Land-use experts say the sheer size of L.A. Live, Grand Avenue and Universal City mean that those projects ultimately will test whether smart growth can work in Los Angeles.
UCLA planning professor Richard Weinstein said single projects alone would not fundamentally alter Angelenos' shopping and commuting habits. But he said worsening traffic has begun to affect where people decide to live.
The recent boom in upscale condos and lofts in downtown Los Angeles has been driven partly by the desire of people to cut their commutes and live close to work.
The question is whether the people who move into the three new developments are willing to alter their lifestyles accordingly.
"It has much to do with changing people's perceptions of how they want to travel," Weinstein said.
Urban planner Doug Suisman said that in Los Angeles, the challenge for mega-projects and other mixed-use projects near transit corridors is how to create density in a way that works for L.A.
"We are learning here how to do mixed use," Suisman said. "And even if people have lots of experience in other parts of the world, it has to be applied locally."
The stakes for Los Angeles are high.
Con Howe, the city's former longtime planning director, believes that Los Angeles may never have another opportunity to shape its urban fabric as it has now with the three mega-developments.
The influence of those projects will extend far beyond their borders, because mega-developments often influence the kind of growth in surrounding neighborhoods, he said.
"There are some major projects that because of their scale or their impact become a generative force, or a regenerative force," said Howe, who heads the Urban Land Institute's Center for Balanced Development in the West.
L.A. Live already has sparked a significant number of residential projects in the South Park neighborhood around it, with developers trusting that the center will be such a draw that people will want to live nearby.
L.A. Live offers "a vibrancy that you can't get in other parts of the city," said Greg Vilkin of Forest City, a developer who recently built the upscale rental Met Lofts there. It will be "like living two blocks off of Times Square."
cara.dimassa@latimes.com
