Urban Development and Sustainable Infrastructure
by
Mark R. Norton P.E. LEED AP, Past ASCE LA Section President
and ASCE Centennial Committee member
The history of Los Angeles area development can be seen as the crowning achievement of
man's ability to tame the environment and transform a once dry and arid environment with a
population of only 310,000 in 1910 to a booming megalopolis that is home to over 18 million
people today. Looking back upon the past century, the Los Angeles region reflects the vision of
early urban planners of a land of interconnected system of freeways, streets and roads
dependent upon the automobile as the primary source of transportation. However, despite the
construction of one of the most significant freeway systems in the country with some freeways
spanning up to six lanes in one direction, the region's transportation system, a hallmark of this
urban environment, is continually plagued with traffic congestion, air pollution and passenger
frustration. The dependence on automobile traffic and the effects of rapid population growth
over the past century have created an urbanized and sprawling region that some may feel is far
less than what many may have hoped for.
Starting in the 70's urban planners began
rethinking the policies of previous decades
and enacted general plans that encouraged
mixed-use developments in both urban and
outlying areas. Developers and supporting
civil engineering started mixing commercial
land use with residential spaces.
Restoration of existing buildings grew in
popularity, replacing the raze-and-renew
policy that dominated urban planning in the
1960s and 1970s. Greater emphasis was
placed on pedestrian-friendly developments
even as they approved continued expansion.
Through the close of the 20th century and moving into the 21st century, new concepts of
sustainability, low impact development, smart growth, and integrated sustainable infrastructure
arose in community planning and design. Civil engineering practices are now embracing these
strategies in the L.A. region with new rating systems for sustainability and green design. These
practices are anticipated to significantly affect how we grow over the next century.
History of Los Angeles Region Urban Development
With the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, also celebrating its 2013 Centennial as a
major civil engineering achievement, the city was transformed with four times as much water as
it required and lured the growth of many neighboring communities. Within a few decades, 170
square miles of the San Fernando Valley were added to the city in 1915, almost tripling its area,
mostly towards the northwest. Over the next seventeen years dozens of additional annexations
brought the city's area to 450 square miles in 1932. During World War II, Los Angeles grew as a
center for production of aircraft, war supplies and ammunitions. By 1950, Los Angeles was an
industrial and financial giant created by war production and migration. Los Angeles assembled
more cars than any city other than Detroit, made more tires than any city but Akron, made more
furniture than Grand Rapids, and stitched more clothes than any city except New York. In
addition, it was the national capital for the production of motion pictures, radio programs and,
within a few years, television shows. Construction boomed as tract houses were built in ever
expanding suburban communities.
During the spectacular growth of the
1910s and 1920s, the Pacific Electric
Red Car trolley lines were the axis of
urbanization in Los Angeles,
however, they gradually become
unprofitable and increasingly
unattractive compared to
automobiles which were rapidly
growing in popularity. As cars
became cheaper and began to fill
the region's roads in the 1920s,
electric Pacific Electric trolleys lost ridership largely due to the congested roads often causing
accidents that made service unreliable. In the 1940s, General Motors persuaded most urban
regions in North America to shut down their light rail street car systems and replace them for
more flexible, but polluting and inefficient, bus systems. This drastically changed growth and
travel patterns in the city in subsequent years and contributed to the severe air pollution events
that Los Angeles became famous for. Southern California's romance with the automobile
became a reality. In the minds of Southlanders, the automobile was viewed as integral to clean,
progressive government, in stark contrast to the railroads' control over the corrupt governments
of the Midwest and Northeast. Traffic congestion soon threatened to choke off the region's
development altogether. At the same time, a number of influential urban planners were
advocating the construction of a network of what one widely-read book dubbed
"Magic Motorways", as the backbone of suburban development. With the passage of the
Interstate Highway act of 1956, more
emphasis was placed on cars, trucks and
roads. Cities abandoned some wellestablished public transport system in favor
of the automobile. Southern California
embraced the car and the freeway. It had
ample space to expand, and many
developers eager to profit from expansion.
