How South (Central) L.A. Is Forging Its Future

Where Movements and Place Make the People and Their Dreams

Under the shade of Mercado La Paloma’s gold medallion trees, some 200 masked guests gathered to take part in Zócalo Public Square’s long-awaited return to in-person programming.

The open-air event, which also streamed live online, was produced in partnership with Esperanza Community Housing’s South Central Innervisions: An AfroLatinxFuturism, a free multidisciplinary arts festival being held at the mercado, a marketplace and community center in the Figueroa Corridor, this Saturday.

The question of the evening—“Is South L.A. Forging a New American Identity?”—offered a dynamic look at how place-based identity can build bonds of …

Dance Has Reached a Turning Point | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Dance Has Reached a Turning Point

Freed from the Studio, an Art Form Finds the Space to Transform

My shoulder is aching. I’m going up the escalator at the Macy’s in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. My purse is weighed down with notebooks, a portable speaker, water bottle, …

California Needs a 3/13 Commission to Investigate School Closures | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

California Needs a 3/13 Commission to Investigate School Closures

Why Did Our Kids Lose a Year of Education—And How Can We Prevent This From Happening Again?

If America needs a 1/6 Commission, then California certainly must have a 3/13 Commission.

When an irreplaceable foundation of our free society is threatened, an independent body must investigate so that …

Humanity Might Have Been Born to Live in Cities | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Humanity Might Have Been Born to Live in Cities

Paleo-Style Sensibilities Aside, Earth’s Future Hinges on the Success of Our Urban Spaces

Sometimes it feels like we made a wrong turn a long way back.

Perhaps it was the shift to fossil fuels and scientific medicine that led us to this place, …

The High Desert City That’s Lost in Space | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The High Desert City That’s Lost in Space

Earth to Palmdale: It’s Time to Focus on Your Community, Not the Cosmos

Hello, Palmdale. It’s planet Earth calling. Are you ever coming back here?

You, a sprawling and struggling working-class exurb of 160,000, may be located in the Antelope Valley, at the north …

Ray Bradbury’s Mirror to Our World | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Ray Bradbury’s Mirror to Our World

Democracy. Technology. The Media. The Science-Fiction Writer—Who Would’ve Turned 100 This Week—Has Never Been So Relevant

Happy 100th birthday, Ray Bradbury. But did you have to be so right about our world?

There were no candles and no cake on the YouTube or Twitter livestreams during a …