T H E N E W L O S A N G E L E S G R E E N WAY:

RECLAIMING OUR (FUTURE) RUINS

A proposal for a systematic transformation of the freeway

infrastructure of Los Angeles and the elimination of its
use for private car movement, resulting in extensive
improvements in transit, park and open space,
agricultural production, and community development.
THE LOS ANGELES FREEWAY
The freeway system in its totality is now a single comprehensible place, a coherent
state of mind, a complete way of life, the fourth ecology of the Angeleno.

Reynar Banham, 1971

The fir st Los Angeles’ freeways were developed Line towns and creating a socially, environmen-

in the par kway model, where driver s could homogeneity of car-based tally, and urbanistically.

experience the pleasure of moving among the development. Yet still the A city built on the su-

landscape and cityscape , leisurely motoring car and its celebrated in- premacy of the car is

through undulating terrain affording distant frastr ucture, the freeway, found critical acolytes now an unsustainable,

views (the Pasadena Freeway). Unfor tunately, (see Reynar Banham, Margaret Crawford, et al), unhealthy city. The

even at this ear ly point in their development, and gave L.A. it’s mythic status as the paradig- previously heralded

car s had begun their stranglehold on the city, matic twentieth-centur y city. infrastr ucture of the

smothering, then bur ying, the mature networ k freeway is clear ly heading toward obsolescence.

of light rail that existed (the Red Line). This That was last centur y. The future of Los Angeles, and it’s health as a

transit networ k had enabled a development viable city, is at stake.

pattern of linked but autonomous towns, each While the freeway promised speed, mobility,
with their own identity. The automobile and and connec- We are at the tipping point.

its associated infrastr ucture consumed massive tivity, it has

amounts of area, and enabled a low-density created conges-
sprawl develop- tion, pollution,
ment throughout and division.
the Los Angeles The costs of
basin, filling the car owner ship
empty spaces are vast, both
between the Red economically,
URBAN RUINS & THEIR REUSE

Most great vestiges are much more difficult to discover.

cities have What is increasingly clear is that the
reclaimed ob- massive infrastr ucture of mythic Los Angeles
solete urban form, the freeways, are the r uins of the future .
infrastr ucture Like most great transpor tation infrastr ucture
as an integral of the past, par ticular ly associated with the
par t of their urban fabric. The aqueduct in is helping resuscitate an entire neighborhood. industrial age , such as docklands and railyards
eastern Paris is now a soaring linear garden, San Francisco has turned ear thquake-damaged and stations, freeways too will inevitably fall
the Promenade Plante , connecting neighbor- highways into waterfront public spaces (the into disuse and r uin, supplanted by new modes
hoods east of the Bastille , areas former ly Embarcadero) and grand boulevards which of urban transpor t.
desperate for improvements and community will suppor t new housing (Octavia Boulevard). How can we be
assets. Old for tifications of many European The layer s of histor y that give depth to a city’s proactive about this
cities such as that of Lucca, Italy have become culture are evident in situation, and see
the city’s primar y reclaimation and reuse . these future r uins as
public space and This is much more an oppor tunity?
par k. The current clear ly evident in a city
Highline conver- like Rome than Los
sion in New Yor k Angeles, where such
THE INEVITABLE RUINS OF LOS ANGELES

The collected area of all LA

County freeway right-of-ways
Los Angeles
freeways are
the r uins of the
future. Why wait
for the inevitable?
The time to reclaim them is now. The shear scale
and extent of this urban area would make them
the largest urban infill project site in the countr y.
The total area of L.A. County freeways exceeds
120,000 acres, or almost as much area as the
westside from the 405 to the beach, from nor th-
ern Santa Monica to Marina del Rey. Why wait for
their inevitable decline when their redevelopment
as proposed would make Los Angeles one of the
most progressive and livable cities in the wor ld?

images from Idiocracy,

2007
A GREENWAY MANIFESTO:
SLOW MOVE NATION
Los Angeles freeways promised speed and connectivity but delivered congestion and separation. They are
at their tipping point- dysfunctional and on the verge of obsolescence. Like many great cities that have re-
claimed the ruins of their infrastructure it is time for Los Angeles to reclaim it’s inevitable and future ruins.
We must turn these concrete rivers of frustration and pollution into something good for ever yone in
the city.
We propose to end this senseless preoccupation with speed, which has delivered anything but. We
propose a Slow Move Nation, like the Slow Food Nation. Freeways can be the source of transit and con-
nectivity, as well as parks and valuable green space for an inexorably gray city. Pedestrians, bikes, and light rail
will now move along the old freeway routes instead of cars. Fur thering the movement toward local commu-
nity (and reducing the egregious transpor tation miles required by the global agri-industr y), we are reintro-
ducing agriculture to Los Angeles through the construction of ver tical farms along the freeway. Community
gardens would also be created, and new public squares would be both transit hubs as well as farmers mar-
kets.
We would ideally like to see the end of the reliance on private car ownership, and the increased use
of shared car ser vices (like Zip cars), and par ticularly transit. We envision all major boulevards and avenues
having street cars that connect to the new greenways and their light-rail system. Streets of Los Angeles can
be filled with the sounds of children playing and the whoosh of
bicycles rather than the cacaphony of car traffic.

