American History

Robert Gottliebs take on Los Angeles urban renewal
Los Angeles has seen exponential growth since the early twentieth century. It has virtually transformed from a sleepy little town to the second largest city in the United States. Robert Gottlieb has a profound knowledge of the urban sprawl, environmental issues, and depletion of natural resources and sustainable renewal of Los Angeles. His essay deals with the cloning of Los Angeles model of urban planning, suburbs, freeways and shopping centers in Las Vegas that did not result in any positive outcomes. Greed, political maneuvering, haphazard planning and focus on excess resulted in a cloning of the Los Angeles model in Las Vegas that has undermined the long-term sustainability besides damaging the natural resources and giving way to social and economic segregation. Urban renewal in Los Angeles and reinvention of environmental and urban planning values will be Gottlieb asserts in his essay that Las Vegas followed the Los Angeles model of urban sprawl because of two main reasons its relative proximity to LA where developers were interested to lure rich Los Angelenos and its massive entertainment and gambling infrastructure that ensured continuous inflow of money. The policy has backfired with fast depletion of resources, fight over water rights between Utah and Nevada and crumbling of civil infrastructure due to neglect and oversight. This is nothing short of the repetition of mistakes committed by Los Angeles city managers during the early- and mid-twentieth century.

In Reinventing Los Angeles, Gottlieb has focused on the need for environmental justice for the damages done to the environment and natural resources of the city. The culture of freeways and urban segregation has resulted in visible ethnic and social divide that gave way to some of the worst rioting in 1992. Greed of real estate developers and political corruption has destroyed the urban soul of the city but the same very destruction can be a harbinger of change.

Los Angeles River, with its concrete and filth-strewn waters, presents an excellent starting point. Gottlieb thinks that urban renewal experts and environmentalists can work together to rehabilitate the polluted waters of the river with the creation of parks, wildlife refuges and activity centers. City freeways represent another great opportunity for reinvention. Gottlieb argues that freeways divide the posh and poor neighborhoods and create social alienation, a problem whose serious consequences were clearly visible during the 1992 riots and remain so in some not-so-subtle forms. According to Gottlieb, ethnic integration and harmony is the best way of ensuring long-term sustainability and progress at the urban renewal front. It will also create the feeling of urban justice and that Los Angeles is a city for all.
This gives way to two basic questions about urban renewal and environmental justice. The first question relates to the extent of citizen activism needed to reach a critical mass where it can result in positive outcomes. Community leaders, environmental activists and urban planners are still contemplating the right ways of using public activism to improve urban infrastructure and environment in Los Angeles and have not been able to devise one single strategy.

The second question is about political implications of urban renewal activism and on whether the city and state governments are ready to accept their past mistakes and offer retribution. The colluding of political authority and financial interests of real estate developers has done much damage to the city environment. The future of Los Angeles or any other city in the US depends on the realization of past blunders and a strong determination to avoid those mistakes in future.