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Will L.A. Have A Future Like 'Her' Or 'Elysium'?

Two recent movies sketch out two very different visions of the future of Los Angeles, the epitome of the sprawling, western city. There’s the L.A. in the Oscar-winning movie “Her.” And then there’s the L.A. in the movie “Elysium.”

Parts of “Her” were filmed in Shanghai; nobody seems to drive and people live and work in high-rise buildings. In “Elysium,” run-down parts of Mexico City stand in for L.A.

Could L.A.’s future look like either one of these movies, if current trends continue?

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson asks Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times, and Jon Christensen, editor of the quarterly journal Boom: A Journal of California and journalist-in-residence at UCLA.

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Joaquin Phoenix is pictured in the film "Her."
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Joaquin Phoenix is pictured in the film "Her."