“We know parks are valuable assets that have a major return on investment, and the strongest park systems take a multifaceted approach to funding. This PNA offers a roadmap to funding the city’s park system that will help address current needs and improve our parks in the years to come.”

HR&A Advisors Managing Partner Connie Chung shared this perspective in the City of Los Angeles’s announcement of the 2025 Park Needs Assessment (PNA). The first comprehensive assessment of the city’s park system in 15 years.

Developed alongside OLIN Studio, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and an expert team, the PNA identifies current and future needs across 16,000 acres of public parkland to guide investment and ensure the system reflects Los Angeles’s diverse and growing population. HR&A led an analysis of the Department of Recreation and Parks’ operating budget and funding, benchmarking Los Angeles against peer cities, projecting long-term needs, and evaluating strategies to sustain and strengthen the system.

Connie also expanded on these ideas in Torched LA, underscoring the scale of the challenge:

“This is a generational, systemic problem — you can’t solve it in five years. How do we make this the roadmap that continues to be fresh and adaptable for 10 years or longer?”

As Torched LA highlights, the PNA not only diagnoses the depth of LA’s park crisis but also lays out solutions, from targeting where new parks are most needed, to improving existing ones, to securing sustainable funding. Equitable, high-quality parks are more than amenities; they are critical for public health, community resilience, and reducing inequality across Los Angeles.

The 2025 Park Needs Assessment is a pivotal opportunity to reimagine the city’s park system. By combining community input, data-driven analysis, and long-term funding strategies, it lays the foundation for a more equitable and resilient network of parks that serves all Angelenos for generations to come.

The draft PNA is open for public review and comment until October 15, 2025: needs.parks.lacity.gov

Explore the Coverage:

LA Park Needs Assessment Draft Proposes Strategies for Improving Parks and Recreation Citywide — OLIN

Confronting LA’s park crisis —   Torched LA

L.A. parks are too vital to suffer such neglect. Here’s your chance to weigh in on a rescue plan — Los Angeles Times

LA seeks input on road map to improve parks and recreation system — Spectrum News 1

LA Seeks Input on Road Map to Improve Parks and Recreation System — mynewsLA

LA seeks input on road map to improve parks and recreation system — The Eastsider

This press release was originally circulated by LA Parks & OLIN.

After eight months of community engagement and feedback, the City of LA is seeking input on the draft Park Needs Assessment. The Public will have 45 days to share their comments.

LOS ANGELES (September 2, 2025) – The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) today released a draft Parks Needs Assessment (PNA), which provides a roadmap for the city to improve a parks and recreation system that has been hit hard by stagnant spending and declining staffing. The PNA identifies projects and strategies that could produce tangible improvements to the system very quickly that would benefit many residents. It also lays out strategies for steadily bringing the whole system up to par with peer cities that have fared much better in recent years.

The draft is now out for public review and comment until October 15.

The draft PNA is the result of:

• • • extensive and deep community engagement that began in January 2025
    • a park-by-park analysis of conditions and amenities
    • an innovative approach to prioritizing spending on improving existing parks and building new parks based on where investments will serve the most people in the highest areas of need
    • a thorough analysis of the history of funding for recreation and parks in the City, the causes of the current budget and staffing shortfalls, and a variety of options for increasing revenue and finding savings while improving and expanding the system in the years to come

     

    The draft PNA is informed by the results of a citywide survey of residents and dozens of community meetings across Los Angeles. It evaluates the state of more than 16,000 acres of public parkland in nearly 500 parks as well as over 100 recreation centers and other facilities. It will guide future investment in park infrastructure and amenities to help ensure the city’s park system can properly function and provide safe, clean, enjoyable parks and recreation facilities for all Angelenos.

     

    “We appreciate the input of the thousands of Angelenos who have informed this draft PNA,” said RAP General Manager Jimmy Kim. “We believe it can help guide RAP’s investments, operations, maintenance, and programs for years to come, focusing on the priorities that matter most to our communities. We’re excited to share the draft now and invite feedback from residents as we finalize it.”

