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LONG OVERLOOKED BY PROMINENT SCHOLARS, Los Angeles today is widely recognized by social scientists as a prototypical urban region of the future. Other American and international cities are only now coming to grips with many of the same urban processes Los Angeles has experienced.

During the 1990s, for example, America’s leading multi-ethnic metropolis became increasingly Latino, increasing urban density characterized this capital of urban sprawl, and the region’s de-industrialized economy began to reindustrialize. These transformations are now underway in other major urban centers across America, including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas.

There is now substantial and growing scholarly interest in cities and urban regions around the world, and Los Angeles has become a focus of much of this research.

Founded in 1994 with a grant from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University is at the forefront of regional urban studies. The Center’s mission is to promote research in the living urban laboratory that is Los Angeles in order to better understand urban America.

Most of the Center’s activities fall within three program areas: leadership studies, community studies, and the Research Collection. The Center has become a University leader in developing multidisciplinary courses, producing highly regarded applied research, and promoting civic involvement.

The Center’s programs are designed with an understanding that research and teaching are of limited utility unless they lead to action of leaders, institutions, and the public. It is also understood that action is trivial or even dangerous, unless it fosters a more just and ethical community.

Thus the programs of the Center support Loyola Marymount University’s mission of providing students with a strong liberal arts education that emphasizes human values, reflects critically on the human condition, and integrates intellectual investigation with social awareness.

The Leavey Center welcomes requests to analyze its data, or collaborate on research and educational forums. Please send requests to:
 
Jennifer L. Magnabosco, Ph.D.
Associate Director & Senior Research Associate
Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles
jmagnabo@lmu.edu
310-338-4565

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