LA Build Back Better
Rome rebuilt after its great fire by changing how it built. LA has the same chance.
The Great Fire, Then and Now
The devastating January 2025 Los Angeles fires bring to mind the Great Fire of Rome under Nero. After that fire, Rome didn't just rebuild — it changed its building codes, widened its streets, and added fire-resistant materials to prevent the same catastrophe from happening again.
After total destruction like this, the real opportunity isn't just to restore what was lost — it's to upgrade the infrastructure so the disaster can't repeat itself.
Robot Alley, With Fire Suppression Built In
Could Los Angeles "Build Back Better" the damaged areas with an ultra-modern utility system? The Robot Alley concept — a multi-level structure under sidewalks for delivery, mobility, and utilities — could include built-in fire suppression lines as part of its Utility Level, giving fire crews direct, citywide access instead of relying only on street hydrants.
The Masada Cistern System
Los Angeles needs an interconnected cistern system, and there's a 2,000-year-old model for exactly that. Masada, King Herod's mountaintop fortress in the Judean desert, received only about two inches of rain a year — yet Herod's engineers built dams and aqueducts that channeled seasonal flood water into a network of rock-hewn cisterns, collectively capable of holding over ten million gallons.
Rainwater collected in tanks called cisterns could do the same for Los Angeles today — and it pairs naturally with Robot Alley, since the underground structure is already built to carry utilities.
Three Fingers Pointing Back At You
After most disasters, we learn about the people who were warning about it the whole time — and about the houses that didn't burn, usually because someone made different choices about materials, brush clearance, or roofing long before the fire ever started.
Before pointing a finger at officials, insurers, or planners, it's worth asking what individual choices — ours included — made the damage worse than it had to be.
Disaster Capitalism, Redirected
There's an old saying: one person's hardship is another person's harvest. Most disasters open a window for disaster capitalism — buying up distressed properties fast, before the people who lost them can recover.
Wouldn't it be grand if governments and non-profits bought the distressed properties instead — to provide affordable housing?
That's the harvest going toward recovery, not extraction.