Image: Despite higher density, residents of Playa Vista like its walkability and livability.
Rick Pruetz
The Los Angeles Times recently profiled two ways for Los Angeles County to grow: out and in. The “out” option involves growth on previously undeveloped land beyond the existing urban footprint. Even when done with care, greenfield development exacerbates sprawl-related impacts including car dependency, climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions, open space loss, and the fiscal burden of maintaining expanded roadway systems and other infrastructure networks, which is difficult to afford with the low taxable value per acre often associated with lower density development.
Conversely, the “”in” option, revitalizes underused land already within the urban footprint. This growth model supports people-friendly mobility, creates compact urban form that can be served by efficient infrastructure networks, and allows more land outside the urban footprint to continue providing vital functions like local food production, habitat preservation, outdoor recreation, and reduced human exposure to wildfire, floods, and other hazards worsened by climate change.
Growth Champions
In his Los Angeles Times article, Terry Castleman calls Santa Clarita the growth champion of Los Angeles County. Between 2000 and 2025, it grew from 151,088 to 230,428 people, an increase of 79,340 people or 53 percent. That makes this city, located roughly 45 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the third largest city in Los Angeles County, behind Long Beach and Los Angeles City itself. With a geographic area of 45,312, the gross density comes to roughly five people per acre.
As one example of the “grow in” model, Castleman notes that downtown Los Angeles has seen its population increase from 57,0000 in 2010 to 82,000 in 2024. This 44-percent rise was largely due to high-rise construction near the Crypto.com Arena, Bunker Hill, the Arts District, and the downtown historic center. As downtown continues to transition from an employment hub to a recreational/residential center, many of the businesses hurt by remote work trends may also be rescued by the conversion of office towers to residential.
But the true champion of Castleman’s article is Playa Vista, a planned community within the City of Los Angeles built on underused industrial land including the former Hughes Aircraft Company. In the year 2000, this land was home to 2,416 people. Today, the population of Playa Vista is estimated to be somewhere between 14,500 and 16,000 people. Using the midpoint of this range 15,250, Playa Vista has grown by 12,834 people, an increase of 531 percent, or roughly ten times the rate of Santa Clarita.
Playa Vista encompasses 1,087 acres, a total that includes 300 acres of permanently-preserved Significant Ecological Area east of Lincoln Boulevard known as the Bayona Wetlands. The mixed-use development east of Lincoln Boulevard sits on 460 acres. Using the midpoint population estimate of 15,250, results in a density of 33 people per acre, which is over six times the density of Santa Clarita.
Playa Vista has not sacrificed quality of life to achieve this relatively high density. According to a recent survey, 97 percent of residents are happy to live here, 90 percent like its design (particularly its walkability), 88 percent feel safer here than in other places they lived within Los Angeles, and 82 percent say they drive less. According to a 2026 article by Robert Steuteville, People here feel more engaged and physically more active because they are walking around rather than having to drive to everyday destinations.
Steuteville writes that Playa Vista beats surrounding lower-density neighborhoods in terms of per-square-foot resale rates. Almost no one has a yard here. But everyone is within a two- to -five-minute walk of one of Playa Vista’s 29 parks. They are also within walking distance of schools, restaurants, gyms, food stores, pharmacies, and other destinations. Employers within the complex include Facebook, Google, and roughly 50 other firms, making it possible for residents to walk or bike to work.
Lessons Learned
The planning and building of Playa Vista has been a long-term interest of Ecocity Builders. Richard Register was one of the contributors to Sustainable Cities: Concepts and Strategies for Eco-City Development, a 1992 book that profiled Playa Vista and four other ecocity prototypes. The book’s chapter on Playa Vista, written by Project Manager Douglas Gardner, stressed the need for public engagement in the planning process. The building of Playa Vista began eight years after this book was published. This emphasizes the need for patience and determination on the part of all stakeholders.
Infill development is difficult. But compare the two Los Angeles County growth champions cited by the Los Angeles Times article: Santa Clarita and Playa Vista. The “grow out” model replicates the lower-density, car-dependent development that has wasted farmland, natural areas, and open space throughout the nation while contributing to climate change and fiscal problems related to maintaining vast infrastructure networks funded by densities with relatively little taxable value per acre. Alternatively, the “grow in” model creates efficient infrastructure systems and walkable, convivial communities that people love. The example of Playa Vista suggests that planning and building compact, infill communities is well worth the time, money and effort in the long run.
Notes
Castleman, Terry. 2026. As L.A. struggles, these surprising communities are booming. What are they doing right? Los Angeles Times. Accessed at As L.A. struggles, these surprising communities are booming. What are they doing right? – Los Angeles Times.
Gardner, Douglas. 1992. Playa Vista: The Planning Process. In Sustainable Cities: Concepts and Strategies for Eco-City Development. Los Angeles: Eco-Home Media.
Steuteville, Robert. 2026. Playa Vista: High density, happy residents. Public Square. Accessed at Playa Vista: High density, happy residents | CNU.