Over time, Los Angeles became a city built
around the automobile, with all the social,
health and political problems that this
dependence produces. The urban spread of Los Angeles became a notable feature of the town,
and the pace of the growth accelerated in the later decades of the 20th century. The San
Fernando Valley, sometimes called "America's Suburb", became a favorite site of developers,
and the city began growing past its roots downtown toward the ocean and towards the east and
into the Inland Empire.
Initially, the expansions of life from the cities outward helped middle-class families improve the
quality of their lives. Fresh air, space and access to nature used to be reserved for the elite.
With a car, citizens could live in uncrowded conditions yet still be able to work in urban centers.
Veterans returning from service in World War II bought homes in rapidly developed suburbs.
The rapid rise of the automobile was also one of the reasons Los Angeles become the home of
automobile retailing. As Richard Longstreth notes in his 2000 book, The Drive-In, The
Supermarket, and the Transformation of
Commercials Space in Los Angeles,
Southern California was the “primary
spawning ground for the super service
station, the drive-in market, and the
supermarket”was no coincidence. The
city, unencumbered by the geographic
restrictions of places like San Francisco
and Manhattan quickly grew outward
rather than upward; fueled by the car and
quite literally fueled by the many oil fields
right in the city’s backyard.
Young families sometimes felt stuck in the suburbs they had originally seen as ideal places to
raise families. Prior to the expansion boom, adequate and affordable housing was rare. Isolation
from the fabric of urban life led some to question the middle-class values of the 1950s and early
1960s. Increased sprawl in the 1980s further increased residents’ reliance on cars. Going to the
market or even reaching public transportation meant driving. Cities and states further widened
roads and highways to accommodate the increased traffic. Pedestrian traffic on busy
thoroughfares became unpleasant and dangerous. People living farther from urban centers
spent more and more time commuting, a trend that
continues in the 21st century.
What Dreams They Had
In reviewing the path chosen by early leaders in how
the Los Angeles would grow, it is important to note
that there were several early engineering and
planning attempts to redirect the growing automobile
dependent society in a perhaps more societal
sustainable pattern. In fact, new mass rapid transit
plans were proposed as far back as 1925.
Proponents were motivated by a keen sense of Los
Angeles' future population growth. This would necessitate imaginative plans for grade
separation, both above and below ground, and exclusive rights-of-way to reduce congestion in
business districts, maintain system speed and system attractiveness to riders. In 1945 the City
of Los Angeles commissioned a plan to consider subway tunnels in downtown, rail in widened
future freeways and bus rapid transit lines at an estimated cost of $68,000,000. Rapid
expansion of freeway construction, strong patron dissatisfaction with overcrowding, slow speeds
and old equipment on Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway, and voter apathy
shelved plans for a new mass transit system. Much of this history in described in an earlier
ASCE Section Centennial article on L.A. transportation.
Some of the more creative ideas
that would perhaps have changed
the face of urban growth and
promoted more sustainable
approaches were the consideration
of rapid transit systems. In 1954,
various monorail proposals were
being considered by the Los
Angeles Metropolitan Transit
Authority. One proposal considered
a $165 million monorail based on a study that began in 1947. By today’s standards, it would
cost almost $1.4 billion. At first, the project was going to be built with private sector funds, but in
1951 a public agency was set up specifically to look at the technology. The monorail was
deemed superior to a subway or light rail because of the low-density distribution of land uses
throughout the region, the high degree of automobile ownership, and the lack of any surfacefree mass transit.
