Graduate Thesis

The L.A.gora is an attack on the prevailing efforts to re-cast the City of Los Angeles as a typical “core-periphery” urban environment. Historically, Angelenos have found their civic identity in the localized nuances of their individual neighborhoods, and the unwarranted focus of political and economic capital on Grand Avenue and Bunker Hill has undermined and eroded this civic compact. In an attempt to (re)discover civitas in Los Angeles, the L.A.gora defines a methodology aimed at supporting and enhancing what is left of the city’s inherent, but neglected, polycentrism.