Downtown LA Community Plan
Los Angeles, CA · Community Plan
Our principals led the preparation and adoption of the City of Los Angeles's Downtown Community Plan (DTLA 2040), a comprehensive update integrating land use, housing, mobility, and urban design policy across one of the city's most active urban districts. The effort involved the rezoning of more than 17,000 parcels, oversight of more than $2 million in consultant contracts spanning environmental review, economic analysis, urban design, and transportation, and a public engagement program that reached over 10,000 stakeholders. The plan received unanimous approval from the City Planning Commission and City Council, and was recognized with an APA Award of Excellence.
The Downtown Community Plan required reconciling competing visions for one of the most intensely contested planning areas in Los Angeles. The Historic Core sought to preserve the architectural legacy of the early twentieth century while accommodating the residential conversion of historic commercial buildings. The Arts District was navigating the tension between the creative economy that had defined it for decades and the residential development pressure that was rapidly transforming it. The Fashion District was reconsidering its industrial heritage in light of changing market conditions. And the emerging residential corridors of South Park and the Convention Center area were absorbing significant new population with inadequate public space, retail, and civic infrastructure.
The plan addressed each context through standards calibrated to its specific conditions , not through a uniform framework applied across the whole of Downtown, but through a series of district-specific regulatory frameworks that shared a common structure while responding to the particular needs of each place.
Key Elements
- Form-based standards calibrated to seven distinct Downtown districts
- Active frontage requirements designed to the pedestrian environment of each corridor
- Adaptive reuse provisions enabling residential conversion of historic commercial buildings
- Public realm standards tied to development intensity thresholds
- Community engagement process spanning three years and dozens of stakeholder groups