Playa Vista's neighborhoods are interconnected by a street grid designed to make pedestrians a top priority. Walking distance to public services and activities is minimized and multiple stops

and crossings, roundabouts, reduced lane widths, and chokers at intersections collectively slow traffic.

Streets are pedestrian-oriented in scale and building orientation. A grid pattern has been laid out to create walkable, accessible districts that optimize traffic flow. Street trees are planted at 25- to 30-foot (7.5- to nine-meter) intervals, with amenities including benches, trash receptacles, and pedestrian-scale lighting. Buildings face the streets in an orderly manner, with careful attention to scale and treatment of transitional areas. High-speed traffic is discouraged through multiple stops, crossings, district squares, and narrower lanes. Transit will be an integral part of the community, with most public uses located within walking distance of transit stops. Population densities will support an effective transit system, which will be routed along major streets.

Rather than locating uses in large, single-purpose districts, they are arranged in a finer-grained, small-parcel pattern. Storefront retail space will be interspersed throughout the neighborhoods, and completed districts will offer shops and amenities that appeal to target resident groups. In true "Main Street" style there will be residences above the shops. Playa Vista

Playa Vista's marina restrict (this page) combines public boat berthing facilities with residential, hotel and commercial uses. A two-mile-long shoreline promenade (below and right) provides continuous public access to the water's edge.

Two small islands (visible in plan, bottom left) with parks at their centers contain the only detached dwellings to be built within Playa Vista. A major public plaza (bottom right) lined with shops and restaurants opens out to the harbor from the northern edge of the site.

Several special districts are envisioned within the Playa Vista master plan. Both the village center and marina combine residential uses with other activities that define their special character within the community.

Playa Vista's principal shopping areas are found in the village center (plan, below). While experienced as a traditional main street, the retail district takes advantage of many administrative and merchandising methods more typical of malls.

Security, tenant mix, store-front design, parking and store hours are some of the areas that may be coordinated within the centralized management structure proposed for the district.

The streetscape of Runway Boulevard (below), Playa Vista's main artery, reflects the combination of uses found in the village center. Ground-floor commercial frontage predominates, with residential uses above.

Neighborhood retail (bottom) is provided in specific locations throughout the plan, most often adjacent to public parks.

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Opening pages: The community plan for Playa Vista, the country's largest urban infill and urban wetland relocation project, shows its relationship to the city of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. The Ballona Wetlands constitute the entire western portion of the site.

Right, top: A deceptively typical Southern California-style entrance belies the fact that Playa Vista is the first new community of this scale in the region to incorporate new urbanist principles.

Right, bottom: Approximately half of the Playa Vista site will be devoted to parks and open space. Each of the 40 parks will have its own identity, such as Crescent Park (right), an expansive outdoor event venue. Local streets facilitate open access to parks, and residential buildings around them create an urban edge.

The Playa Vista plan distributes office uses throughout the site. The largest concentration of such uses is at the eastern end of the community, adjacent to the San Diego Freeway.

Planned as a campus, more than 3.5 million square feet of office space is provided in an urban setting of streets and blocks arranged around a central landscaped mall.

Retail stores, restaurants, civic buildings and cultural facilities (indicated in red on plan) are interspersed among the buildings of the office campus. Nearby residential neighborhoods are within easy walking distance.

This district's somewhat larger blocks are better able to accommodate the large floorplate buildings and parking capacities desired by office tenants.

Fifteen different housing types provide myriad choices including condominiums, townhouses, single-family detached, and rental apartments. Artistic renderings of condominiums from top to bottom: The Metro, which lends an art deco flavor to the northern edge of Crescent Park; Villa d'Este's mansion-inspired design conceals interior courtyards with fountains, tiled arches, and gardens; Crescent Walk entry-level condominiums are conveniently located between Crescent Park and the Center-Pointe Club.

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