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Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection
URB.LACPC  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Historical Note:
  • Scope and Contents
  • Arrangement of Materials:
  • Conditions Governing Access:
  • Conditions Governing Use:
  • Accruals:
  • Immediate Source of Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation:
  • Processing Information:

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives
    Title: Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection
    Creator: Los Angeles City Planning Commission
    Identifier/Call Number: URB.LACPC
    Extent: 12.14 linear feet
    Date (inclusive): 1953-2000
    Abstract: The Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection (LACPC) documents an important transitional period in the history of urban planning in Los Angeles, which is characterized by a movement from Citywide comprehensive planning toward community and region-based planning over the last half of the twentieth century. The collection includes records and publications which document the day-to-day business of LACPC, city planning in specific geographic areas, communities, or districts, and department's vision of the city as a whole.
    Language of Material: English

    Historical Note:

    In 1910, the Los Angeles City Council established a fifteen member Planning Committee to assist in the development of a plan to improve the City. Ten years later, the Planning Committee was replaced by a fifty-two-member City Planning Commission made up of community leaders from civic groups across Los Angeles and one professional planner, George Gordon Whitnall. In 1925, The City Planning Commission was reduced to five members, who were all professional urban planners, and Whitnall was appointed to lead the department. During the 1940s and 1950s, the Commission developed height, area, density, and parking regulations, and standard zone categories. In the mid-1970s, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the Centers Concept, which envisioned the City as a network of urban centers connected by a rail transit system. In the 1990s, City Council developed a new guiding document called the General Plan Framework, which directs plans for future growth in population, jobs, and housing into neighborhood districts, community centers, regional centers, the downtown center, and industrial districts as part of a strategy for comprehensive planning across the City. In 2000, The City Planning Commission was expanded from five to nine members and seven Area Planning Commissions were established.
    Today, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning is charged with the responsibility of preparing, maintaining, and implementing a General Plan for the development of the City of Los Angeles. The General Plan consists of the Framework Element, which provides overall guidance for the future of the city and other citywide elements including state mandated elements such as the Transportation, Housing, Open Space and Land Use Elements. The Citywide General Plan Framework is based on a directed growth strategy which targets residential and commercial growth along boulevards, corridors and clustered development around high activity centers and around transit opportunities.
    The Land Use Element of the General Plan is comprised of thirty-five community plans, which depict a range of allowable land uses, unique to individual communities. Community Plans are intended to promote an arrangement of land uses, streets, and services which encourage and contribute to the economic, social and physical health, safety, welfare, and convenience of the people who live and work there. The Planning Department implements the General Plan utilizing a variety of tools through the application of zoning regulations to regulate the use of land in the city.

    Scope and Contents

    The Los Angeles City Planning Commission Collection (LACPC) documents an important transitional period in the history of urban planning in Los Angeles. The Centers Concept, developed in the late 1960s through the early 1970s designated forty-eight centers within the metropolitan study area, twenty-nine of which were located within the City of Los Angeles, and focused on five basic components: major centers with a high intensity of development and activity; low density suburbs comprised of single family residences and local businesses; open spaces comprised of private and public parks; industrial areas convenient to housing and freight transportation; and, a comprehensive transportation system which included freeways, rapid transit, a region-wide air terminal system, and freight movement and terminal systems. The LACPC Collection includes many documents, publications, reports, correspondence, and other types of records which demonstrate the City's movement toward community-based planning over the last half of the twentieth century. The collection is arranged into three major series: Administrative Files (1968-1995), City of Los Angeles (1963-1996), and Communities and Districts (1953-2000).
    Series I, Administrative Files, documents the day-to-day business of the Los Angeles City Planning Department, including department policies and procedures, meeting minutes and notes, correspondence, legislation news, legal documents, reference materials. This series is arranged alphabetically and chronologically within.
    Series II, City of Los Angeles, documents the Los Angeles City Planning Department's vision of the city as a whole, and includes: plans, proposals, reports, studies, maps, and informational brochures. This series is arranged into three subseries. Subseries A, General and Proposed Development (1967-1996), documents citywide goals, priorities, and implementation strategies, as part of the General Plan of the City of Los Angeles. Subseries B, Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Concerns (1968-1996), documents the City's planning process with an emphasis on environmental impact, meeting goals for preserving open space, and providing public recreation opportunities. Subseries C, Infrastructure and Safety (1963-1987), documents the City's development of safety guidelines for fire, earthquake, and flood, standards to alleviate air traffic noise, and recommendations for safeguarding public schools against potential dangers. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically and chronologically within.
    Series III, Communities and Districts, documents city planning in specific geographic areas, communities, or districts that fall under the Land Use Elements as organized by the LAPC. This series provides neighborhood level details, policies, and implementation strategies, and includes: plans, proposals, studies, reports, correspondence, memoranda, maps, and other records relevant to neighborhood planning. The series is arranged into five subseries: North San Fernando Valley Area (1965-2000), South San Fernando Valley Area (1970-1995), Central Area (1968-1990), East, West, South, and Harbor Areas (1974-1995), and Out of Area (1953-ca. 1992). Within each subseries materials are arranged alphabetically by title and chronologically within.

    Arrangement of Materials:

    Series I: Administrative Files, 1968-1995
    Series II: City of Los Angeles, 1963-1996
        Subseries A: General and Proposed Development, 1967-1996
        Subseries B: Transportation, Land Use, and Environmental Concerns, 1968-1996
        Subseries C: Infrastructure and Safety, 1963-1987
    Series III: Communities and Districts, 1953-2000
        Subseries A: North San Fernando Valley Area, 1965-2000
        Subseries B: South San Fernando Valley Area, 1970-1995
        Subseries C: Central Area, 1968-1990
        Subseries D: East, West, South, and Harbor Areas, 1974-1995
        Subseries E: Out of Area, 1953-ca. 1992

    Conditions Governing Access:

    The collection is open for research use.

    Conditions Governing Use:

    Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

    Accruals:

    2005

    Immediate Source of Acquisition

    Victoria Brinn Feinberg, Tim Dagodag, 09/11/2003.

    Preferred Citation:

    For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual, or see the Citing Archival Materials   guide.

    Processing Information:

    Holli Teltoe, 2016

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Maps
    Documents
    Photographs