Contents London and Los Angeles Comparison Research
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Pathwork City
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Heterotopias
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Mobile City
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Los Angeles Field Trip
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New Miracle of Los Angeles
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New Miracle of Wilshire Boulevard
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New Miracle of Miracle Mile
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London and Los Angeles Compariosn Research/ October 2009
The Infrastructure of London and Los Angeles
Timeline of London and Los Angeles “The basic facilities, services, and installations needed for the functioning of a community or society, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions including schools, post offices, and prisons.� Oxford Dictionary
The infrastructure comparasion of the two cities is a complex topic. With the timeline, we can reach the conclusion: the infrastructure of London (e.g. roadways) has been limited by its long history and mainly focused on efficiency issue, while Los Angeles was developed in an empty land with less constrain and more emphasised the personal choice.
Travelling Pattern
The Travelling Pattern in Central London during weekdays (excludie walking)
Source: The four world cities transport study, 1998
London With traffic-limitation strategy, most of the trips in central London are generated by public transport.
The Travelling Pattern of Los Angeles in 2006
Source: www.wikipedia,2010
Los Angeles Due to the fully-motorization policy, 70 per cent trips in Los Angeles are by cars while public transport is only 7 per cent.
Roadways
The Road System of London
London Due to historical reasons, the roadways of Great London Area are ring and radiation system. However, the roads in inner London are narrow and could not meet the requirement of driving for every citizen. Therefore, public transport has been well developed since Second World War and the congestion charge has been introduced to central London since 2003.
The Road System of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Developed in the flat land, Los Angeles has applied the grid road system. The freeway of L.os Angeles is very famous as it provides the high speed across the whole Great Los Angeles area. With such a road system, Los Angeles is a typical city on the wheels in United State.
Public Transport Access
The Public Transport Access Masp of London
Source: GLA, London Plan, 2008
According to PTAM (Public Transport Access Map) and transport data, London generally has a better public transport accessibility than Los Angeles.
The Public Transport Access Masp of Los Angeles
Interview of London Transportation
Conclusion
London has an advanced public transport system and adopts the traffic-control strategy. This policy is a consequence of history and possible will continue in the future.
Los Angeles owns a complex freeway system which is the result of its fullymotorization strategy. But this policy is not sustainable and local government switches to develop rapid transit system.
Patchwork City/ October 2009
The Natural City We human are used to exploit the nature since we were born on the earth. We have created a prosperous civilization and transformed the environment. However, we have to face the threats from the nature, such as global warming and continual rising sea level. Are all these the revenge from the nature? Perhaps in future we should find a way to live in harmony with the earth, just as other creatures do.
Disasters: With t he man-made disasters of pollution and war, the earth is crying. One photograph of global warming has captured the moment: the glacier is continuously melting, and become a weeping face.
Trees: In many tales around the world, the tree is regarded as the symbol of life. The natural city will be an ideal fairy tale. In the forest city, our human and other creatures cooperate together and live harmoniously.
A Rubber Tree on the Grasslands of Kenya
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The Tree of Life
The Crying Glacier
Photo of the Model
Photo of the Model
In the natural city, no artificial structure will exist any more. The human being will live in the trees. They will travel by riding on the birds or in the river on a big leaf. In one word, everything will be in harmony with the nature.
Photo of the Model
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Urban Heterotopias/ November 2009
The 491 Gallery The 491 Gallery was originally a factory. Due to A12 construction in Leytonstone, this building has been abandoned for its proximity location. In 2000, it became occupied by a group of homeless drug users. Then many artists come and tuned it into a vibrant community space, which has been encouraged by local government and residents as a regeneration policy. Our research has proved that this gallery is heterotopias of illusion and has improved the artistic atmosphere of the neighbourhood .
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The Painting on Exterior Wall
The Stage of Halloween Party
The Exhibition
Heterotopias of illusion are associated with Lynch’s ecological city and reflect the shift from processing material goods to processing symbolic information in communication systems. Heterotopias of illusion work with images to create new norms and attractors.
The heterotopias are thus inherently an ambiguous space containing several disparate spaces within a single perimeter where several actors interact.
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The Reception
Strategic Urban Design/ November 2009
The Mobile City 14
This work continues the research of London and Los Angeles. With the basic understanding of urban transport problem (shown in previous part), the initial proposal of Mobile City is raised.
