University of California Transportation Center

The focus of this research is the commercial strip of the American inner city which, due to disinvestment, high crime rates, arbitrary and haphazard development, and poor connections to surrounding residential neighbourhoods, has become a problematic environment. Physical retrofit and economic policies are urgently needed in order to reclaim these decaying urban environments. This paper concentrates on the subject of physical retrofit, using three inner-city commercial strips in Los Angeles as case studies to document residents’ needs and utilisation of these strips, and proposes design and policy changes for their physical improvement.