Where Preservation Meets Land Use Regulation: Historic Districts in Los Angeles

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Local historic districts function as a zoning overlay regulating the urban form, yet limited empirical analysis has considered how historic districts may interact with broader land use regulations. We conducted a comparative case study of the designation process in two Los Angeles (CA) neighborhoods, combining archival research and building permit data analysis. We examined land use regulations, development patterns, and the arguments of supporters and opponents to understand the intended purposes of the historic districts and the factors that contributed to either adoption or withdrawal. We found interactions between historic districts and other land use and zoning regulations substantially shaped the designation process and outcome. The designation process also has the potential to foster diverse community coalitions organized around a wide range of concerns, from anti-development to anti-displacement. Because our analysis focused on comparing two neighborhoods in Los Angeles, different factors could shape designation processes in other localized contexts. Still, we have identified lessons with transferability to planning in other cities. Takeaway for practice: Planners should more explicitly attend to the potential conflicts between neighborhood-level historic district designation versus broader housing density and affordability goals. We recommend changes to the historic preservation plan-making process that would include explicit considerations of how the designation could affect housing production and rental affordability to more tightly link to the housing element of the general plan and relevant community plans. Incorporating these considerations into the historic district designation process would allow for better balancing of preservation and development goals.