Downtown LA on life support as new ranking reveals new low for troubled hub
DTLA is DOA.Downtown Los Angeles has been ranked one of the least vibrant downtowns on a list of 75 worldwide — as the area struggles with rampant homelessness and crime.Gensler’s 2026 City Pulse report found DTLA to be among the worst for vibrancy, while drawing even lower marks for beauty.Cities with comparable populations like Madrid, Chicago, and Toronto all outclassed LA in vibrancy.Around 65% of those surveyed found DTLA vibrant, compared to 77% for Madrid, 84% for Chicago, and 71% for Toronto.Downtown San Francisco also had poor marks, earning a 67% score for vibrancy, while San Jose fared even worse with a 61% score.For beauty, downtown LA ranked the seventh worst in the US, just above cities like Denver and St.
Louis.It has a 743% higher crime rate than the rest of the city of LA, Spectrum News reported.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!The area’s notorious Skid Row contains one of the largest homeless populations in the US.Businesses have fled the area due to crime, homelessness and an increasingly absent customer population.“LA’s kind of central problem is that businesses have left LA.We need them to bring the offices back in,” Kelly Farrell, the managing director of Gensler’s LA office, told the Los Angeles Times.
“Bring the people back in so they’re staying after work and interacting with those businesses that are in the area.”The Gensler report noted that downtown areas should be walkable and characterized as cultural and entertainment hubs, with a blend of shops, offices and housing.A California Post report in August 2025 noted there were more than 100 vacant storefronts in the area’s Historic Core, the heart of the downtown shopping and entertainment distric...