LOS ANGELES

BY RAFIA AND ATTIYA YAY

Los Angeles – A Mega City

• A Mega city is a city which has a population of 8+ million.

• Los Angeles County is the world’s 18th largest economy.

• With about 200,000 small business, Los Angeles is the entrepreneurial capital of the world. That’s nearly twice as many small businesses as can be found in any other region of the United States.

• LA has 1.2 million college graduates in a labour force of 7.4 million.

Why did Los Angeles, the mega city develop?

• The arrival of the railway in 1876 stimulated rapid growth, with half a million people arriving within 40 years.

• The discovery of oil, the opening of a ford car plant and numerous manufacturing industries meant continued growth.

• The aircraft industry took advantage of the good weather for civil and military test flights and production sites.

• The development of the film industry in Hollywood in the 1920’s and 1930s was a further factor in los Angeles’ growth.

• By7 the 1970s, Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the USA, and by 2000 over 14 million people lived in the Metropolitan District, it has an average population density of 3000 per km2.

Social problems

• Housing shortages – caused by high rates of migration urban tension – due to ethnic differences. In 1965 and 1992 there were serious race riots in the run-down inner city districts of Watts, South Central and Compton.

• Health and education – many migrants are excluded because they cannot afford to pay for these services.

• Water – piped in from 350km away causes disputes with neighbouring counties and states.

Economic problems

• Work – a changing economy (deindustrialisation) has resulted in the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Replacement jobs are often low paid.

Environmental problems

• Transport – there are 10 million vehicles on the road, only 30% of people use public transport.

• Waste – 24 million people produce 50000 tonnes of waste every day.

• Massive energy use – as we can see from the beautiful photo below.

PLAN’s (Progressive Los Angeles Network) proposals for a sustainable city

Social –• Provide community benefits such as childcare and affordable housing.• Require developers to build affordable housing in all new residential

developments.Economic –• Require employers to pay their workers a decent wage.• Ban new ‘big box’ retail stores which undermine local retail and community

activity, and steer future development to locations near existing and planned transit shops

Environmental – • Promote clean fuel vehicles and green energy• Improve public transport with ‘clean’ buses and new rapid bus lines• Promote smart growth land use where people can drive less and live nearer

to where they work, shop and play