouse and I were fortunate enough to see some of its evolution over the years since his parents live nearby in the 600 block of East Randolph – our visits to Chicago from Madison and Sacramento have been much enriched by the completed park as well as the various stages of construction that we witnessed over the years.
    Now if only Sacramento could somehow get its act together and accomplish something even 1/36th as wonderful in the Railyards or Docks Area or R Street Corridor…

  2. The shots of the LA arterials look a lot like the arterials in Vancouver (also former streetcar routes)- but the West LA areas seem to be more densely developed (including more continuous retail) than comparable areas in Vancouver. The LA population base during its streetcar era was probably much larger than Vancouver’s population base during its streetcar era, leading to the differences in built density.
    So I wouldn’t really say that West LA is becoming more like Vancouver (at least not in terms of density (but maybe in terms of bike infrastucture)).
    In terms of density, maybe arterial areas of West LA are becoming more like downtown Vancouver, in which case I’d say West LA is a step ahead of Vancouver. The areas surrounding Vancouver’s arterials (i.e. a block away) are still relatively low density. South Granville is probably the exception, as it spreads beyond the arterial itself. But Vancouver is working on increasing density outside the core.

  3. The shots of the LA arterials look a lot like the arterials in Vancouver (also former streetcar routes)- but the West LA areas seem to be more densely developed (including more continuous retail) than comparable areas in Vancouver. The LA population base during its streetcar era was probably much larger than Vancouver’s population base during its streetcar era, leading to the differences in built density.
    So I wouldn’t really say that West LA is becoming more like Vancouver (at least not in terms of density (but maybe in terms of bike infrastucture)).
    In terms of density, maybe arterial areas of West LA are becoming more like downtown Vancouver (as opposed to arterial area versus arterial area), in which case I’d say West LA is a step ahead of Vancouver. The areas surrounding Vancouver’s arterials (i.e. a block away) are still relatively low density. South Granville is probably the exception, as it spreads beyond the arterial itself. But Vancouver is working on increasing density outside the core.

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