How Solo Living Is Shrinking the Functional City SMa.r.t.’s article last month referred to Santa Monica’s collapsed school enrollment of 8,900 students. The figure arrives despite the addition of thousands of new apartment units over […]

Santa Monica’s housing debate is no longer just about zoning, density, or state mandates. It has become a test of basic political ethics—and of whether residents can trust how major land-use decisions are being made […]

One question echoed through City Hall’s chambers Tuesday night, asked almost four dozen different ways by four dozen different residents who stayed until nearly 1 AM: Why is this Council going beyond the already transformative […]

This year S.M.a.r,t, wrote about the Civic Auditorium, the Airport, City governance, Preservation, overdevelopment, and its impact, among many other topics listed below. We hope you enjoyed reading our 52 weekly articles, and if you […]

In Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities,” an explorer describes places shaped entirely by memory—cities that exist as much in recollection as reality. Santa Monica is becoming Calvino’s inverse: a visible city that cannot remember itself, when […]

Every Tuesday, our city council convenes in chambers that embody civic memory—mid-century architecture from when cities believed in public purpose. There, dedicated public servants wrestle with impossible choices between state mandates and community character. Citizens […]

Last Friday (December 5), we lost one of our own: Frank Gehr,y who passed away at age 96, is probably the most recognized American architect. His storied local, national, and international career started and blossomed […]