     

    LA’s PNA Is State-of-the Art

    The draft PNA is a once-in-a-generation effort that has harnessed the best, most up-to-date knowledge and practices in parks planning nationwide. It has employed deep data analysis, extensive and diverse community engagement strategies, an innovative tool for prioritizing investments called PerSquareMile, and a rigorous analysis of past, present, and potential future funding for parks and recreation in LA.

     

    The draft PNA includes a thorough park-by-park and facility-by-facility analysis of RAPs current system. It proposes a system of new park classifications.  It sets targets for increased system-wide park amenities. And it defines guidelines for future site planning and community engagement.

     

    “This park needs assessment is truly best in class,” said Jon Christensen, an adjunct assistant professor in UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Luskin Center for Innovation, who has studied park needs assessment nationwide. “It uses state-of-the-art methods in its analysis of current conditions and finances, as well as in its robust community engagement. And it brings an innovative approach to prioritizing needs that can guide future investments to serve the most people in highest need across Los Angeles.”

     

    RAP’s Budget Is Not Keeping Up with Need

    

     

    LA parks are popular, but parks funding is lagging behind the growth of the city. The draft PNA found that RAP’s budget has not kept up with the City’s overall budget growth or inflation. RAP’s operating budget grew 35% between fiscal years 2009 and 2023, half the rate of the City’s 68% overall budget increase during the same period. The Los Angeles parks system continues to grow, but faces severe challenges as its workforce shrinks, making it more difficult to maintain facilities, offer programs, and care for parks and open spaces. Full and part-time staff at RAP has decreased since 2008 as park acreage has increased.

     

    Despite parks being a very popular amenity in Los Angeles according to a statistically valid survey of residents, the City spends less on parks than peer cities — only $92 per capita. The Trust For Public Land’s annual ParkScore survey ranks the largest 100 cities in the United States. Los Angeles is currently ranked 90th, largely because of inadequate funding. RAP’s operating budget is funded by the City-Charter Property Tax Revenue Allocation, earned revenue, and the General Fund.

     

    “Most urban park systems across the country have  faced funding challenges over the last half century or more,” said Connie Chung, Managing Partner at HR&A Advisors in Los Angeles. “We know parks are valuable assets that have a major return on investment, and the strongest park systems take a multifaceted approach to funding. This PNA offers a roadmap to funding the city’s park system that will help address current needs and improve our parks in the years to come.”

     

    “L.A. has fallen in our national ranking because of inadequate funding for parks and the fact that low-income communities of color have fewer parks,” explained Guillermo Rodriguez, California state director the Trust for Public Land. “This new Park Needs Assessment clearly identifies pathways to solve both of those problems so that L.A. can build back a world-class park system over time. Now we all need to work together to create a new funding streams for recreation and parks in the city.”

     

     

    The PNA Has a Plan for Measurable Results

    While funding is tight and new revenue streams are needed, the PNA is a guide to bring measurable results to LA parks now. The draft PNA proposes a prioritization strategy based on feedback from residents across the city and input from the PNA’s Steering Committee, Neighborhood Councils, a Technical Advisory Committee, Advisory Boards, and interested groups. The prioritization process identifies the areas that most need improvement as well as new and expanded park space. It also provides guidance for operations and maintenance priorities.

     

    “The PNA is a roadmap for how to address the current situation and over time strengthen what can be a world-class park system,” said Jessica Henson, a landscape architect and planner with OLIN, who leads the PNA consultant team.“Nearly a century ago the Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for Los Angeles proposed 71,000 acres of parkland and numerous strategies to connect parks across the region, but it was never realized, largely due to governance issues. As the Great Depression began and budgets tightened, civic leaders shelved the plan. A century later we are still grappling with a lack of adequate parks and open space in many parts of the city, plus a system that suffers from lack of adequate investment. Today, this PNA brings into focus the priorities and strategies  that will enable Angelenos to have the park system they deserve in the 21st century.”
     