However, as various monorail systems were considered, a remarkable offer arose for
consideration by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors that many urban planners of today
wonder - "what if". In 1960, just one year after Walt Disney’s demonstration model monorail at
Disneyland, the Alweg Monorail Company proposed to finance and construct a rapid transit
monorail system 43 miles in length serving the San Fernando Valley, the Wilshire corridor, the
San Bernardino corridor and downtown Los Angeles. Alweg offer was a turn-key proposal in
which they would finance the construction and turn over to the system to MTA a completed and
operating system. Alweg was seeking to expand their business based on their experience
gained at the 1962 Seattle Century 21 Exposition Monorail and building upon the Disney
monorail appeal.
On June 4, 1963, Alweg Rapid Transit Systems approached the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors and the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and made them this extraordinary
offer. The budget for the initial monorail network, including rolling stock, was estimated to be
$187.5 million. After consideration the Supervisors voted against the project. This decision to
reject the attractive offer was deemed likely based on political pressures from General Motors
and Standard Oil Company, strong advocates for continuing the automobile dependence. Even
the great writer science fiction author, Ray Bradbury, could not overturn the decision serving as
one of strongest advocate for an L.A. monorail. He
stated "A single transit line will not answer our
problems; we must lay plans for a series of
transportation systems that would allow us to move
freely, once more, within our city. The answer to all
this is the monorail." Bradbury believed that
monorails were ideal for our lovely climate "(leave
the subways to terribly-weathered New York, et al)
and that we could build ten for the cost of one
subway line."
Regional Land Use Planning
In October 28, 1965, the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) was formed when local elected officials from 56
cities and five counties first convened to begin growth projections and
regional planning for Southern California’s future. Today SCAG is the
largest regional planning organization in the nation. Based on the 2010
US Census, with more than 18 million residents, the region has more
population than any state in the nation with the exceptions of California,
Texas and New York. Shown below are statistics of this area at a
glance. Note: SCAG does not include several outlying counties within
the ASCE LA Section but is representative of core land use within the
region.
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Six Counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino and Ventura
191 Cities, 38,000 Square Miles, 18.2 Million People
(2012),
15 Subregions, 16th Largest Economy in the World
48.4% of Total State Population (2012)
14.1 million Registered Vehicles
11.2 million Licensed Drivers (2011)
10,457 Total Freeway and Carpool Lane Miles / 38,871
Road Lane Miles
5.9 million Total Households (2012)
$59,876 Median Household Income (2010)
SCAG provides a regional forum convened by the stakeholders to create a commonly held
vision that respects both local interests and collective regional values. Their vision for the region
helps guide the development through improved land use decisions and public and private
investments in transportation infrastructure, housing, public schools, and real estate
development
SCAG has indicated that by 2035, another six million people are expected in the region and that
more than two-thirds of these will be children born to our growing families. Economic downturn,
growth and development issues are at the forefront of public concern. High on the list of
complaints are increasing congestion, loss of open space, and an ill-defined but strongly held
belief that "livability" is slipping away. A consensus has emerged that transportation and land
use activities are contributing to global climate change. Resolving these concerns in an area as
large as the six-county SCAG region will be impossible working purely at the local government
level, prioritizing purely local interests and concerns. SCAG proposes a regional framework in
which to view these problems - transportation, housing, jobs, air quality, open space, and
climate - that reach across political boundaries. Linking Land Use & Transportation Planning is
considered a key part of the framework. The quality of life in any region depends in large part on
travel - how easy it is to get from home to work and back, the amount of time spent commuting,
and the types and degree of choices available for getting around. Closely related to that are the
choices we make about how land should be used. The types and appearances of buildings, how
they function in a neighborhood or business district, and where they are located all have an
effect on transportation use. For example, a small neighborhood that combines a shopping area
with nearby residences makes it easier for people to walk for some of their trips. Highwayadjacent commercial development, however, tends to require auto travel for all trips.
One of the most signicant planning documents
developed by SCAG is the Compass Blueprint.
