During 2001-2002, the Lusk Center for Real Estatecolor> co-sponsored a yearlong Urban Policy Seminar Series moderated by former Speaker of the California State Assembly Antonio Villraigosa during his residency at USC as a Distinguished Research Fellow, and Center for Sustainable Cities Director Jennifer Wolch. The Series, which involved 30 academics and a wide array of experts from the public and private sectors, focused on solutions to some of the most important and difficult issues facing Southern California. The hard problems confronted in these discussions were:
° economic development
° poverty and inequality
° infrastructure renewal
° race and immigration
° environment
° safety and security
° participation in governance
After Sprawl: Action Plans for Metropolitan Los Angeles, and Action Plans for Metropolitan Los Angeles: Supplemental Reports, publications arising out of these seminars, offer an invaluable "ideas bank" for anyone seeking new ways to approach the opportunities and challenges facing our region. We hope they will serve as a challenge to the civic and community leadership of Los Angeles as well as state policy makers, to address urban problems with effective, innovative approaches that make our city more sustainable.
Both reports are available on the web at: