LOOKING FOR REGIONALISM IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES Demography, Geography, and Community in Los Angeles County

The new regionalism tends to emphasize the commonalities of central cities and their suburbs. Los Angeles County has surprisingly minor differences between central city and suburb—leading one to wonder why municipal alliances across jurisdictional lines have not been more prominent. The author tackles this anomaly by breaking L.A. County into 58 different areas and tracking demographic and economic change between 1970 and 1990. The analysis suggests that there are important differences in the ethnic and economic dynamics of various subregions. As a result, “smart-growth” politics may have less salience in Los Angeles than would an alternative regionalism rooted in community-based movements and organizations.