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Credit: Moritz Lino/Flickr

L.A. is rethinking its future with housing and transit reforms

Los Angeles is tackling decades of car-centric planning and restrictive zoning to address its worsening housing and traffic crises, with reforms that could serve as a blueprint for cities nationwide.

M. Nolan Gray reports for The Atlantic.


In short:

  • Los Angeles is expanding its transit network with ambitious rail projects, bus lanes and bike infrastructure, aiming to reduce traffic congestion.
  • State-level interventions are driving housing reforms, such as loosening zoning restrictions and incentivizing affordable housing, resulting in record-setting permits for new homes.
  • Persistent challenges, including entrenched single-family zoning and insufficient housing permits, remain significant barriers to ending the city’s affordability crisis.

Why this matters:

By reducing car dependency and increasing housing availability, these reforms could improve health outcomes, reduce environmental impacts and serve as a model for sustainable urban growth across the U.S. As L.A. begins to stitch itself into a more compact, transit-friendly future, it’s offering a glimmer of hope for cities struggling with their own sprawl-driven woes.

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