Commercial Citywide Design Guidelines

The City of Los Angeles' General Plan Framework Element and each of the City's 35 Community Plans promote architectural and design excellence in buildings, landscape, open space, and public space. They also stipulate that preservation of the City's character and scale, including its traditional urban design form, shall be emphasized in consideration of future development. To this end, the Citywide Design Guidelines have been created to carry out the common design objectives that maintain neighborhood form and character while promoting design excellence and creative infill development solutions.

Commercial land serves the shopping and service needs of residents in Los Angeles and has the potential to contribute to a strong sense of neighborhood identity. Commercial parcels can be organized and concentrated differently throughout the City and resulting forms significantly influence the nature of how residents access goods and services. In some communities, commercial land is organized in a linear pattern along major arterial corridors; sometimes commercial parcels are concentrated in nodes at intersections or interspersed with predominantly residential uses; and in Regional Centers such as Downtown, Century City, and Warner Center, commercial uses are concentrated vertically

Thoughtful design components reinforce the positive identity of a community’s commercial core and contribute to neighborhood character. The following design guidelines are intended to address some of the most common, overarching challenges in planning commercial developments within our diverse communities. The prime areas of opportunity for attaining high quality design in commercial projects include: enhancing the quality of the pedestrian experience along commercial corridors; nurturing an overall active street presence; protecting and conserving the neighborhood architectural character; establishing height and massing transitions between residential and commercial uses; maintaining visual and spatial relationships with adjacent buildings; and optimizing opportunities for high quality infill development that strengthens the visual and functional quality of the commercial environment within the context of our neighborhoods. More specific design regulations relating to individual communities can be found in each of the 35 Community Plans, or special zoning designations such as specific plans, community design overlay districts, redevelopment plans, designated historic properties, and historic districts.

For the City of Los Angeles Planning Department website's Commercial Citywide Design Guidelines Checklist click here.