Don’t look too closely at this totally real image
If this blog has a main thesis, it’s that Los Angeles has the most untapped potential of any American city. Here’s my post on why LA deserves greatness, if you want the full-blown manifesto. I love this place, and I want it to be a true world capital, the kind of city that gets a clock behind every hotel reception desk. And when I say world capital, I mean culturally, economically, creatively - all of it. LA should be a dynamo.
But how on earth will we get there? Our city is currently shrinking, broke, and not even maintaining its basic infrastructure. We have so little civic capacity that we’ve barely been able to scrape together a plan for the Olympics even though we’ve known they’re coming for nine years. Los Angeles in 2026 does not look like a city poised for greatness. Greatness is going to be a long-term project. And a long-term project needs ideas.
Just about every other major American city has a policy and research think tank dedicated to pursuing ideas that could make the city better. New York has Regional Plan Association. Chicago has the Metropolitan Planning Council. The Bay Area has SPUR. Boston has A Better City. San Diego has Circulate. Los Angeles - not so much.
To be sure, plenty of local organizations focus on various slices of our public policy pie. A remarkable example is Investing In Place, Jessica Meaney’s years-long crusade to convince LA to adopt a Capital Infrastructure Program, which is finally happening. It’s kind of crazy that it took one person’s tireless research and advocacy for over a decade to make the CIP happen. What about other things our city sorely needs, like a large scale, philanthropically backed parks foundation? Do we have to wait for someone to single-handedly champion that cause for a decade?
A think tank for the future of LA
Instead of relying on dedicated individuals or interest groups to take up causes, what LA needs is an independent, highly respected institution taking a holistic approach, putting out quality policy research, and advocating for solutions that advance a better Los Angeles. And to put my personal spin on it, I think that think tank should think about how to foster and plan for a city of 10 million or more people. What does LA need to become a world capital?
Here are some areas this think tank might focus on:
Civic culture and identity – I put this one first because I think it’s LA’s biggest weakness. Why didn’t we have an infrastructure plan like every other city? Why don’t we have a big parks foundation? Because this city’s culture has always prized the private realm over the public. Our billionaires prefer to build their own private museums instead of bolstering our public ones (David Geffen excepted!). On the Fourth of July, everyone goes to their neighborhood’s fireworks display instead of one giant show that the entire city gathers to watch. It will be easier to build a world capital here if we are inspired to build it together.
Housing and planning – The other big one holding us back, and obviously my main passion. We can’t grow if there aren’t enough places for people to live. But where should that growth go? What should it look like? Who should get to live there? Who should own it?
Governance – What would a government for 10 million people look like? How big would City Council be? Should the balance of power between the Mayor and Council be any different? Would City Hall have different priorities if more Angelenos were living in dense neighborhoods? Boston has an independent nonprofit, the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, that keeps an eye on the city’s budget and finances. Sounds important!
Economy and equitable growth – How can the city attract more jobs and business investment? How can we support the businesses of all sizes that are already here? How can the benefits of growth be widely shared? How can we lift more people out of poverty?
Infrastructure – What will the city need to build in order to support 10 million people? Which existing systems – water, sewers, power, streets, etc. – can accommodate growth, and which don’t? How many more schools, libraries, community centers, parks will we need?
Transportation – How will people get around in the future LA? How should congestion pricing work? What new train lines will need to be built? How should we plan for the arrival of high speed rail in the city?
Hollywood – How can the city ensure that we don’t become like Detroit, where the bosses of our signature industry remain but the production moves elsewhere? How can we make sure that young creative people can afford to move here and have enough slack to take risks?
There are so many other possible topics - sustainability, climate resilience, innovation, supporting families, immigration…let me know what I left out!
Visualizing the future
Our LA think tank should also inspire. Create a positive vision for the future of our great city. With pictures. What will it feel like for someone to walk down Hollywood Boulevard in 2075? Or to go to the beach? What do we imagine will replace the Inglewood Oil Field after it closes? Where is LA’s next great park (here’s my vote)?
In 2021, SPUR published an incredible report envisioning four possible scenarios for how the Bay Area could develop in the next 50 years. Here’s just one of the report’s many beautiful illustrations. Can I live in this future please?
From SPUR’s Four Future Scenarios for the SF Bay Area
An LA think tank should produce a positive vision for growth in LA that will inspire Angelenos to embrace it. This city needs to get back in the business of taking big swings. Let’s start getting people on board.
