cityLAB at UCLA has announced “Small Lots, Big Impacts,” a first-of-its-kind initiative to turn vacant land lots across Los Angeles into new starter homes. The initiative calls on architects and building experts to propose creative pilot projects on vacant, City-owned land, seeking winning designs for faster, innovative, and lower-cost housing for the next generation of homeowners.
“Small Lots, Big Impacts” is a partnership between the City of Los Angeles, cityLAB at UCLA, and LA4LA. The two-phase initiative begins with an open competition, asking designers, architects, and students everywhere for creative housing proposals. To amend the Los Angeles residential imaginary for a postsuburban world, the initiative advances sustainable infill, shared amenities, and compact, resilient communities that show desirable alternatives to the detached house.
Winners of the design competition will have the opportunity to enter the second phase in summer 2025, and will be paired with development teams to begin construction. In this second phase, the City of Los Angeles will award land it owns to qualifying development teams that can convert the innovative architectural proposals into high-quality housing projects. The small developments will physically demonstrate replicable housing models for thousands of similar privately-held lots.
As cityLAB at UCLA notes in the competition brief, the January 2025 wildfires in the LA region have highlighted the importance of combining public resources with creative ingenuity to address LA’s housing crisis. Thus, in “Small Lots, Big Impacts” the City of Los Angeles is leading the way, hosting demonstration projects on its own land that will offer new visions for building housing that can translate to thousands of similar, privately-held lots. Though often seen as too small for more traditional housing development, these public lots can be key pieces in building a more equitable and affordable future for Los Angeles.
“Small Lots, Big Impacts” initiative is the outcome of a collaboration between the City of Los Angeles, including the Office of Mayor Karen Bass, the Housing Department, and City Council; LA4LA; and cityLAB-UCLA. Questions may be addressed by the competition website (https://www.smalllots.citylab.ucla.edu) or directed to [email protected].
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