{"id":180015,"date":"2026-02-16T11:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180015\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T11:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:34:09","slug":"nearly-half-of-l-a-countys-pavement-may-be-unnecessary-new-map-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180015\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly half of L.A County\u2019s pavement may be unnecessary, new map finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Los Angeles is often described as a concrete jungle, a city shaped by asphalt, parking lots and other hardscape. Now, for the first time, researchers have mapped that concrete in detail, and they claim a lot of it doesn\u2019t need to be there.<\/p>\n

A new analysis finds that some 44% of Los Angeles County\u2019s 312,000 acres of pavement may not be essential for roads, sidewalks or parking, and could be reconsidered.<\/p>\n

The report, DepaveLA, is the first parcel-level analysis to map all paved surfaces across L.A. County, and to distinguish streets, sidewalks, private properties, and other areas. The researchers divided all pavement into \u201ccore\u201d and \u201cnon-core\u201d uses. A street, for example, is core. Then they paired that map with data on heat, flooding and tree canopy, creating what they intend as a new framework for understanding where removing concrete and asphalt could make the biggest difference for people\u2019s health and the climate.<\/p>\n

\"Principal <\/p>\n

Principal Brad Rumble visits an area where students are restoring natural habitat at Esperanza Elementary.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Paved surfaces get hotter than those with plantings, absorbing and radiating out the sun\u2019s energy rather than converting it into plant growth, which in turn creates shade. Hotter areas also create more ozone smog. Greener areas are known to bring people psychological relief as well.<\/p>\n

The authors are the nonprofit Accelerate Resilience L.A., founded by Andy Lipkis, who also founded TreePeople, the Los Angeles tree planting organization, and Hyphae Design Laboratory, a nonprofit that works to bridge health and the built environment.<\/p>\n

What surprised them most, said Brent Bucknum, founder of Hyphae, was seeing where the pavement is concentrated. Nearly 70% of what they deemed non-core pavement is on private property.<\/p>\n

Rather than a sweeping removal of pavement, the report highlights small changes that could add up.<\/p>\n

The most potential they found was in parking areas, especially large, privately owned commercial and industrial lots. Redesigning 90-degree parking into angled parking could get rid of up to 1,600 acres, creating room for trees and stormwater capture, without reducing the number of parking spaces.<\/p>\n

Parking lots, Bucknum said, are one of the clearest examples of how excess pavement has become accepted, even as it makes everyday life worse for residents.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial <\/p>\n

Aerial view of hardscpe area inside Pershing Square in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m often amazed \u2014 I\u2019ll drive into a parking lot and there\u2019s beeping, bumper-to-bumper traffic, you\u2019re under this sweltering heat trying to get out of the grocery store,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the reality is, we can make it a lot nicer with more thoughtful design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Stapleton, chief executive officer of the U.S. Green Building Council California, pointed to parking requirements that long tied the number of spaces to a building\u2019s size and use. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe natural solution was to just pave things over, because it\u2019s cheaper, it\u2019s less maintenance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not very expensive, especially asphalt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residential property, including apartment complexes, are another place with potential.<\/p>\n

If each residential parcel cut a 6-by-6-foot tree well in their patio, Bucknum said, it would amount to 1,530 acres of pavement removed, while on average only reducing patio space by 3%.<\/p>\n

Emily Tyrer, director of green infrastructure at TreePeople, said pavement is expanding in residential yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is that a lot of residential yards are moving toward more paving and less lawn,\u201d she said. \u201cRather than replacing it with shade trees and native plantings and low water use plants, they\u2019re paving over.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many cases, she said, homeowners are responding to drought messaging and rising water costs.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A person walks their dog past native plants and flowers planted along the Merced Avenue Greenway in South El Monte, where they are rethinking how urban infrastructure can simultaneously serve pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists while providing essential environmental benefits.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cPaving does reduce water use, and it can reduce people\u2019s water bills,\u201d Tyrer said. \u201cBut it comes with trade-offs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report also identifies schools as places where there could be less concrete or asphalt. On average, school campuses across L.A. County are approximately 40% covered in pavement,<\/a> leaving students exposed to extreme heat.<\/p>\n

