Faculty
Liz Falletta
Professor (Teaching)
Program Director, Urban Planning Programs
Expertise
Architecture
Urban design
Design criticism
Biography
Liz Falletta teaches architectural and urban design at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. She has over fifteen years of experience teaching design across disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her courses focus on design as an interdisciplinary activity and explore how the intersecting values of architecture, planning and development can inform the design process and improve design outcomes. She is currently at work on By-Right | By-Design, an interdisciplinary housing reference text. The project studies significant Los Angeles housing design precedents and their related development types. A side-by-side comparison of these projects – real estate development models built in large numbers as of right, versus singular examples of innovative architecture built by variance – reveals new insights for future housing production in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Projects are examined through the lenses of real estate development, urban planning and design, expanding the context in which these works can be understood, evaluated, and, ultimately, built upon.
In addition to teaching full time, Ms. Falletta is principal of Falletta Development, which developed one of the first small lot subdivisions in Los Angeles, located on Huntington Drive in El Sereno. She has consulted on many small lot subdivisions throughout Los Angeles and worked as an entitlements consultant on various single and multi-family housing projects. Liz is a licensed architect and a licensed real estate broker in the state of California.
In recognition of the breadth of her expertise, Liz was recently appointed to the City of Los Angeles’ Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC). This 21-member group is the first line of critique for the city’s recode LA project, a $5 million dollar, five year plan to overhaul the zoning code. Liz is leading the Housing Working Group, a subcommittee of the ZAC working to prioritize issues of housing production, affordability and sustainability throughout the recode project. Ms. Falletta is also a member of the California Planning Roundtable.
Selected Publications
By-Right, By-Design Housing Development versus Housing Design in Los Angeles. Routledge.
In The News
Los Angeles Times
Falletta quoted in story asking, in the rush to rebuild, one topic is taboo: What should be built differently — or not at all?
Featured Faculty: Liz Falletta
USC Price News
Why do so many new apartment buildings seemingly look the same?
Featured Faculty: Liz Falletta