The California Climate Moonshot
The Issue
Los Angeles needs 500,000 new homes and California needs 3.5 million new homes. The Livable Communities Initiative (LCI) is a plan to build housing that is Zero Carbon buildings with Zero Carbon mobility by legalizing, facilitating and zoning for 3-5 story residential over retail in thoughtfully chosen walkable neighborhoods. The LCI revitalizes a classic housing typology of Courtyard Buildings – high quality living at an affordable price, while being economically feasible to build, especially around job centers near Metro stops. By unleashing small builders to build this now-obsolete typology, California has a unique opportunity to catalyze a nascent worldwide movement towards sustainable city living.
What we are doing
The LCI revitalizes the combination of residential housing over Neighborhood Serving Retail in walkable, bikeable neighborhoods seamlessly connected to transit, creating neighborhoods for people who can’t drive, don’t want to drive, or are severely impacted by the high cost of car ownership. While this model exists across the globe and some of the world’s most beloved neighborhoods, it fell into obsolescence in CA, LA and across the U.S.
In order to do this, the LCI advocates for specific changes to the regulations that have made this urban form impossible to build. For housing: legalize Zero Lot Line Courtyard Buildings with a Single Staircase design. For transportation: identify locations for LCI communities that have existing high-quality mobility such as walkability, transit, and/or safe bike lanes (or identify streets that can be transformed).
Climate Impact
Courtyard Buildings have several key advantages for sustainability. The courtyard design allows for ample air circulation (because all rooms have windows). Design features that were created before air conditioning can lower the temperature inside by more than 10 degrees and eliminate the need for AC: 10 foot high ceilings, thick walls, ample air and cross-breezes. With solar panels, heat pumps, efficient appliances, and no gas hookups, buildings can be net Zero Carbon.
But the biggest impact is that the LCI is a car-light community where residents can conveniently and pleasantly live car-free. The LCI is designed for streets with existing legacy family owned businesses, small shops and retail that makes it both pleasant to walk and convenient to do errands. This combination of a high quality street with the full range of Neighborhood Serving Retail can create a 15 minute community where everything a person needs on a daily and weekly basis is accessible on foot or by bike, cargo bike, adaptive bike, trike, and golf cart / NEV, and transit.
Together these can zero-out emissions for residential – 9.7% and transportation (cars) – 23%.
