Sprawl a Concern With Los Angeles Building and Construction
The City of Los Angeles has a long-term reputation for sprawl, however, this reputation is undeserved. As of the 2000 Census, the Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana urbanized area had a residential density of over 7,000 people per square mile, covering 1,600 square miles, rendering it the most densely-populated such area in the US. In comparison, the New York, Newark urbanized area boasted a population density of over 5,300 persons per square mile, covering 3,300 square miles.
The widespread misconception of Los Angeles as a sprawling city might originate in the area's decentralized structure. Instead of being concentrated in a single downtown area, the region's major cultural, commercial, residential, political and industrial locations are dispersed over an intricate, intra-connected network. Although the overall density of the city of Los Angeles is small compared to similar-sized American cities, this figure is deceiving in part because the region includes mostly uninhabited areas.
The residential density of the central area was more than 13,500 per square mile in 2000. Within its urbanized areas, Los Angeles is noted for modest lot sizes, small vacancy rates, and general lack of large exurban spreads. In inner areas, it is not uncommon for individuals to share rooms or rent rooms to strangers. However, buildings tend to be of very low height when compared to other very large cities in part because of strict earthquake building codes which escalate costs. Los Angeles was established as a major city just as the Pacific Railway dispersed the population to lesser cities. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the area was formed into a network of fairly dense but separate locales linked by rail. The emergence of the automobile assisted in filling the spaces between these commuter cities with smaller-density settlements.
The Los Angeles area continues to grow, mostly on the periphery where new, less expensive, less-developed areas are in demand. In these areas, populations as well as housing prices have exploded.
Matt Paolini is a real estate editor for CityBook, the family-safe Los Angeles yellow pages online, which carries an extensive directory on Los Angeles electric contractors.
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