Compass Blueprint looks at these important
relationships and makes the case that land use and
transportation planning decisions should be made in
careful coordination with each other. Compass
Blueprint is a new way to look at how Southern
California grows. Since 2000, SCAG has worked
actively with the people and institutions of Southern
California to create a dynamic regional growth vision
based on these four principles:
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Mobility - Getting where we want to go
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Livability - Creating positive communities
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Prosperity - Long-term health for the region
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Sustainability - Ensuring that today's decisions do not compromise future generations
The Compass Blueprint informs the
development of the Regional Transportation
Plan (RTP) and Sustainable Communities
Strategy, assists local government planning
efforts. Under Senate Bill 375, California’s
Sustainable Communities and Climate
Protection Act, SCAG is required to develop
a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS)
to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions from cars and light trucks
through integrated transportation, land use,
housing and environmental planning. The
SCS is a plan for meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set by the California Air
Resources Board (ARB) for the SCAG region. The 2012-2035 RTP/SCS achieves a 9 percent
per capita GHG reduction for 2020 and a 16 percent per capita reduction for 2035.
SCAG has indicated that the successful implementation of the RTP/SCS allows future residents
to enjoy a better quality of life than we do today, including the ability to lead a healthy and
prosperous lifestyle, enjoy clean air and water, and ample opportunities for recreation. It will
have direct and substantial benefits to public health by reducing pollutant emissions and
expanding the opportunities for active transportation. It also demonstrates how we can
transition from things we know to be unsustainable over the long term and beyond the term of
the current RTP/SCS, such as reliance on fossil fuels, to new technologies and practices for the
future.Based on SCAG’s analysis of recent land use trends in the region, it is clear that a
significant trend of development policies supporting better integrated land use and
transportation planning has emerged over time. Some of these recent trends include:
1. Changing demographics and housing market demand,
2. Redevelopment of main streets, downtowns, and corridors to vibrant mixed-use places,
3. Transit-oriented development adjacent to rail station areas and along major bus corridors,
4. Protection of resource areas and farmland
The RTP/SCS does not envision a wholesale redevelopment of the Southern California region.
The vast majority of neighborhoods and business districts that will exist in 2035 are already on
the ground, and most of them, especially residential neighborhoods, which include large-lot
single-family homes—will be unchanged in the next 25 years. Rather, the RTP/SCS envisions a
new development pattern for new neighborhoods and revitalized neighborhoods and business
districts that builds upon the current pattern to give residents more choices and more
opportunities as they consider where to live and work in the future.
Regional Transportation Plan
To address the financial, safety, and mobility
challenges facing the region, SCAG performed an
analysis of the region's transportation system, the
future growth of our region, and potential new sources
of revenue, and embarked on a massive outreach
undertaking to hear what the region had to say. While
SCAG continued to work closely with stakeholder
agencies through collaborative outreach meeting, it
also conducted a series of planning sessions
throughout the region to find out what Southern
Californians want to see in their future. The result of this multi-year effort is the 2012–2035
RTP/SCS, a shared vision for the region’s sustainable future.
The RTP/SCS contains a host of improvements to our multimodal transportation system. These
improvements include closures of critical gaps in the network that hinder access to certain parts
of the region, as well as the strategic expansion of our transportation system where there is
room to grow in order to provide the region with the mobility it needs.
It is interesting to note that though high speed rail as embraced by the CA High Speed Rail
Authority, which envisions as statewide high speed rail between northern and southern
California, is a major component of the regional transportation plan. The plan for a specific type
of high speed rapid transit called Maglev has all but disappeared in their SCAG 2012 Regional
Transportation Plan, so dominant in past plans. Routes for Maglev high speed rail have now
largely been shelved as cost comparisons of high speed rail options indicated Maglev was one
of the more expensive high speed options for region. The system envisioned a corridor system
among major cities and extending to Las Vegas. The original $12.1 billion cost and 269-mile
route between Anaheim and Las Vegas meant years of environmental planning, fundraising and
construction. Only three maglev systems in the world, the longest a nearly 20-mile line in China,
are ferrying paying passengers.
