AIA|LA ADVOCACY REPORT
June 17, 2025
Shape the Future of Los Angeles! Help Craft the 2025 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
Your Voice Matters: Advocate for Change Through Issue Briefs
The AIA|LA Government Outreach Committee (GO!) is calling on all AIA members to actively participate in shaping the 2025 Advocacy Platform. This platform, presented directly to the Los Angeles City Council, will advocate for critical issues impacting the city’s architecture and built environment.
Make a Real Difference:
This is your chance to directly influence policy decisions that affect the future of Los Angeles.
Share Your Expertise, Shape Our City:
Do you have a burning issue related to design, development services, sustainability, or regulations impacting the built environment in Los Angeles?
Here’s How You Can Get Involved:
Submit an Issue Brief outlining a specific challenge and proposing actionable solutions. Selected briefs will be presented to the City Council during our annual Legislative Day, giving your ideas a powerful platform.
Don’t Miss Out! Deadline to Submit is June 14th.
Get Inspired by Past Advocacy Platforms:
Review past platforms (linked below) to see the kind of impactful change your voice can help achieve.
Together, let’s create a thriving, sustainable, and architecturally significant Los Angeles!
Draft issue briefs should be about 500 to 800 words in length each and formatted as such:
The issue (the challenge): A paragraph that explains the problem or challenge (200 to 300 words).
The recommendation: A list of our recommendations for solving (or addressing) the challenge. (200 to 300 words).
The request: A specific and “actionable” request. They are targeted, focused, and directed to a decision-maker. (50 to 100 words).
Deadline:
Please submit your proposal by Friday, June 27 (5pm) via email to Will Wright.
For examples of previous AIA|LA Advocacy Platforms:
The 2024 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2023 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2023 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2022 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2021 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2020 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2019 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
The 2018 AIA|LA Advocacy Platform
Designing Complete & Inclusive Communities
Los Angeles Architecture: Empower, Connect, Thrive
Design Thinking & Regional Awareness
Los Angeles: Designing Our Future
TOP-TAKEAWAYS: DAY ONE OF DESIGN FOR DIGNITY
As we conclude Day One of the 10th annual AIA|LA Design For Dignity conference, I’m thrilled to share some key takeaways from a truly dynamic and insightful morning.
We started by reaffirming our commitment to tackling Los Angeles’s profound housing crisis and the urgent need for climate resilience, a mission powerfully articulated by 2025 AIA|LA President Chava Danielson, AIA, in her opening remarks. The January 2025 wildfires served as a stark reminder of our vulnerabilities, but also our immense opportunity for proactive, design-led solutions.
The morning sessions offered a rich tapestry of innovative thinking. We heard from Ralph Mechur, AIA, and Joan Ling on “Cloverfield Commons,” pushing the boundaries of how we reimagine the Santa Monica Airport site for community benefit and housing. Michael H. Anderson, AIA, illuminated pathways in “The Accelerated Housing & Transit Initiative,” demonstrating crucial connections between housing and infrastructure. Mohamed Sharif, AIA, challenged us to consider being “Farther Apart and Closer Together,” prompting us to rethink density and community in our evolving urban landscape.
Our panel on “The Architect in Service to the Community” brought critical perspectives on wildfire recovery from Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Robert Jernigan, FAIA, Matthew Trotter, AIA, NOMA, Alison Martin, AIA, and May Sung, AIA, delved into how architects are uniquely positioned to address the complexities of rebuilding, restoring community identity, and ensuring residents can remain. Discussions highlighted the promise of pre-approved plans like The Foothill Catalog and the potential for a “Case Study 2.0 program” and a “Builder’s Alliance” to streamline resilient construction, advocating for crucial policy reforms to overcome financial and bureaucratic hurdles. We explored how to integrate living systems, healthy soil, and indigenous knowledge into fire-adapted design, emphasizing the need for policy to mandate or incentivize these holistic approaches.
Although Mayor Karen Bass was unable to participate due to a last-minute scheduling conflict relating to the ongoing challenges impacting our city by the recent disruptions caused by ICE raids and the demonstrations standing in solidarity with our immigrant community, our intention was to discuss the intricacies of “Governance Alignment & Systems Reform.” AIA|LA Government Outreach Co-Chairs, John Arnold, AIA and Carlos Agusto Garcia, AIA organized a set of details questions to prompt an in-depth discussion about the critical challenges in unlocking public land for housing, the push for a Chief City Architect role to elevate design leadership, and the imperative for proactive resilience in the face of our “polycrisis.” We anticipate scheduling an opportunity with Mayor Bass in the months ahead.