Concept
The Suburban Sprawl
The Congestion
The Land Use
The Mobile City realises that urban transport problem is a complex issues which involves the land use, urban sprawl and other topics. With the help of advanced technology, it tries to solve transport problems in soft way including mobile office, generic office and housing.
The Urban Fabric
Proposal Improve the Mobility of Transportation Create the Flexible Office in the City Improve the Liquidity of Housing Market Restructure the Urban Form
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Proposal
Mobile Office Business class on planes. Work even on planes.
Car
Office
News gathering vehicle,
Generic Office Conference centre. Various offices to rent.
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Standard office
Booking online
Office in con
Housing Market Houses with long commute distance
More housing supply
Financial and policy aid
Home with le
Proposal
Better use of commute time, and work at any location.
, mobile office in future?
Nissan new concept vehicle of mobile office
Book online, work wherever you like.
nvenient location
ess travel distance
Work without spatial barriers
Provide more housing choice, and encourge people to move. Before
Move
After
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Video
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12th to 23th January 2010
The Los Angeles Field Trip In January, we went to Los Angeles for the field trip. During this trip, we have experienced the urban culture of Los Angeles, and chose the site for urban design project
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Strategic Urban Design / January 2010
The New Miracle of Los Angeles This project attempts to understand the automobile culture and current transport problem of Los Angeles. After the analysis, it proposes the corridor strategy for future Los Angeles.
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The Image of Los Angeles Los Angeles is perhaps a dystopia of transport: “a sprawling, smogchoked, auto-obsessed spaghetti bowl of freeways which meander from one bland suburban destination to the next� (E.A. Morris, 2009).
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The Road to Autopia, Los Angeles 2010
The Automobile Culture
The Freeway in L.A.
The Peak Hour on Freeway
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The Congestion on Freeway
The Automobile Culture The area of car parks in the east of LA International Airport is almost as large as the airport itself. Los Angeles probably has more petrol stations than restaurants which means it is easy to feed your car than yourself.
The Car Parks outside LA International Airport
The Petrol Stations in Los Angeles
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Statistics The annual delay in Los Angeles is 72 hours per person, which is the top among 14 major metropolises in U.S. The speed on freeway during peak hour is only 37 miles and the average driving distance is 27 miles.
The Annual Dealy of 14 Metropolises in U.S. in 2006
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Major U.S. City Commute Pattern in 2008
The Urban Form The scattered city centres and urban sprawl have caused difficulties in organising the transport. The freeway can provide convenient connection between the city centres while public transportation is able to offer only limited service.
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The City Centres in Los Angeles
The Corridor Strategy The corridor strategy will combine the rapid transit system and urban land use. In future, there will be four major corridors from downtown to Long Beach, Los Angeles International Airport, Santa Monica and San Fernando Valley. In these new corridors, good transport access will be provided; the density will be increased and the commute pattern will be better organised.
The Proposed Transport Programme
The Ideal Commute Pattern
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The Corridor Strategy for Los Angeles
The New Corridor
The New Metro Lines
Park and Ride Facilities
The Land Use Model
The Corridor Strategy With new metro lines, major stations and park and ride facilities, people will find it more convenient to use public transport along the corridors. The land use model will direct the new development or regeneration.
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Road to UtopiaďźŒLos Angeles 2020
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The Corridor Strategy for Los Angeles
Strategic Urban Design / February 2010
The New Miracle of Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard will become the first corridor in Los Angeles. With several city centres including Santa Monica and Beverly Hill, Wilshire Corridor will become a 17-mile linear downtown of office, shopping, leisure and creative industry. It will become a future growth strip with higher density, good access of public transport and high quality of environment.
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History of Wilshire Boulevard
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The Land Use Plan of Wilshire Corridor
34 The Metro Purple Line Extension Project of Wilshire Corridor
35 The Transport Plan of Wilshire Corridor
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The Existing Open Space of Wilshire Corridor
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The Open Space Plan of Wilshire Corridor
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The Density Plan of Wilshire Corridor
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The Future of Wilshire Corridor
Detailed Urban Design /February 2010
The New Miracle of Miracle Mile This project continues the previous research and zooms in to the detailed proposal. It tries to test the corridor strategy in the site of Miracle Mile. From automobile-oriented urban space to rapid transit and pedestrian-oriented urban form, a new miracle will be created.
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History
The miracle of Miracle Mile lies in its transition from the oil field in 1920s to the first shopping centre outside downtown in 1950s. All these own to the urban sprawl and successful real estate development of Mr Ross.
