The Woods Bagot global team and place-making consultancy ERA-co contributed case studies exploring the continual impact of transport electrification, the re-appropriation and adaptability of previous vacant parking lots, and the contextual reimagination of conventional gas stations through immersive, flexible, and tech-driven designs.

Renewing the Dream is a first-of-its-kind urban planning manifesto from a major architectural practice in many years.

Our global teams, book editor James Sanders, global place consultancy Era-co, and renowned urban landscape contributors, including Frances Anderton, Donald Shoup, and Mark Vallianatos, thoughtfully examine, propose, and investigate alternate urbanization scenarios balanced across new mobility modes.

Since 2015, Woods Bagot has progressively invested in research and technology to understand human experiences better in support of its People Architecture vision. It is a purposeful shift towards an architecture practice that relates more directly to the user experience.

Woods Bagot is invested in understanding the context of its local communities, seeking meaningful insight into critical regional issues, and providing appropriate solutions to housing shortages and relevant urban design challenges.

Los Angeles is a polycentric city that launched suburbia around the emancipation of mobility. It has much to offer global metropolises as it deals with its deep-seated car culture and moves towards electrification. Mobility is still one of the most compelling arguments for sustainable development and imagining how we will all live and travel in the future.

The book is available to purchase here.

“Los Angeles is a polycentric city that launched suburbia around the emancipation of mobility. It has much to offer global metropolises as it deals with its deep-seated car culture and moves towards electrification. Mobility is still one of the most compelling arguments for sustainable development and imagining how we will all live and travel.”

Nik Karalis, CEO, Woods Bagot
Pump to Plug symposium render

“Despite the title, this book is no dream. It’s a practical, panoramic collection of ideas that are already in play and reports on steps already taken. A less car-dependent L.A., already in motion, may have something to teach the rest of the country.”

– Justin Davidson, New York Magazine & Curbed

“The “freshest member” of the global studio, founded in 2020, is in Los Angeles, where numerous projects to date have focused on transportation, including a concourse at LAX and a proposal for turning gas stations in Los Angeles into EV charging stations with cultural components like drive-in theaters. This beautifully produced coffee table book is full of striking visuals by Woods Bagot and from the worlds of art, photography, and cinema.”

– John Hill, Archidose

“Today, LA is still choked with vehicles, but according to Matt Ducharme from Woods Bagot, it is also teeming with potential. Because LA County isn’t just about cars. It’s also “the epicenter of a mobility revolution that is making, unmaking, and remaking the way we all live and move,” as author Greg Lindsay puts it in an essay featured in the book.”

– Elissaveta Brandon, Fast Company

Related