Saturday, January 31, 2009

Writing a City’s Obituary



To him, Los Angeles has lost its shine. Mike Davis, urban theorist and author of City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear, is a public intellectual who focuses on the ills of the city –arguing that its history and progression is the precursor to the city's ultimate destruction.

In his essay taken from the City of Quartz, “Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space,” Davis discusses the disappearance of social meeting areas within the city. He writes, “In Los Angeles-- once a paradise of free beaches, luxurious parks, and ‘cruising strips’--genuinely democratic space is virtually extinct. “

His argument is that corporate redevelopment project have bought out recreational spaces, disenfranchising the streets from its people. (It is important to note that Davis’s work about L.A.’s social space was published in 1990). Nineteen years later we are witnessing huge developments in the downtown area --such as L.A. Live-- working to create foot traffic along Figueroa and the neighboring urban streets.

Foreshadowing the tension that would be known as the 1992 L.A. Riots, City of Quartz has had a lasting impact in the study of Los Angeles. Davis’s words, though grim, are a call to action for city leaders and urban planners.
I can imagine that several members of the city council along with the developers of L.A. Live have been influenced by his work and studies.

Still, most common space within the city requires visitors to be consumers.

Davis’s request was for space that was non-discriminatory---maybe to the tune of Pershing Square or New York’s Central Park. Instead what we have and the direction we’re going towards as a city is pushing out the homeless and creating a bubble around the downtown businesses.

Alvarado Street, acting as one of the few places that have sustained some sort of visible foot traffic--albeit with the coupling of drug traffic-- is an area that has been closely watched by policy makers.

“While [MacArthur Park] is undoubtedly a major drug market, principally for drive-in Anglo commuters, the police have focused not only on addict-dealers and gang members, but also on the industrious sidewalk vendors who have made the circumference of the park an exuberant swap meet. Thus Mayan women selling such local staples as tropical fruit, baby clothes, and roach spray have been rounded up in the same sweeps as alleged ‘narcoterrorists’ (Similar dragnets in other Southern California communities have focused on Latino day-laborers congregated at streetcorner ‘slave markets.’)”

An advocate for inclusion rather than exclusive and designated space, Davis does a good job of speaking for members of the community that are seldom heard.

While some would argue that there is a decline of public intellectuals, Davis is an example of someone who has authority over the field of urban planning and development through his position as a theorist as opposing to a practicing policy maker.

This post has been updated