The Dingbat, which has long been a residential icon of the Los Angeles area, is direly in need of an update. Transportation and congestion are some of the greatest obstacles that Los Angeles faces today and the traditional Dingbat fails to respond to these problems in many ways. Not only has the limited capacity (6-8 households per building) proven insufficient in accommodating the rapidly increasing population and thus exacerbating already problematic sprawl, but the back-out parking spaces traversing the sidewalks create unfriendly and hazardous walking conditions for pedestrians making the already difficult journey to public transit even more of a challenge.
The new Dingbat 2.0 is an evolved prototype of its predecessor and at the same time the centerpiece to a new urban planning typology named “Pleasantville.” Dingbat 2.0 responds to the rising population of the Los Angeles area by accommodating almost triple the numbers of units and thus helping to reduce further sprawl. The buildings are shifted toward the street, which are turned into vehicle-only streets, to maximize the width of the previous back alley which is landscaped into a lush pedestrian passageway. From an urban perspective, dedicated passageways for pedestrians will ensure safer and more attractive conditions for them to access public transit nodes, which in turn will help reduce dependence on private vehicle usage.
