Los Angeles’ Urban Design Studio works to elevate the quality of public and private design in order to create a more vibrant, livable, walkable, and sustainable City.
The Studio’s guiding values and themes include creating lively streets and public spaces that contribute to healthy communities and reflect Los Angeles’s diverse population and architectural legacy, elevating design expectations for private development, and promoting Los Angeles as a center of design innovation and experimentation.
The Studio has a unique role within the City, working at the intersection of design review of private development projects and coordinating between city departments to activate streets and public places. Through policy initiatives, the Studio is involved in efforts to upgrade codes and ordinances to foster design innovation, while at the same time setting a high benchmark for quality design across the City, consistent with the Citywide Design Guidelines.
The Studio is spearheading several neighborhood-level and citywide design initiatives that reflect these guiding values and themes. Read more about our current programs.
