L.A. 2012 - APA National Planning Conference - Interview with Francisco Contreras

More than 25 million people visit Los Angeles each year. They enjoy all the things the locals love — a day at the beach, a hike in the hills, a shopping spree — and they don't need a car to do it.

"You can literally go from the beach to the mountains on public transportation," explains Francisco Contreras, senior city planner for West Hollywood.

Contreras spoke with Planning magazine's Meghan Stromberg about the new focus on mobility planning in the Los Angeles area. Mobility planning has become a key for many municipalities in California and across the country. Los Angeles and its surrounding communities are an instructive example of how car-oriented towns can transform themselves with investments in transit. Contreras points to LA's expanding subway system and its bus rapid transit program, which reaches across the metropolitan area.

Along with mobility, planners in the LA area are encouraging transit-oriented development, green building, and affordable housing. West Hollywood, in particular, is working on a model climate change action plan that unites all of these issues. Contreras calls it "the new LA" and invites his fellow planners to come see the transformation for themselves at APA's 2012 National Planning Conference in Los Angeles.

"Some people haven't visited the city in 10, 20 years, maybe since the last conference here in the '80s. So, it's changed quite a bit," he says. "There's a lot more going on in the city and some exciting challenges we'd like to really share with other planners."

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Tags:

• APA
• American Planning Association
• National Planning Conference
• 2012
• Los Angeles
• West Hollywood
• urban planning
• community
• housing
• climate change
• green building
• transit
• development