Los Angeles - The Architecture of Four Ecologies


What comparisons can we draw from Bristol's highway infrastructure and that of Los Angeles? The highway network of Los Angeles was created during the 1950s, while L.A was still undergoing massive development. Los Angeles is much larger than Bristol; Los Angeles is 498.3 sq mi while Bristol is only 42.5 sq mi. To create a highway running through the middle of L.A is perhaps more appropriate than placing a large freeway through Bristol which can be easily negotiated by foot.
The American model of high speed personal transit was influential with many cities; In the case of Bristol the city planners introduced a highway that cut through the city instead of being designed around it. Speculative housing development had created an urban grain throughout the east side of the city that had established itself after the industrial revolution. placing a motorway through this area effectively fragments that urban grain by creating a barrier that is almost impermeable to any mode of transport other than the car. This has isolated this part of the city, manifesting itself with the Easton ward now amongst the most deprived areas in the UK.
The motorway was constructed between 1966 and 1975 and opened to traffic in stages:
  • M4 Junction 19 to Junction 1 opened in 1966.
  • Junctions 1 to 2 opened in 1970.
  • Junctions 2 to 3 opened in 1975.

Perhaps if the motorway system had been designed so that the motorway junctions between junction 2 and junction 3 (the inner city areas) were above or below ground with a greater emphasis placed on pedestrian flow at ground level the result would have created a more permeable city and a more prosperous East Bristol?

The images attached show the turn off exit at junction 2 on the M32, the large terraced houses hint at a once affluent area, with Eastville Park opposite (not shown) now unfortunately a great but terribly underused park.


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