At Esperanza Elementary School, near downtown Los Angeles, the campus was \u201cjust a sea of asphalt,\u201d said Tori Kjer, executive director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, which is overseeing a transformation at the school. Children ran across blacktop that could reach over 120 degrees on warm days.<\/p>\n

It will soon have new California native plants and shade trees, stormwater capture features, grassy lawn, natural play elements, outdoor classrooms and more.<\/p>\n

Many of the school families live in small apartments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t have any open space,\u201d Kjer said. \u201cThey leave their home, and they\u2019re basically just on concrete streets and sidewalks.\u201d Once the asphalt is removed and the trees go in, and rainwater is guided away, it will be a \u201cplace for quiet, imaginative play and active play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea for the Depave report grew out of years of work on tree planting and green infrastructure projects that repeatedly ran into the same barrier.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial <\/p>\n

Installation of natural landscaping is currently under at Esperanza Elementary in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

On project after project, pavement emerged as the central problem, according to Bucknum. \u201cWe were trying to plant trees, but so much of the city is paved that there was nowhere to put them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The team realized they needed better data to understand the problem, down to the block and neighborhood scale. Something more sophisticated than what is pavement and what is trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a first step,\u201d said Devon Provo, senior manager, planning and program alignment at Accelerate Resilience L.A. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity assessment, not a prescriptive plan for what should 100% be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olivier Sommerhalder, a principal and global sustainability leader at the design and planning firm Gensler, pointed out businesses that have paid out the money to pave something would need an upside to replace it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no incentives for property owners to reduce hardscape,\u201d Sommerhalder said. \u201cThe municipality does not incentivize the removal of parking to mitigate urban heat hot spots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sommerhalder said sustainability is increasingly part of design conversations with clients, particularly as tenants ask about comfort and environmental performance. But without policy or financial incentives, he said, surface parking often remains untouched until redevelopment.<\/p>\n

\"Innovative <\/p>\n

This innovative 1.1-mile greenway in South El Monte offers not only safe and accessible paths for walking and biking but also serves as a sustainable approach to managing stormwater, restoring habitats, and reducing urban heat.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

As for what an incentive might look like, \u201cwe think a really good analogy is the lawn replacement program,\u201d Bucknum said, referring to rebate programs that helped shift Southern California away from water-intensive turf. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t know there were other options until there was education and financial support.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to take into account what is underneath the pavement, said Carlos Moran, executive director of North East Trees, especially in areas with industrial histories.<\/p>\n

In some neighborhoods, he said, pavement caps contaminated soil that cannot safely be disturbed. \u201cWe can\u2019t just rip it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he agreed there\u2019s too much pavement. \u201cThe hottest blocks in Los Angeles, they\u2019re not just lacking trees,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re overbuilt with asphalt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal of the report, Provo said, is to give Angelenos and decision-makers a shared starting point for conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis data is relevant to anyone who wants to have a say in reimagining the future of Los Angeles to be cooler, healthier and more vibrant,\u201d Provo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that it opens the eyes of people who are building projects who may not have ever even thought about pavement in this way,\u201d Stapleton said. \u201cOnce you learn something, you don\u2019t unlearn it.\u201d <\/p>\n

By reframing pavement as a design choice rather than a default, Stapleton believes that the analysis could prompt developers and property owners to rethink how much concrete their projects really need, and what they might gain by replacing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles is often described as a concrete jungle, a city shaped by asphalt, parking lots and other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2600,85443,85445,1758,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,1741,85444,2426,65441,592,1506,3729,4265,61000,13795],"class_list":{"0":"post-180015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-asphalt","9":"tag-brent-bucknum","10":"tag-concrete-jungle","11":"tag-director","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-headlines","14":"tag-la-news","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","17":"tag-los-angeles-news","18":"tag-los-angeles-times","19":"tag-lot","20":"tag-olivier-sommerhalder","21":"tag-parking","22":"tag-pavement","23":"tag-people","24":"tag-project","25":"tag-report","26":"tag-school","27":"tag-sidewalk","28":"tag-tree"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}