In film, the construction of Los Angeles as a character has been defined through a series of specific theories that have seemingly misrepresented the unique and diverse nature of the city. Broken into two discussions, my paper will attempt to address 1) the way in which urbanization has influenced the landscape of the city of Los Angeles and how the creation of a heavy materialist culture in Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, the illusionary nature of Hollywood in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, and corruption and abuse of power within the LAPD in Curtis Hansen’s L.A. Confidential manifest themselves as products of the this process and 2) the dominant narratives and themes that have been used to construct Los Angeles as a character in film.

Les historiens de l’environnement s’attachent à déchiffrer les modes de relation entre l’homme et la nature aux Etats-Unis. La manière dont elle est définie conditionne les politiques environnementales, et donc contribue à la transformation matérielle du continent. Cinq traditions de la pensée environnementale américaine sont décrites : la nature comme ressource transformée par le travail ; le préservationnisme ; le conservationnisme ; l’écologie ; et la justice environnementale. Ces idées perdurent au XXIème siècle dans les discours construits au sujet de la nature : elles se juxtaposent ou se confrontent. L’objectif de ce travail est de savoir si elles se transforment, en évoluant vers une définition de la relation homme/nature comme hybride socionaturel. À cette fin, trois cas sont étudiés, tous situés dans la région de Los Angeles au début des années 2000. Le premier concerne le ranch Tejon, dont l’accord passé en 2008 entre associations de protection de la nature et propriétaires pose la question du sens donné à une préservation qui veut prendre en compte les aspects à la fois écologiques, mythiques et économiques de ce territoire, vestige du passé de l’Ouest. Le second se rapporte à la décision prise en 2007 par la ville de Los Angeles de revitaliser son fleuve et fournit un exemple de l’élargissement de la définition de la nature : celle-ci peut être urbaine. Enfin, troisième cas, la justice environnementale appliquée à la ferme communautaire de South Central Los Angeles, entretenue de 1994 à 2006, est signe de la transition de la pensée de la nature américaine d’un objet délimité dans l’espace vers une problématique mondiale. / Environmental historians have worked at redefining the modes of relationship between man and nature in the United States. The way this relation is defined conditions environmental politics, and therefore contributes to the material transformation of the continent. Five major trends of thought about nature are described: nature as a resource transformed by work ; preservationism ; conservationism ; ecology ; and environmental justice. Those ideas endure to this very day in the discourses constructed about nature: they either juxtapose or confront each other. The goal of this thesis is to understand whether they undergo a transformation, evolving towards a definition of the man/nature relationship as a socionatural hybrid. To this end, three cases are examined here, all of which are connected with the Los Angeles area in the early 2000s. The first concerns Tejon Ranch and the agreement passed in 2008 about Tejon Ranch between environmental associations and the owners : it poses the question of the meaning given to a preservation that would incorporate ecological, mythical and economic aspects of that territory, a remain of the Western past. The second deals with the decision that was made in 2007 by the City of Los Angeles to revitalize its river and offers a good example of the broadening of the definition of nature: it can also be urban. The ecological and cultural preoccupations about the river complicate the conservation problematic in Southern California. Finally, South Central Farm’s environmental justice case (1994-2006) is the sign of a transition in American environmental ideas from a clearly spatially limited object to a world issue.

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This senior thesis in Environmental Analysis compares critical infrastructure pieces in Tokyo and Los Angeles, on three discrete levels, with a particular focus on the pedestrian experience. As global population grows, with more people projected to live in urban cities more than ever, it is critical that we re-evaluate how we think about and “do” city-planning. Following Jane Jacobs’ theoretical framework, this thesis dissects what urban greenspaces, city neighborhoods, and sidewalks look like in LA and Tokyo. It analyzes, for each proxy, how two of the world’s most “developed” and largest cities have developed into the current landscape. Historical, cultural, economic, and political legacies matter, and a comprehensive evaluation of the three proxies in context of these legacies are recommended for more pedestrian-friendly city planning in rising metropolises.