    Process

    The PNA process included hundreds of opportunities for residents of LA to share ideas and feedback through a variety of engagement methods, including in-person and virtual community meetings, pop-up events, partnerships with community-based organizations, equity-focused events, key group meetings, surveys, and a project website. With a focus on equitable, innovative, and creative community engagement, the process aims to ensure that all voices are heard and valued, using both in-person and digital tools to encourage active participation. The feedback gathered throughout this process will inform future decisions related to park improvements, funding, and new development.

     

    Starting September 1, 2025, the PNA will enter into a 45-day review process before being finalized and presented to the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners for adoption in December. The public comment period will close October 15, 2025.

     

    For more information, and to stay updated on community events and engagement opportunities, please visit the project website at needs.parks.lacity.gov.
    

     

    About City of LA Parks

    The Department of Recreation and Parks operates around 500 park sites and 92 miles of trails that cover more than 16,000 acres of land in Los Angeles.

     

    The park system includes some of the world’s most iconic parks such as Griffith Park, Sepulveda Basin, Echo Park, and MacArthur Park, as well as hundreds of community and neighborhood parks, Venice Beach, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and 12 museums.

     

    Project Team

    The project is being led by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. A Technical Advisory Committee, a Steering Committee, City of LA elected offices and staff, government departments, and organizations that have provided guidance to the project consultant team.

     

    Through a competitive “request for proposal” process, the City selected OLIN and their team includes the subconsultants HR&A Advisors, Kounkuey Design Initiative, Agency: Artifact, The Robert Group, Estolano Advisors, Geosyntec Consultants, GreenInfo Network, Better World Group, Dharam Consulting, Calvada, LANDAU Design + Technology, ETC Institute, and West of West Architecture, and was approved by a unanimous vote of the Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners in December 2024.

Written by Jeff Hébert, CEO

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in New Orleans, forever changing the city, the Gulf Coast region, and how we think about disaster response.

So many of us from Louisiana knew we had to go home. We had no real plan, just the certainty that we needed to be there. In those early days after the storm, our world narrowed to what was right in front of us — our families, our neighbors, and our immediate community. New Orleans was heavy with grief and uncertainty. Relief systems were inadequate and overwhelmed.

Yet in the middle of that chaos, something else emerged: human resolve. Residents became rescuers, teachers became community leaders, and strangers became family.

Days turned into years, and many of us, myself included, ended up dedicating our careers to the long-term recovery of New Orleans and helping other communities prepare and respond to disaster.

I’m proud that HR&A and so many of you in our extended community continue to support New Orleans in building a more equitable and resilient city.

After two decades and countless other catastrophic events in communities around the country, we’ve learned that true recovery isn’t about getting back to how things were. It’s about building something better for the people who call that place home.

The lessons from Hurricane Katrina are universal and should continue to shape our response to every community facing the unthinkable:

• • Preparedness is everything. Waiting for disaster to strike is too late. Proactive resilience must be built into infrastructure, planning, and leadership.
  • • Listen to communities. Locals know what they need. If recovery doesn’t involve them, it fails them.
    • • Leadership requires humility and decisiveness. You can’t have all the answers, but you must be willing to act and demonstrate progress.
      • • Disasters expose inequity. The levee breaks didn’t just flood a city, they revealed systemic cracks we couldn’t afford to ignore.
        • • The bonds between people are the strongest foundation. Again and again, people show up and find a way to fill the gap where resources fall short. But long-term resilience requires proper support.

           

          As we mark this anniversary, let’s not only remember what was lost, but recommit to the work that remains. There are hard lessons that still haven’t been learned. Let’s also take a moment to reflect on what Katrina and subsequent events have exposed about who gets left behind and what it will take to ensure every community has the chance to not just survive, but thrive.

“Hurricane Katrina was a wake-up call about the heightened intensity of storms and what that amount of water could do. In its wake, city, state, and federal officials set out to make sure that type of engineering catastrophe would never happen again.”

HR&A Advisors CEO Jeff Hébert, who served as New Orleans’ first Chief Resilience Officer from 2012 to 2017, shared his thoughts in this recent Smart Cities Dive article, which traces New Orleans’ centuries-long battle against flooding and hurricanes, from its first levees in the 1700s to today’s multi-billion-dollar storm protection systems. Nearly 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans continues to grapple with the challenges of climate change, sea level rise, and subsidence.

