Local Stakeholders Participate in a “Reseda Great Streets” Panel Discussion at the 2016 American Planning Association (APA) Conference in Pasadena

On a Sunday morning in late October a group of Northridge neighbors, academics and local office holders presented at the 2016 California Conference of the American Planning Association, held in Pasadena at the Pasadena Conference Center, on the unique collaboration among disparate groups that has led to the first of the Los Angeles Great Streets, Reseda Blvd in Northridge.

Represented by three Urban Studies and Planning faculty, Zeynep Toker, Craig Olwert and Allessandro Rigolon, who submitted the Northridge Great Street experience to the list of conference panel discussions for 2106, the panel posed the following question, “how could the success of the Reseda Great Street be duplicated in other parts of the city, both urban and suburban?” Underlining the question is a unique collaboration among diverse stakeholders which has created the ingredients leading to Reseda Boulevard's designation as one of Los Angeles' Great Streets, the first Great Street, and which has substantially furthered the placemaking process of renewal and development along the Reseda Corridor.

Filling out the panel were Don Larson and Andrea Alvarado of Northridge Sparkle; Chris Sales, past president of Northridge South Neighborhood Council; and Semee Park and Nicole Bernson of Council District 12.

The panel discussion fell under one of the conference’s sub themes of “City Beautiful 2.0”, a discussion of what the 21^st century version of the City Beautiful movement means when facing the unique planning challenges of the second decade of the 21^st century. In a time of aging infrastructure and diminishing public funding, what kinds of creative solutions and collaborations can be forged to meet these challenges?

The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beauty and monumental grandeur into American cities.  Architects like Frederick Law Olmstead who created Central Park in New York and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco as well as Charles McKim of McKim, Mead and White, sought to beautify the urban space of America’s cities to counter the effects of unbridled growth and the ravages of the industrial revolution.  Their projects were large, monumental undertakings which often resulted in great beauty, but also in the dislocation of many local citizens, usually the poorest in society.  These great “White Cities”, nicknamed that for the acres of blinding white plaster  used to construct the many international expositions of the late 19^th century and early 20^th century,which they mimicked,  lacked intimacy, scale and human interaction.

Today’s planners look at planning and design from the street level up, seeking input from local stakeholders, creating designs that are welcoming and inclusive to the neighborhoods they plan for.  As in the example of the Reseda Great Street, the scale in intimate, the view is from street level and the intent is to encourage visitors to linger and interact.  Among the various strategies that the panel shared on how to create a successful urban/suburban street environment, was the importance of cooperation, in this case between local stakeholders; city agencies and institutions like the CD 12, the Bureau of Sanitation or Street Services; CSUN and the education community; and the many non-profits with which local stakeholders can work on grants and projects.

Once again, we applaud the work of our local stakeholders, community partners and city agencies.  These successful relationships can only build trust and engender confidence in meeting the challenges of creating a more livable urban/suburban environment for all Angelenos.