The End of Public Space in Los Angeles?
The End of Public Space in
Los Angeles?
I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighbourhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I do too; have affection for big cities, although maybe in a different context than Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. I enjoy the multiplicity of cities and their way of blending it all together. Until now, I have only been to Berlin, London and, the only American city, New
York City. Each time I visited one of those cities, I feel in love with it. I like absorbing the city, watching its liveliness and being part of it. Places that enable those experiences are the places that I still remember like Central Park in New York or Covent Garden in
London, to name only the English speaking cities.
Participating in the seminar Reading American Cities, we also discussed the depiction of
Los Angeles, California, as the counterpart to New York City. But watching movies like
Mulholland Drive (2001) or Crash (2004), I realise that I’m not a big fan of Los Angeles. I might even say that I would not like the city or more explicitly that I would not like being in Los Angeles. After becoming aware of that fact, I started asking myself why that is.
What distinguishes Los Angeles from these other cities? What makes it so different?
So far, I believe that two different suggested characteristics of Los Angeles could be responsible for my disapproval of Los Angeles. Perhaps the decentralization and consequently the dependence on the car as argued by Davidson and Entrikin (Davidson, et al., 2005 p. 578) could trigger this emotion. However, this proposition did not entirely satisfy my need for a possible explanation. Considering what I appreciate most in cities – the space to participate in the life of a city – I favour the following theory. Most of the scholars who partake in the on-going public space discourse agree that Los Angeles lacks
1
“real” public space1. This
Los Angeles?
I have an affection for a great city. I feel safe in the neighbourhood of man, and enjoy the sweet security of the streets.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I do too; have affection for big cities, although maybe in a different context than Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. I enjoy the multiplicity of cities and their way of blending it all together. Until now, I have only been to Berlin, London and, the only American city, New
York City. Each time I visited one of those cities, I feel in love with it. I like absorbing the city, watching its liveliness and being part of it. Places that enable those experiences are the places that I still remember like Central Park in New York or Covent Garden in
London, to name only the English speaking cities.
Participating in the seminar Reading American Cities, we also discussed the depiction of
Los Angeles, California, as the counterpart to New York City. But watching movies like
Mulholland Drive (2001) or Crash (2004), I realise that I’m not a big fan of Los Angeles. I might even say that I would not like the city or more explicitly that I would not like being in Los Angeles. After becoming aware of that fact, I started asking myself why that is.
What distinguishes Los Angeles from these other cities? What makes it so different?
So far, I believe that two different suggested characteristics of Los Angeles could be responsible for my disapproval of Los Angeles. Perhaps the decentralization and consequently the dependence on the car as argued by Davidson and Entrikin (Davidson, et al., 2005 p. 578) could trigger this emotion. However, this proposition did not entirely satisfy my need for a possible explanation. Considering what I appreciate most in cities – the space to participate in the life of a city – I favour the following theory. Most of the scholars who partake in the on-going public space discourse agree that Los Angeles lacks
1
“real” public space1. This
Cited: 24 March 2012.] http://articles.latimes.com/print/2010/mar/17/local/la-me-beach-homeless172010mar17. Winters, Emily. 1975. The People of Venice versus the Developers. Citywide Mural Project , 316 South Venice Blvd : 1975. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1262/1109071028_0dabc50169.jpg. 20