The Maglev idea received $45 million in federal funding for studies. But after nearly eight years
of work did not produce a completed environmental impact statement necessary to secure
federal approvals.The project was envisioned as a mix of initial public funding for study, after
which private backers built and operated the line.
High Speed Rail
In November of 2008, California voters passed
Proposition 1A, authorizing nearly $9 billion in
bonds to build a statewide high-speed train
(HST) system and an additional $950 million to
upgrade connectivity of current rail services to
the proposed HST. Subsequently, the federal government committed $3.6 billion through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Phase I of the HST program will
connect San Francisco with Los Angeles and Anaheim and include several intermediate stops.
Phase I is expected to be implemented within the SCAG 2035 time horizon. Phase II will add
connections to Sacramento, Ontario, Riverside, and San Diego. The HST program presents an
enormous opportunity for the state and the region, but faces significant challenges. The latest
total costs for Phase I are estimated at $98.5 billion, and the state has secured only $12.6 billion
in funds for Phase I to date.
Energy Efficiency and Green Building Design
SCAG has also taken a lead role in encouraging green building design. Greenhouse gas
emissions from buildings are substantial. New buildings can be constructed using passive solar
building design, low- or zero-energy building techniques, using renewable heat sources.
Existing buildings can be made more efficient through the use of insulation, high-efficiency
appliances (particularly hot
water heaters and furnaces),
double- or triple-glazed
windows, external window
shades, and building
orientation and siting.
Renewable heat sources such
as shallow geothermal and
passive solar energy reduce
the amount of greenhouse
gasses emitted.
In addition to designing
buildings which are more
energy efficient to heat, it is
possible to design buildings
that are more energy efficient
to cool by using lightercolored, more reflective materials in the development of urban areas (e.g. by painting roofs
white) and planting trees. This saves energy because it cools buildings and reduces the urban
heat island effect thus reducing the use of air conditioning. While a number of “green building”
rating systems have been developed, the most well-known is the LEED system, developed by
the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit trade organization that promotes
sustainability in how buildings are designed, built, and operated.
Sustainable Urban Infrastructure
Another concept that has taken hold in
recent years is sustainable urban
infrastructure. It is infrastructure that
facilitates a place or regions progress
towards the goal of sustainable living.
A sustainable design can lead to the
development of sustainable
communities by ensuring
that infrastructural knowledge makes
improvements that do not deplete natural
resources. Consequently the transition and
mass adoption of renewable
resources features heavily in sustainable infrastructure. Generally speaking the following could
be considered sustainable urban infrastructure:1) public transport networks, 2) distributed
generation and integrated energy demand management initiatives and programs, 3) high
efficiency buildings and other development constraints such as only permitting the construction
of green buildings and sustainable habitats with energy-efficient landscaping, 4)
connected green spaces and wildlife corridors and 5) low impact development practices to
protect water resources.
Sustainable infrastructure is now a growing field in civil engineering. One of the leaders is this
field is S. Bry Sarté, PE, ASCE, LEED AP, founder of the Sherwood Institute and Sherwood
Design Engineers and author of Sustainable Infrastructure: A Guide to Green Engineering and
Design. Sarté has described ways to integrate sustainable infrastructure strategies into planning
and design. He supports a multidisciplinary team approach to design that is not only highly
sustainable technologically, but also visually beautiful. His approach encourages engineers to
work with other members of the design team to develop a unified strategy that produces the
most effective and elegant green alternatives for the revitalization of urban infrastructure. This is
accomplished through sustainable infrastructure strategies for watershed master-planning,
integrated storm water management, reclaiming urban spaces, and green streets programs. It
utilizes natural spaces assimilated into the built environment. The approach also embraces the
role of creative thinking and collaborative team-building play in developing the complex
solutions needed to affect sustainability. This approach is now being utilized similarly in
integrated regional water management planning, site design, and land planning to help establish
the framework for creating the healthy socio-economic environments of tomorrow, while
honoring the aesthetic values. Many civil engineering firms throughout the Los Angeles region
are moving forward with this form of sustainable infrastructure design.