We propose:

• Limit private car ownership citywide (decrease lanes, emphasize

car sharing and taxis, reduce available parking, gas tax)
• Provide light rail and other transit on all major streets citywide.
• Trasform all streets to include bike paths and beautiful pedestrian sidewalks
• Develop freeway rights-of-way into GREENWAYS with no cars that contain:

Light Rail | Vertical Farms | Community Gardens | Bike Paths | Walking promenades | Parks | New Public Squares
THE NEW LOS ANGELES GREENWAY Location of proposed project: Santa
Moinica Freeway, Los Angeles
aerial rendering
legend
SLOW MOVE COMMUNITY

Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food Nation (and books like The question of urban form, transit and commnity is a
McKibbens Deep Economy and Pollan’s In Defense of fundametally modern one, beginning with Ebeneezer
Food) decries the industrialization of agriculture and Howard and his vision of the Garden City. Today, with
the energy costs of transporting food vast distances the limits of “progress” and the extent of the global
across a borderless world economy, as well as the agri-industry, new ways of looking at this question are
breakdown of family and community bonds in a in orer.
culture consumed with speed and convenience. The
Slow Food movement sees a local economy of agri-
culture and a shared joy of cooking and eating as a key
to resuscitating community life. Our proposal links
agriculture and transit as a way of enabling community
and creating new possibilities for urban growth and
form. Speed and Quantity need to be reavaluated as
American goals for sustainable communities.
BIKE CONNECTIONS TO GREENWAY

Vir tually ever y Los Angeles resident would be

within comfor table bicycling distance of the
new greenways or existing Metro lines. This
would open up access to transit and par k
space to millions of residents. We propose a
fleet of free rental bikes similar to the success-
ful Paris program.
GREENWAY ACCESS

Besides near univer sal bike access to the

greenways, a new streetcar system on all ma-
jor streets will allow residents to get to the
new Greenway without a car. These streetcar
systems would be accessible by walking for
vir tually all residents in a typical city block, as
is evident in the diagram on the left.
PLAN OF SANTA MONICA GREENWAY
AT CRENSHAW AND WESTERN
Partial Plan of Greenway along ‘former’ Santa
Monica Freeway. Where there were ramp

street car access to Greenway

street car access to Greenway

connections previously, the new Greenway has
a transit hub connecting to the new streetcar
system of major Los Angeles streets. These are
also public spaces which can be used for com-
munity purposes and farmers markets from
the agriculture grown along the Greenway.

Light Rail | Vertical Farms | Community Gardens | Bike Paths | Walking Promenades | Parks | New Public Squares
TYPICAL NEW PUBLIC SQUARE / TRANSIT HUB
Partial plan of Greenway showing new transit hub and public square ‘island,’
the various paths and transit lines, the vertical farms, and the intersection
with a redesigned Western Avenue carrying street car lines.

Transit hubs are public squares too. They contain:

Street car stop, light rail station, zip car parking, free bike share depot, farmers markets, public gathering space.
VERTICAL FARMS
Ver tical farms are a way of reintroducing agriculture into urban areas. This is
par ticularly impor tant since the world’s population will grow by 3 billion by
2050, and it is forecast that 80% of people will reside in urban areas. Ver tical
gardens have been proposed as an advantageous way of farming for a number
of reasons:

• Year round crop production- increased productivity

• Spatially efficient for providing agriculture to dense urban areas
• Reduction in use of fossil fuels- decrease in transpor tation and refrigeration
when crop production is local
• Organic crops- reduction for need of fer tilizers and pesticides
• Water recycling- gray water from collection from farms can be reused on
greenway for irrigation, or purified to make potable.
• Self-sufficiency: ver tical farms would help urban areas become more self-
sufficient and less dependent on global agribusiness and transpor tation
networks.

We envision our vertical farms and community gardens supplying farmers markets
that would be located on the new public squares and transit hubs. There could also
be individual kiosks along the edges of the Greenways, much like the booksellers
along the banks of the Seine.

The vertical farms would also mark a new element in the Los Angeles skyline. The
taller farms would be located at the transit hubs, so residents could locate them-
selves within the transit network of the city, as well as read their proximity to the
nearest Greenway.
view along Greenway toward light rail station and public square