The legacy of former prosperity is the Hancock Park, the cluster of museums as well as many historic office buildings with Art Deco Style.
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Site Analysis
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Site Analysis
The Existing Land Use of Miracle Mile
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The Building Function of Miracle Mile
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The Road System of Miracle Mile
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The Density of Miracle Mile
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Automobile-oriented Urban Space
Miracle Mile introduced the first timed traffic light in America and created dedicated left turn lanes. Mr Ross required all merchants to provide enough parking lots for customers and only one high rise building in each block to avoid too much traffic as well as guarantee the best view for driving.
One Plot in Miracle Mile
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Automobile-oriented Urban Space
First Concept Pedestrianisation
The new miracle of Miracle Mile will start from stopping driving. Considering the distance between two metro stations and the mixused development, the walking should be encouraged here rather than driving. Therefore, the Hancock park will be enlarged and the pedestrian strip will be created along Wilshire Boulevard.
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The Present Wilshire Boulevard
The Pedestrainised Wilshire Boulevard
Zoning
The experiment of pedestrianisation is only conducted in middle and west part of the site. The different zones have been created.
The Zoning
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Proposal
Master Plan
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Perspective
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Criticism Traffic Displacement
Reducing the Vitality of the Street
Sketch
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Final Concept
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The Land Use Plan of Miracle Mile
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Transportation
Section Before
Two-Lane Street Section
Four-Lane Street Section
Four-Lane Street Section 56
The transport system will undergo a major change with the current 6lane street will be reduced to 2 or 4 lanes. It will discourage driving and encourage residents to use public transportation. Pavement will be widened by the reduction of traffic lanes, which will stimulate the street life with more activities happening on the generous pedestrian space.
The Transport Plan of Miracle Mile
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Master Plan
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The Overall Perspective
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The Density
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The Perspective of West Miracle Mile
The Density
The Photo of the Model
The Skyline of Miracle Mile
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The main aim of the different layers is to gradually decrease the density according to land use with a potential for the layer to shift to the edge for further growth in future.
64 The Density of Miracle Mile
The Density
65 The Photo of the Model
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The Photo of the Model
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The Overall Perspective of Miracle Mile
The New Identity
Metro Station at the junction of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue With the new metro station a new shopping plaza will be created. Potential customers are local residents, passengers of the metro and visitors to the museums. A new square is formed with the surrounding of commercial buildings and there will be a market frequently.
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The Present View
The Location
The Plan
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The Perspective of Shooping Plaza in Fairfax Metro Station
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72 The Perspective of Shooping Plaza in Fairfax Metro Station
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The Section of Fairfax Metro Station
The New Identity
Entrance of Los Angeles County Museum of Art Perhaps, Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the most important attraction of Miracle Mile. However with a closed facade, it hardly attracts pedestrians. In future, green necklace will pass by the museum. With a wider pavement, pleasant green space, souvenir shops, street exhibition and outdoor sculptures will create an artistic atmosphere at the entrance of the museum.
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The Present View
The Location
The Plan
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The Perspective of the Entrance of Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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The New Identity
The street adjacent to Hancock Park Providing leisure space to the local community, Hancock Park is an important element of Miracle Mile. The boundary of the park will be removed and the atmosphere of jungle will be brought to the street, and with wider pavement and green space, it is expected that more leisure activities will happen on the street.
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The Present View
The Location
The Present View
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The Plan
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The Perspective of Green Strip outside the Hancock Park
The New Identity
Preserved Street The furniture "darkroom" is an important historic spot in Miracle Mile. In future, the pleasant street scale will be preserved, however a high rise building will be added to increase the density. Restaurants, cafes and other shops at ground level will promote more activities on the pavement.
The Location
82 The Present View
The Darkroom
83 The Street Design
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The Perspective of Preserved Street with Historic Spot "Darkroom"
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The New Identity
Green Office District Around the metro station at the junction of Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, a new business centre will be created. In future, the green necklace will continue to the metro station and increase the quality of environment. With the new green space employees will enjoy more leisure activities on the street leading to the creation of a new identity called green office district.
The Present View
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The Location
The Plan
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The Perspective of the Green Business District in La Brea Metro Station
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The Phased development
The Phase One
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The Phase Two
The Phase Three
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Sketch
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Final Crits
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Conclusion As the first shopping centre outside downtown, Miracle Mile has already witnessed the culture of automobile. In this century with a new rapid transit transport system, a new urban culture of transportation will be created with a corresponding new type of urban space for human needs instead of automobile will emerge.
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