Modern Urban Planning and Sustainability
Modern urban planners and civil engineering
professionals involved in urban planning
utilize a variety of tools to assist with their
planning and projections. Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) has come to the
forefront as one of the most effective tools to
layer data and visually see mapping systems
that for decades were hand drawn by
engineers of yesteryear. GIS also often uses
aerial photography to show land parcels,
topography, street names, and other pertinent
information. GIS systems contain layers of
graphic information and their relational databases that may be projected into maps that allow
the user to view a composite of a specific area, adding an array of graphically oriented decision
making tools to the planning process.
Los Angeles regional and local urban planners today use GIS and collaborative techniques
called charettes to aid them in their efforts to plan for the sustainable cities of tomorrow.It is a
common held belief that modern lifestyles use too many natural resources, polluting or
destroying ecosystems, increasing social inequality, creating urban heat islands, and
causing climate change. Many urban planners have embraced the need for more sustainable
cities. Further new State regulations are having a big impact to move new development into low
impact development approaches. The Municipal
Separate Sewer System (MS4) stormwater
discharge regulations as of 2010 now require all
new development to implement measures that
encourage onsite detention of runoff reducing
urban runoff and thus improving downstream
water quality. It is envisioned that pressures will
increase to apply similar types of regulations on
large scale existing development to help reverse
the nonpoint source pollution increases.
The Next Century
For the next 100 years, greater pressures will be upon the development community and the
supporting civil engineering community to assure that 'sustainable' urban city features are
utilized such as: compact, efficient land use; less automobile use, better access; efficient
resource use; less pollution and waste; the restoration of natural systems; good housing and
living environments; a healthy social ecology; a sustainable economy; community participation
and involvement; and preservation of local culture and wisdom.
Sustainability" has also been embraced by ASCE Society
as a desirable feature of civil engineering projects. With the
establishment by ASCE, APWA, and ACEC of the Institute
of Sustainability Infrastructure (ISI) in 2012 a sustainability
rating system called Envision TM was developed to aid
project teams, owners, agencies and the public to describe
elements of sustainable projects and how projects can be
delivered that are more efficient and effective solutions. It is
designed to foster a necessary and dramatic improvement in
the performance and resiliency of physical infrastructure
across the full dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. The new
infrastructure rating system is designed to cover all civil infrastructure including roads, bridges,
pipelines, railways, airports, dams, levees, solid waste landfills, water supplies, wastewater
treatment plants, power transmission lines, telecommunications towers and the public spaces in
our cities, towns and local communities. It is not intended to supplant existing, sector-specific
infrastructure rating systems such as those that cover buildings, roads, airports and hydropower
facilities.
For the L.A. region, one can anticipate that ensuring sustainable urban development and the
associated infrastructure necessary to support the current quality of life standards will be a
continuing challenge particularly as the L.A. region's population continues to grow with all its
associated demands on resources. Current trends in water quality regulations to address
stormwater pollution also indicate that cities and counties in the region will be increasing
stressed to implement low impact development and smart growth practices not only on any new
development but eventually upon existing large scale development and historical infrastructure,
as evidenced by efforts to remove L.A. many concrete lined flood control channels for
restoration to wider more natural multi-purpose floodways. Costs for such endeavors can be
very high but reflect an increasing interest by Southern California’s populace to live in tune with
nature and the environment. Time will tell whether the high costs of such retrofits that result in
increased fees and taxes will result in a possible public pushback or reversal of these
sustainable development trends. Regardless, it will be the civil engineers who play a key role in
the design and implementation of our region’s future development and infrastructure and who
will play an important role in how we grow and adapt to sustainability practices that help ensure
a high quality of life for us and for future generations to come.