The Urban Design Studio leads several initiatives at the Citywide and neighborhood scale. These work programs support the City’s mobility, housing, and environmental sustainability objectives.
Programs and Initiatives
Citywide Design Guidelines: The City’s Guiding Urban Design Policy Framework
As part of Los Angeles’s overall strategy for incorporating environmental and high-level design considerations into new developments, the Citywide Design Guidelines advance the City’s goals for creating pedestrian-first, climate-adapted, and context-sensitive site design.
Low-Rise Design Lab
Building upon the Low-Rise Design Competition that former Mayor Eric Garcetti initiated in 2021 to foster creative housing solutions for Los Angeles, the Low-Rise Design Lab will undertake an effort to identify targeted code amendments, engage public stakeholders and design professionals, develop prototypes and standard plans for new multi-unit housing options, and examine financing models with the aim of making low-rise design attainable. Priorities include delivering well-designed low-rise infill housing at scale, promoting cost-effective construction, and proposing context-sensitive infill solutions that respect the importance of retaining neighborhood stability and character while allowing for creative infill housing solutions.
Landscape and Site Design Ordinance: Creating Healthy Buildings and Healthy Places
To address health disparities in Los Angeles, City Planning initiated the Healthy Buildings, Healthy Places program, which examines the various design factors that contribute to residents’ and neighborhoods’ well-being. As an outcome of this initial research, the Urban Design Studio has prepared updates to current zoning codes to reflect the latest strategies that address building design and foster healthy communities.
Street Design Modernization Virtual Hub
The City of Los Angeles supports the development of streets, sidewalks, and other public rights-of-way that are safe, comfortable, sustainable, and built to support greater functionality and livability for all Angelenos. To achieve this, the City is modernizing its approach to public realm design through a significant multi-phase effort that brings together multiple departments, a Community Project Advisory Committee (CPAC), and others to establish clear, unified guidelines aligned with its broader urban design and mobility vision. Find detailed updates and more information on the Project Virtual Hub.
Past Initiatives
The Studio recently completed two transformative Complete Street concept plans that improve safety, deliver shade, and beautify major corridors in South LA and the San Fernando Valley.
Reimagining Expo Square
Councilmember Curren D. Price, Jr., initiated a visioning and concept design study for enhancing three major streets in the neighborhoods around Exposition Park. The study aims to incorporate sidewalk and lighting upgrades, new landscaping, safer crosswalks, and additional street trees.
Reimagine Ventura: Greening the Boulevard
The Urban Design Studio worked with Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s office and community stakeholders to develop a plan that creates new opportunities for bicycle infrastructure, additional tree canopy, and other amenities to reimagine this section of Ventura Boulevard as a vibrant neighborhood street.
The Studio has developed wayfinding signage to improve access to open space and neighborhood amenities. To promote the active use of public spaces, the Studio has developed a branded sign program to identify Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) as accessible spaces in Downtown and across the city. The Studio is also involved in implementing the Los Angeles River Wayfinding to promote accessibility, safety and community expression near the LA River.
