Los Angeles Beyond the Car: Hidden Landscapes of Nature, Culture, and Power - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Recorded On: 09/16/2026

Experiencing a city at street level reveals hidden nature, social networks, and power dynamics. Through cycling in Los Angeles, this session uncovers grassroots cultures, equity struggles, and policy challenges, demonstrating how embodied movement and community engagement can transform how designers read, understand, and act within urban landscapes.

Learning objectives:

Use biking and walking to reveal hidden ecological, spatial, and social aspects of Los Angeles streets and apply these observations to strengthen site analysis and design understanding.
Identify and apply strategies for engaging local bike and pedestrian advocates and community leaders as meaningful collaborators throughout the design and planning process.
Evaluate how equity, race, and perception shape street design outcomes using Los Angeles cycling culture and policy as a focused case study.
Integrate experiential, movement-based site learning into design workflows to strengthen contextual understanding and inform more equitable design decisions.

Alex Marchinski, ASLA

Senior Project Designer

RIOS

Alex Marchinski is a senior project designer at RIOS, where he leads design and delivery of hospitality, residential, and civic landscapes across Southern California and beyond. He began his career focusing on the public realm, urban design, and community engagement, and has since shifted toward garden-making and crafting residential and hospitality landscapes. Alex brings a systems-based approach, translating ecological, cultural, and regulatory factors into cohesive landscape experiences. He is particularly interested in exploring spaces through movement, observation, and immersion to reveal hidden spatial, ecological, and social qualities. His work creates expressive, resilient environments grounded in place, narrative, and human experience.

Adé Neff

Founder & Executive Director

Ride On! Bike Shop & Co-Op

Adé E. Neff, Ayiti-born and Boston-raised, is a social entrepreneur focused on community development and environmental justice. He holds a Master’s in Urban Sustainability from Antioch University and founded Ride On! Bike Shop & Co-Op in Leimert Park — the first Black-owned bike shop in the neighborhood in over thirty years. Ride On! serves as Operations Hub for South Central Power Up, a free e-bike lending library placing 250 electric bikes with low-income South Los Angeles residents across seven community partner sites, in partnership with LADOT, LACI, and the California Air Resources Board. Beyond sales and repairs, Ride On! advances transportation equity and safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure in South Los Angeles through advocacy and monthly community rides. Adé has co-taught Social Entrepreneurship, lectured across Southern California including at UCLA, and has been recognized by local government for his community leadership and public service.

Nithya Raman

Councilmember

City of Los Angeles

Nithya Raman is an urban planner, a mother of two, an immigrant to America, and a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing District 4. She ran for City Council in 2020 and won a historic victory, becoming the first Asian-American woman and the first South Asian ever to serve on the City Council. Since taking office, Councilmember Raman has prioritized delivering people-centered and effective services for people experiencing homelessness, building more affordable housing, and moving with greater urgency to meet our city's climate goals, and improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure citywide.