Should there be any doubt that LA belongs among the big 6 urban US cities?

[craigs]

I still don't see how having local residents holed up all day in offices nearby, as opposed to holed up all day in offices a couple of miles away, makes any specific difference in terms of downtown urbanism or vibrancy. Either people live downtown or they don't. Either people work downtown or they don't. If a critical mass of people do both, then a city center is more likely to be vibrant. I don't think it matters if the people living there and working there are the same.

According to the linked Brookings maps, downtown LA has about 350,000 workers. Those folks will help keep downtown vibrant at lunchtime, and perhaps into dinnertime. But like office workers everywhere--downtown or not--they'll be spending the vast majority of their workday inside. And then they'll go home.

Meanwhile, Brookings puts LA's downtown population at about 175,000 residents. The vast majority of those folks will, again, spend their days holed up in an office somewhere. They will, however, likely contribute to the vibrancy of downtown when they get home from work. That's a decent number of folks who can help keep downtown's restaurants and bars open and busy, at least until the club kids and barhoppers arrive downtown and take it from there. Office workers don't usually stay up all night on workdays, after all.

In any case, I appreciate that you're working with Brookings' maps as it gives us some facts upon which to discuss things. But I question what conclusions we can rationally draw from statistics showing the proportions of downtown residents who also work downtown. One I can see is how many people might walk to work, or ride a bike. But I don't see how, say, downtown Dallas' slightly higher proportion of residents who work nearby means Dallas is more "urban" or "vibrant" than downtown LA. That is especially questionable considering downtown Dallas' total residential population is only 10% of downtown LA's, and its downtown workforce is only 35% of downtown LA's. How would these statistics support the idea that downtown Dallas is more "urban" or "vibrant" than downtown LA? I just don't see it.