Policy Shapers Interview: Emily Gabel Luddy, FASLA
The Public Practice Advisory Committee (PPAC) of ASLA produces the "Policy Shapers" series to spotlight landscape architects who are active in shaping public policy. PPAC member Stephanie Landregan, ASLA, interviewed Emily Gabel Luddy, FASLA, for this article.

Emily Gabel Luddy, FASLA

What is your field of practice in landscape architecture?

My focus is city planning and design. I have worked with the City of Los Angeles Planning Department for 28 years.

What projects, programs, or community groups do you serve?

I interface with the entire city—a wide variety of urban, suburban, and rural landscapes, so I have worked with central city communities, suburban communities, equestrian communities, and hillside communities.

How has your role changed over the years?

I was one of the city’s zoning administrators for 14 years. One of my most rewarding positions in the planning department was when I was in charge of subdivisions. It was my job to approve (and deny when necessary) projects that ranged from central city urban infill next to subway stations to equestrian subdivisions with major open space acquisitions for trail systems. The projects were so different and both so necessary to the city.

Prior to becoming a zoning administrator, I led the city’s new Citywide General Plan Framework project, which resulted in a citywide comprehensive plan that recognized the importance of the L.A. River as an integral part of an open space system. This plan also recognized the importance of the transportation system being constructed at the time: an opportunity to retrofit our city around transit/transportation stops and encourage compact focused mixed-use development at locations where alternatives to the automobile were already provided. Finally, the General Plan Framework specifically embraced the great variety in our city from high-density urban neighborhoods to rural, equestrian-oriented neighborhoods. The final framework plan can be reviewed online through the city’s website: lacity.org (look for Planning Department, the General Plan).

Most recently, I was asked to lead the city’s new Urban Design Studio, which under L.A.’s new planning director puts design back into the city’s planning department. That a landscape architect is in this seat is a real bonus for the city.

What are the goals of the Urban Design Studio?

As I told The Planning Report last month (http://www.planningreport.com/tpr/), the Urban Design Studio’s focus is to make real changes in the design, functionality, and variety of our streets, to make them a valued public realm for multiple users. The Urban Design Studio in large part is about making L.A. more walkable and working with the diverse populations in the urban core.

Improving walkability has become a major commitment of the department. I am also leading an interdisciplinary city team to redefine our downtown streets with an emphasis on people over cars. Pat L. Smith, ASLA, the consultant landscape architect, has prepared an extraordinary set of urban design guidelines and context-sensitive street designs that our team is moving forward to adoption by the Council.

As a landscape architect, how do you see and approach urban design and planning?

Landscape architecture background allows me to blend physical and cultural emphases, taking in city history and the special characteristics of neighborhoods. It’s important that decisions and plans are made with all of these factors in mind. Urban design improvements must address multiple issues and needs.

A unique benefit of being in the landscape architectural field is to also understand what it takes to create detail drawings: This has served me very well in working with the city engineer on the preparation of new official cross sections for our downtown streets. Landscape architects and engineers are uniquely suited to partner on new streetscapes.

Can you talk about policy vs. design vs. implementation?

Good policy well implemented can lead to good design on the land on a significant scale. The primary hazard with city planning is that the vision is never institutionalized at the many levels of administration and enforcement, and there are so many levels. Outreach and coordination are critical.

On a project-by-project basis, design and implementation are equally essential to a project’s success. In my experience, knowing how to speak the language of developers and their consultants was central to mediating between neighborhood interests and development interests in a three-dimensional manner.

What are some examples of how your work influences the community (both the community at large and landscape architects)?

Here’s an example from the urban context: a downtown development, three-quarters of a city block, near transit…downtown development that was trailblazing in my city. It had all the hallmarks of a smart growth project with features innovative to Los Angeles.

I entitled the project with a number of key urban design features including a midblock paseo open to the public, a redesign of the public streets with curb extensions, and a planter infiltration system (a collaboration between a civil engineer and landscape architect Calvin Abe, FASLA) in the sidewalk. The developers also built their three buildings as LEED Silver and Gold.

The design was an anathema to L.A.’s suburban-oriented zone code. It was forward thinking. This project, now completing construction, sets a nice high bar for other urban projects to meet or exceed.

A second example was my work on equestrian-keeping subdivisions. These require several special treatments to be successful: trail designations, “horse height” street-crossing buttons, lot layouts that demonstrate that the new houses and the equestrian-keeping facilities can coexist without running afoul of the zoning code (which limits setbacks between houses and horse-keeping facilities). This is a huge challenge because comprehensive knowledge of code, building process, and site engineering and layout are critical elements to a successful project.

In one subdivision, I required a “community ride,” where representatives from the community, the developer, and I rode horseback or muleback through the open space to “spot” the most gentle trail alignments; following the rough grading of the subdivision, the community, developer, and I came back to confirm the final alignment. Those alignments have been constructed with necessary changes that were not apparent on previous rides. The developer will complete water diversion walls, and a new crossing was found over a drainage channel.

This kind of field work is absolutely essential for a successful equestrian subdivision that not only provides the option of owning backyard horses but also adds value to the larger community by increasing, not cutting off, public trails.

What information sources would you recommend for landscape architects who are looking to bring positive change in the public realm?

Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language is useful in visual vocabulary to express cultural and historic patterns; Alan Jacobs’s Great Streets is another indispensable book to those focused on how streets work; Rudofsky’s book on Streets for People; anything by Jane Jacobs. While these may seem unrelated to landscape architecture, they represent the part of practice that I chose: urban physical planning as shaped by new urbanism.

Readers interested in reading more about Emily Gabel Luddy, FASLA, and the City of L.A.’s Planning Department’s Urban Design Studio can find a longer interview with Emily Gabel Luddy, FASLA, in the April 2007 online edition of The Planning Report.