Following the coffee break, Christine Bustillos, Thea Trindle, and Blair Smith from Los Angeles City Planning offered practical insights in “CHIP-ing in: Expanding Housing Development Feasibility,” showcasing tangible ways policy is being translated into action.
Finally, our “Housing Solutions” keynote panel, featuring Denice Wint, Faizah Malik, Christopher Ira Koontz, and Tricia Keane, moderated by Frances Anderton, Hon. AIA|LA, took stock of where we stand today in affordable housing production. We grappled with critical questions about delegated authority, utility connections, the impacts of Measure ULA, and the broader policy innovations needed to navigate the complex financial and regulatory landscape for affordable housing. The discussion underscored the urgency of leveraging diverse approaches – from innovative financing to new urban models – to ensure every Angeleno has access to dignified housing.
The conversations today have been rich, challenging, and profoundly inspiring. We’ve heard calls to action for stronger design leadership, clearer policy advocacy, and more robust collaboration across sectors. The sheer complexity of our housing and climate challenges demands continuous engagement and fresh perspectives.
Don’t miss Day Two of the Design For Dignity conference, next Friday, June 20th! We will build on today’s momentum, diving deeper into actionable strategies and forging the partnerships necessary to translate our shared vision into tangible impact across Los Angeles.
Register now for Day Two HERE.
We look forward to continuing this vital dialogue with you.
ON IMMIGRATION & ARCHITECTURE – Design Excellence and Prosperity
The United States stands as a preeminent global “knowledge factory,” where our academic institutions are powerful engines for generating and exporting unparalleled insight, innovation, and expertise. This holds especially true for our architecture and landscape architecture programs, which attract some of the brightest minds from every corner of the globe. Our core exports are not tangible goods like t-shirts or trinkets, but rather the transformative ideas, human capital, and specialized design knowledge that draw diverse talent to our shores.
When considering national economic health through the lens of trade, it is crucial to recognize the substantial ‘services surplus’ generated by international student enrollment. The significant revenue from tuition, living expenses, and associated services directly contributes to our balance of payments, creating jobs and supporting a robust domestic ecosystem around education. For the architecture profession specifically, this translates into direct prosperity. These highly skilled graduates often fill critical talent gaps within U.S. firms, bringing fresh perspectives and global connections that can unlock new markets and expand the reach of American design expertise worldwide. It’s a powerful return on investment, far more lucrative and sustainable than many traditional exports.
Beyond the immediate economic benefits, the influx of international students profoundly enhances the health and expanded design thinking of our architecture profession. These individuals bring a wealth of diverse cultural understanding, unique lived experiences, and exposure to varied design traditions and construction methodologies from their home countries. This cross-pollination of ideas is invaluable, pushing the boundaries of conventional thinking and fostering a more nuanced approach to complex challenges like climate change, rapid urbanization, and equitable community development. Their presence ensures our design solutions are not only innovative and contextually sensitive but also globally informed and resilient.
Framing our national economic narrative to fully encompass this intellectual export capacity is essential. It provides a vital logical framework for debates surrounding trade deficits and domestic manufacturing, illustrating unequivocally how fostering and leveraging this knowledge-driven economy, particularly within the creative and problem-solving fields like architecture, is fundamental to America’s competitive advantage and long-term prosperity. Embracing this rich tapestry of global talent is not just an economic strategy; it is an investment in the future vibrancy, intellectual rigor, and global leadership of the American architecture profession itself.
The AIA LA & LACP Professional Volunteer Program (PVP)
Architects & designers passionate about improving the design quality of newly proposed projects throughout the City of Los Angeles are encouraged to participate in the Professional Volunteer Program (PVP), which is a collaborative design review program organized by AIA LA & Los Angeles City Planning (LACP)’s Urban Design Studio.
This year, we will be coordinating thirty-one virtual design review sessions, which will serve as opportunities for architects and designers to help the Los Angeles City Planning’s Urban Design Studio critically review upcoming projects throughout our City.
July 1 (10am)
July 8 (10am)
July 15 (10am)
Aug 5 (10am)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Will Wright, Hon. AIA|LA
Director, Government & Public Affairs
t: 213.639.0764
e: will@aialosangeles.org
www.aialosangeles.org