Cette thèse s'intéresse à quatre projets non construits du groupe d'architectes angeleno Morphosis. Ces quatre projets n'existent que par les maquettes et les dessins qui les représentent, ainsi que par les artefacts conceptuels auxquels ils sont liés ; ils témoignent d'un paroxysme de complexité géométrique et d'un raffinement dans la production graphique, deux caractéristiques du travail des Californiens par lesquelles ils se feront connaître sur la scène internationale à la fin des années 1980. Ces quatre projets – les Malibu, 6th Street, Reno & Was Houses – sont devenus iconiques par la couverture médiatique dont ils ont bénéficié à l'époque, bien que Morphosis les ait présentés sans explications, ou presque. L'ambition de cette recherche est donc de décoder les mécanismes compositionnels et représentationnels à l'oeuvre dans ces projets et dans ces artefacts conceptuels souvent complexes et cryptiques, de façon à exposer les principes à l'oeuvre dans leur écriture architecturale sophistiquée. Pour ce faire, cette recherche dépossède temporairement Morphosis de son statut d'Auteur, et s'empare des objets du corpus afin d'en proposer une lecture interprétative, d'en extirper un propos architectural dont ces objets seraient porteurs, mais que Morphosis n'a jamais explicité comme tel. Les moyens que se donne cette recherche pour mener ces investigations sont principalement des procédés opérationnels basés sur les outils canoniques de la discipline architecturale : la manipulation des systèmes projectifs augmentée des techniques graphiques contemporaines. Il s'agira donc de décrire des objets architecturaux n'existant que dans la représentation graphique, en mobilisant précisément la représentation graphique. Les deux objectifs principaux de cette recherche sont monographiques et méthodologiques. En ce qui concerne les objectifs monographiques, il s'agit de rendre accessible et didactique des procédés de compositions basés sur la systémique et la complexité ostentatoire qui ont fait la marque de fabrique de Morphosis, et de comprendre notamment en quoi les objets du corpus, engendrés par les moyens traditionnels anticipent le courant architectural dit numérique de la décennie qui va suivre. En ce qui concerne les objectifs méthodologiques, il s'agit de mettre au point une méthode d'investigation procédant d'une transposition des outils opérationnels de la conception architecturale dans un contexte analytique ; une méthode faite d'itérations récurrentes empruntant les chemins parfois intuitifs de l'architecte-concepteur, mais dans une démarche d'observation a posteriori, rigoureuse et référencée, en vue de la construction d'un nouveau corpus de connaissances. / Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme (Architecture) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This quantitative study explored the impact of the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program on welfare dependency over time, by evaluating participant income 5 years after completing the FSS program. The study was guided using the framework of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which initiated welfare reform in an effort to decrease dependency on government assistance; and the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act, the law that initiated Public housing reform by reducing the high concentration of poverty. The research question examined whether the FSS Program in Los Angeles County reduced dependency on welfare overtime. The sample size for this study included 256 participants who received housing assistance payments from the Los Angeles County Housing Authority between 2010 and 2019. The results of this study demonstrate that Los Angeles County FSS program graduates are indeed, self-sufficient over time, thus reducing dependency on welfare. Implications for positive social change imply that cities across the nation could experience a decrease in poverty while benefiting from increased tax revenue resulting from higher employment rates. Working adults tend to be less prone to crime if they are making decent wages that can provide for their family.

Hypertension presents a significant health risk to both developed and developing countries, affecting approximately 78 million Americans of various ethnic backgrounds. Though a great deal of research about hypertension and minority groups has been published, few studies have examined hypertension in the Armenian American population in the Los Angeles area, one of the most concentrated Armenian American communities in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in health promotion behavior between hypertensive and normotensive Armenian Americans. The theoretical basis for this study was Pender's health promotion model and the health promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP-II), which is used to measure 6 different subscales of health promotion behavior. A quantitative approach was used to examine the relationship between hypertensive status and health promotion behavior. With a sample size of 204, this study found that while there was no significant difference in overall HPLP-II scores, the normotensive group scored higher on physical activity (p = 0.001) and stress management (p = 0.004). These differences remained significant even when controlling for body mass index (BMI). Additionally, the study found high smoking rates and elevated BMI across both samples. These results suggest that interventions that target stress management and physical activity and use the cultural strengths of interpersonal relationships and spiritual growth may be the most effective. This information may be used as a foundation in future interventional studies and may create significant social change by decreasing hypertension among the Armenian American population and increasing awareness of risk factors and prevention.

