UCLA Urban Planner Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris

A Lover of Alleys and Boulevards

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris is the associate dean of academic affairs and urban planning professor at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Before participating a discussion in the rise of downtown L.A., she talked about the risk she took when she left Athens for the U.S.—and decided to stay here for good—in the Zócalo green room.

Q:

What superpower would you most like to have?


A:

I wish I could fly without having to get on an airplane.


Q:

What’s your favorite L.A. street to walk along?


A:

I do love downtown streets because I was born and raised in Athens’ downtown areas. But I also like alleyways. I live in Pasadena right now, so I like some of the alleys in Pasadena. And I also like these kind of big tree-lined boulevards. We don’t have many in L.A. I pretty much love urban life and high-density urban areas because these are my memories from growing up.


Q:

Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Sunday?


A:

At the gym.


Q:

What city would you most like to visit next?


A:

I have visited a lot of cities, but the part of the world I have not visited is South America. I would love to go to Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, to São Paulo, to Rio de Janeiro.


Q:

What’s on your nightstand right now?


A:

Books. I’m reading Who Owns the Future? [by Jaron Lanier] right now.


Q:

What inspires you?


A:

Nature, young children, and old people who really are out there and really want to enjoy life in the fullest. Both the social and the natural.


Q:

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?


A:

An architect.


Q:

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?


A:

Leaving Athens and coming here to study and live and to stay here—not going back.


Q:

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?


A:

Basically to keep trying, even if you fail in something—to not give up.


*Photo by Aaron Salcido.