Codifying Invisible Borders: How Municipal Ordinances Inscribe Market Values on the Landscape in Downtown Los Angeles

Zoning codes dramatically impact every community they touch. Ostensibly, these ordinances are meant to impose some collectively determined order on our built environments. In practice, they often draw lines in the sand that distribute power unevenly between residents. As home to the U.S.’ second largest homeless population, Los Angeles is but a stark example of the widespread housing crisis hitting many cities around the globe. In the 1970s, this is where the city drew borders around its Skid Row and consolidated social services in a bid to contain homelessness within the region’s urban core. As part of a an ambitious initiative launched in 2013, the city is now updating the zoning codes across its downtown area, a move that is prompting a vigorous debate over the role of municipal ordinances in codifying market-driven approaches to neighborhood revitalization. This interview engages with the Janus face of borders as inclusionary and exclusionary, asking: through what mechanisms – subtle and overt – do zoning codes dictate the shape of our private and communal spaces? And how can communities stake out their turf among competing value systems?