Balancing the Urban Wild: Examining Policy, Activism, and Community Stewardship in Los Angeles

Marian S. Walker

Abstract

Los Angeles is one of the fastest-growing centers of innovation and economic productivity in the world. Although, consideration for parkland and open green spaces is often muddled by ongoing large-scale development projects within the city. This study focuses on an assessment of the extent to which the city of Los Angeles has been effective in forming and utilizing the Sustainability City pLAn to establish and preserve parks and other green spaces. The scope of the investigation takes into account progress made by local nonprofit organizations, university involvement, and municipal legislative action on the basis of their combined abilities to expand upon and maintain existing green space networks. Specifically, the Los Angeles Sustainability City pLAn can be attributed to efforts made in coalition between the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, TreePeople, the University of California Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Los Angeles City Council. The plan’s progress and formation are to be analyzed in the context of park conservation and overall sustainability based upon data and accomplishments provided by the aforementioned community, university, and legislative initiatives. Environmental impact is privy to the availability of newly introduced parkland or open green space within the city and local residents’ proximity to these areas, especially in marginalized communities. Findings indicate that the Los Angeles municipal government has achieved the expansion of park networks through the use of resources provided through collaborations with community leaders to improve green spaces within the city. This new approach to city planning with regard to open green space in Los Angeles has successfully developed a strategy for funding park maintenance, encouraged urban agriculture in vacant areas, enhanced biodiversity, and expanded LA’s growing urban forest. Altogether, this plan has increased urban ecological benefits for overall biodiversity within the city of Los Angeles and has the potential to provide a framework for sustainable land use in metropolitan capitals around the world.

Publication

Marian S. Walker “Environmental Systems and Societies: Applications of Environmental Policies to Ensure the Establishment and Conservation of Los Angeles Parks and Green Spaces.” Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology, and Society 14(3), 1-13. (2021)

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