ABSTRACT
Postmodernism as style began in literature and literary criticism but spread to other fields including architecture and urban design where it is associated with a sensitivity “to vernacular traditions, local histories, particular wants, needs, and fancies”. In the history of Los Angeles between 1965 and 1992, attempts to link the emergent patterns of urban form with underlying social processes were made. The juxtaposing of postmodern and more traditional categories of modernist urbanism is also an essential piece of the analytical strategy. That there is an overlap between modernist and postmodern categories should surprise no one. Keno capitalism is the synoptic term that is adopted to describe the spatial manifestations of the postmodern urban condition. Urbanization is occurring on a quasi-random field of opportunities. Capital touches down as if by chance on a parcel of land, ignoring the opportunities on intervening lots, thus sparking the development process.
