ABSTRACT

The conventional narrative of American planning history begins with progressive urban reform in the first two decades of the 20th century, when several loosely related advocacy movements worked to improve conditions of health, sanitation, housing, civic beauty, and recreation in cities. English reformer Ebenezer Howard's bold Garden City concept proposed a regional system of new, small cities, surrounded by landscaped greenbelts and connected by modern transportation-providing planners everywhere with another, more daring strategy to address growth. The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was established in 1948, with CRA planners turning their attention to Bunker Hill in 1950s. This chapter discusses how the landmark Centers Concept was developed in a city not known for planning, shares its key attributes, and assesses how it continues to play a significant role in influencing planning efforts and debates in LA. Like LA's love-hate relationship with nature, this idea contains an inherent contradiction between the desire for local control and the envisioned regional benefits.