"In From Eden to Dystopia: An Ecocritical Examination of Emergent Mythologies" "in Early Los Angeles Literary Texts, ecocriticism and critical regionalism were utilized" "alongside other American Studies practices to analyze nineteenth- and early-twentieth-" "century depictions of nature in Los Angeles. Specifically, these tools were applied to" "travel guides and narratives of the 1870s and 1880s, the turn-of-the-century magazine" "The Land of Sunshine, Upton Sinclair’s Oil! (1926) and Raymond Chandler’s The Big" "Sleep (1939), and other non-fiction publications of the 1920s and ’30s to track an" "evolving narrative of Los Angeles as a paradise and later as a place perched on the edge" "of ecological ruin. Key themes included nature as aesthetic or health-related amenity vs." "exploitable resource, along with both subtle and overt class- and race-based" "environmental exclusions. The chief aim of this thesis was to elucidate how Los Angeles" "went from a “new Eden for the Saxon home-seeker” to the place where its river was" "paved with cement and virtually forgotten for decades. This thesis concluded that with" "the Los Angeles River’s recent revitalization efforts, there could be future gains made for" "other aspects of the city’s environment, with the hope that uncovering past idea-shaping" "narratives of nature in Los Angeles may help illuminate how current ideas of Los" "Angeles as a place without nature came to be and how that city-versus-nature dichotomy" "can be both damaging and false."

The Los Angeles Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) is an incentive program that encourages building reuse through regulatory exemptions. The ARO was partially intended to reduce vehicle miles travelled by encouraging mixed commercial and residential uses in existing buildings within Downtown Los Angeles and areas poised for redevelopment (Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, 2004, pp. 22, 51). Researchers and planners claim that the ARO helped to reduce vehicle miles travelled (Bell, 2014; Los Angeles Department of City Planning, 2014d; Bullen & Love, 2009; Bernstein, 2012), but these claims are not supported by discussions of the spatial distribution of ARO projects in relation to transit, or if the ARO accelerated, or hindered, infill transit-oriented development projects. This thesis aims to better understand the contributions of the ARO to transit-oriented growth in the City of Los Angeles. Two methods of analysis are used: a spatial analysis examining the number of ARO projects within a half-mile radius of Metro stations, and a statistical analysis examining the number of new buildings constructed in Downtown Los Angeles from 1985 to 2013. The majority of ARO projects (72%) have been developed within a half-mile radius of Metro rail stations. The ARO appears to have accelerated downtown development activity since its adoption in 1999, reversing a lull in development that had been occurring in the area since the late 1980s. Findings suggest that the ARO has helped to accommodate and spur transit-oriented growth while preserving historic resources in the City of Los Angeles.

Gang intervention is crucial to improving the lives of Latino males in Los Angeles. The effectiveness of these programs is dependent on society’s perspective of gang members, and its ability to support the work of gang intervention programs. As documented in this research, Latinos face unique obstacles and situations, in education and in life. This qualitative research study aimed to provide insight as to the perceived impact of a Gang Intervention Program, Homeboy Industries, on Latino males. This study also provided insight as to the methods, behaviors, strategies, and situated learning perceived to positively affect former gang members at Homeboy Industries. The protocol included open-ended, in-depth interviews with former gang members now affiliated with Homeboys that met specific criteria. The data from the interviews provided insight about the impact of the past, the struggles of the present, and the aspirations of the future for former gang members in the Homeboys intervention program. Homeboy Industries utilizes a holistic approach to define clear expectations, and enable a collaborative decision making process to develop a shared vision that cultivates trust among former gang members to improve their lives. This shared vision was rooted in the Ignatian paradigm, espoused by Homeboys Industries founder, Father Greg Boyle, S.J. This study validated the need for gang intervention programs similar to the Homeboys Industries model, and a reconstruction of society’s understanding of the former gang member, and his ability to contribute to society.