what would mike davis say?

A fascinating read on the newly-imagined and reinvigorated residential downtown LA. The century-old city center has been in transition for several years. Starting with the expansion of MOCA, the still-new  Disney Hall, by Frank Gerhy, the LA Subway, various historical preservation projects and recent massive loft transformation and development.

What is especially interesting here (and what the article points out) is the reversal of the archetypal sprawl that is happening.  While the population has exploded exponentially, most (if not all) of the movement in the past century has been from center out. Indeed, the term "sprawl" is synonymous with LA.

However, this is changing. Downtown now boasts a thriving arts scene, alternative housing options (read: redefining lofts), the desire for new residents to build community, and the hope for utilizing the subway (work-in-progress) to avert the traffic crisis. All things point to positive change for LA. Right?

Very exciting on the one hand. On the other hand, what will happen with skid row and the underworld of the downtown we used to know? Is this simply more gentrification forcing poverty-stricken and homeless to flee or could this be the start of something entirely new?  Unlike the way SF is going, let’s hope that this enormous new investment and community in downtown LA has a social conscience. I like to think this is the case, if only because I’m feeling optimistic at the moment.

I’d like to hear what Mike Davis has to say about all this. I haven’t read his most recent book, Planet of Slums, but I’m sure it’s a great place to get inside his head and understand a wider context at play.