The idea seemed simple: come up with an inexpensive way to create more shade at bus stops in Los Angeles during the day and provide light at night.
But the performance, a perforated metal structure with a short overhang dubbed La Sombrita, has drawn backlash from critics who have mocked the design, questioning its usefulness and whether it would provide adequate shade.
La Sombrita, which means “little shadow” in Spanish, was designed in collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Kounkuey Design Initiative, a non-profit development and design organization that works in under-resourced communities. The plan was to address what the city says is one of the most-cited problems residents have with bus stops in the city: many lack shade or are too dark at night and feel unsafe.
Only four of the artworks have been placed across the city as the design is still in a pilot phase. But residents were quick to point out that the structures did little to provide shade at Los Angeles’ often torrid bus stops.
“When I first saw it, I thought, ‘What’s that?'” says Beatrice Ruiz, who lives in an apartment complex behind one of the stops in Boyle Heights, a largely Latino neighborhood where many residents travel by bus .
said the transportation department that the four prototypes were installed to include routes serving “low-income communities” with “above-average ridership.”
Ms Ruiz, 35, said she tends to drive but often finds those waiting at the stop taking refuge in the shadows behind a utility pole. On Wednesday, the new Sombrita cast a mottled silhouette barely taller across the sidewalk. “That’s a joke,” Mrs. Ruiz said. “Doesn’t it seem like they should have put something bigger? I don’t know why they put up such a small thing.”
In Westlake, another high-density, largely Hispanic neighborhood, bus travelers agreed that the Sombritas seemed of limited use, at least during the day. “I don’t think it covers much,” said Chelsea Oxlaj, a business student who travels by bus at least once a week.
Ms Oxlaj, 20, said on the hottest days she chooses to walk around the neighborhood rather than standing sweltering at the bus stop. But she was hopeful, she added, that the lights on the shelter would make the notorious dark stop feel a little safer at night.
“It’s really dark in here,” Mrs. Oxlaj said. “I’m pretty sure it’s going to do a lot of good.”
Women, especially women of color, are more likely to experience violence and harassment on the city’s public transportation system, according to a recent Los Angeles Department of Transportation report.
Experts said the prototypes highlighted the difficulty of developing public transportation improvements in car-dependent cities with policies that favor personal vehicles. Inventing new public transportation solutions, they say, is especially urgent as cities around the world try to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Natalia Molina, a professor of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California, said the fixtures were inadequate, especially in poorer neighborhoods where there are fewer trees.
“Bringing a Sombrita to parts of LA that could easily be 10 degrees warmer, thanks to historical patterns of environmental racism and inequality, is like taking a knife to a gunfight,” Ms. Molina said.
Colin Sweeney, a spokesman for the transportation department, said the city was “testing all possible solutions.”
“La Sombrita – fully subsidized at no cost to the taxpayer – is not a replacement for critical investments we need more, such as bus shelters and street lighting,” Sweeney said in a statement Tuesday. “This trial treatment is designed to test ways to create small amounts of shade and light where other solutions are not immediately possible.”
Many critics of the new setups argued that a tree would be a simpler, greener solution. But that’s not possible on many narrow sidewalks in Los Angeles. Others scoff at how small the fixtures are. But anything larger will require a permit, further delaying any lighting at bus stops in the city.
Jarrett Walker, an Oregon public transportation planning and policy consultant who was not involved in the project, said adding trees or larger bus stops is difficult because sidewalks are small in many car-dependent U.S. cities.
“We inherited streets that everyone expects to have four or even six lanes and a parking lane,” Walker said. “The sidewalk is the space that’s left after you allocate all that, which is why the sidewalk is inadequate.”
Many cities, Mr Walker said, have policies and permit requirements that can often limit public transportation improvements.
“We’re stuck in this unfair street design and this unjust situation,” Mr Walker said, adding that “that’s why things you tried to do to solve the problem in that box will sometimes look a little sad and inadequate. ”
The Sombrita fixtures can be installed in 30 minutes or less, and their small size means they don’t require permits or coordination with other agencies, according to Kounkuey Design Initiative. Not only are the setups designed to provide shade, but they also use solar energy collected during the day to illuminate the stop at night, the transportation department said.
A fixture costs 15 percent of the price of a typical bus shelter, which can cost up to $50,000, according to Kounkuey Design Initiative.
Faiza Moatasim, an assistant professor of architecture in urban planning and urban planning at the University of Southern California, said that in a changing climate, there is a “tremendous need” to find solutions for those using public transportation in Los Angeles, a city where shade is often easier to find in more affluent neighborhoods.
“Everything is so different when you live in a higher income neighborhood than in a lower income neighborhood,” Ms Moatasim said. “This is about making cities work for everyone.”