Los Angeles is a Sustainable City

To establish the degree to which the city of Los Angeles can be considered sustainable, I

selected the Egan Wheel, shown below, as the basis for analysis. Sustainability is defined as “the

ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations

to meet their own needs” (United Nations). In contrast to solely environmental sustainability, I

chose to focus on a more comprehensive sustainability that includes all aspects of society. To be

truly sustainable, a community must “efficiently use natural resources, enhance the environment,

strengthen economic prosperity, as well as promote social cohesion” (United Nations).

Therefore, the Egan Wheel, shown below, serves as an outline for my research.

sustainable (Sellick). At the time, the British government was looking into improvements in

quality of life. As a result, Egan devised the Egan Wheel as a tool for judging sustainable

The Egan Wheel

communities. The wheel consists of eight subsections--governance, transportation, services,

environmental, equity, economy, housing and the built environment, and social and cultural;

each section describes the ideal sustainable approach to its aspects.

In order to quantitatively examine each sector based on a qualitative description, I

utilized factual data as well as an opinion based survey that I conducted in Los Angeles. To

obtain adequate results for my survey, I recruited four classmates and divided the 18 question

survey into three smaller surveys. We surveyed in The Grove as well as the Los Angeles County

Museum of Art in L.A., selecting participants at random to answer six questions each. These

surveys provide a supplement to the factual research in my examination...

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...CBS Los Angeles. CBS

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26. Sanderson, Matthew. "L.A. Crime Falls for 11th Straight Year." Studio City Patch. Studio

City Patch, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

27. Sellick, Jessica. "Rural Services Network." Making Rural Places to Live and Work. Rural

Services Network, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

28. Semuels, Alana. "Los Angeles Among Cities with High Levels of Income Inequality." Los

Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

29. "United States Census." United States Census. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 24

Feb. 2014.

30. Winton, Richard. "Jury Finds That L.A. Officer Used Excessive Force in Fatal Shooting."

Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2014.