The piece also highlights how communities, advocacy groups, and city leaders are combining gray and green infrastructure solutions — from reinforced levees and pumping stations to bioswales, stormwater parks, and wetlands restoration — to build a safer and more resilient future.

Jeff also shared insights into the immediate recovery efforts in this piece from BisNow which examines how New Orleans’ commercial real estate market has navigated rebuilding over the past two decades.

Read the full articles:

Katrina’s 20th: Jeff Hébert on Community Recovery and Resilience — Ten Across

After Katrina, green infrastructure aims to supplement the rebuilt — but still vulnerable — levees  —  Smart Cities Dive

20 Years After Katrina, Hotels Define New Orleans. Everything Else Barely Registers — BisNow

After two years of detailed planning and engineering, evaluation of multiple station layout options, and 5,700+ community inputs, San José Diridon Station is ready to move to the next phase of redevelopment. The Diridon Partner Agencies have released an Alternatives Development Report, and elected officials have approved the At-Grade Alternative for environmental review. When complete, Diridon Station will be the nexus where Caltrain, California High-Speed Rail, BART, VTA light rail, and local transit converge in a world-class station that serves 100,000 passengers a day.

HR&A is proud to continue supporting the Partner Agencies (Caltrain, California High-Speed Rail Authority, City of San José, MTC, and VTA) in shaping governance for station redevelopment. Our work focuses on creating a delivery entity and operational strategy for the station, evaluating funding opportunities, and providing ongoing strategic guidance.

Read the complete Diridon Station Alternatives Development Report, including the Executive Summary and detailed appendices here. 

We followed three Interns from our Class of 2025—Alexander in DC, Camryn in LA, and Jose in NYC—to see what a day in the life of an HR&A intern looks like. From morning commutes that make them feel connected to the urban systems they’re helping shape to working on projects for some of the 180+ cities and communities across the globe that HR&A has served so far this year, our Interns get hands-on experience from day one. 

HR&A’s Internship Program features: 

• • Direct collaboration with Partners on real projects 
  • Dedicated mentorship with weekly career development conversations 
  • Support developing best-in-practices skills, learning new technical tools, and understanding our rigorous methodologies 
  • Cross-office teamwork spanning our locations across the country 
  • Final presentations that offer an opportunity for Interns to showcase their impact 
  • Hybrid flexibility that maximizes both in-person collaboration and connectivity

  This isn’t your typical internship experience. Our interns contribute to projects that transform communities, work alongside senior leadership, and build skills that launch careers in urban development. 

   

  Interested in joining our next cohort? Keep an eye out for when applications open this fall!

   

  

   

  

   

  

  

   

Queens 2100 confronts a hard truth: flooding in coastal communities isn’t a distant threat—it’s already reshaping how we live, invest, and plan. HR&A Advisors Principal Jonathan Haragold joined a study led by Bill Kenworthey from HOK, which moves beyond the question of if flooding will disrupt life in low-lying neighborhoods—and instead asks when, how much, and what we can do now.

Nearly 40% of Americans live in coastal counties, and this plan provides a scalable, neighborhood-level framework to help low-lying areas prepare for climate impacts. From buyouts and leasebacks to targeted rezoning and disclosure laws, Queens 2100 lays out practical tools that any neighborhood can use to shift growth away from flood risks and safeguard local residents and businesses.

Read the full article to explore the strategies and tools shaping this neighborhood-focused approach to climate adaptation here.

As cities nationwide continue grappling with office vacancies, Arlington County, like many municipalities and local governments, is exploring a streamlined approach to office-to-residential conversions. 

One of the authors of a recent Office to Residential Study with Brookings Metro and Gensler for HUD, HR&A Partner Jon Meyers shared his thoughts in The Builder’s Daily: “In addition to a policy environment that’s conducive to conversion, there has to be a residential demand to support that conversion. People have to want to live there.” 

Explore how adaptive reuse can transform urban spaces and support vibrant, resilient communities. Read the full Brookings report here.