Ezra Rawitsch

I make maps and digital tools to see places from a new perspective. I write about geography, politics, and technology.

ezrawitsch@gmail.com · LinkedIn · Instagram · Substack

About

I work at The Business of Cities, a cities research and strategy firm, where I build tools and produce publications to help cities understand themselves from the outside in.

I studied geography on a Morehead-Cain scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill, then at KU Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. I've lived in five cities in three countries but: I Love L.A.

My first book comes out in November.

Book

Cover of Visions of the Southland: A Year in Los Angeles County

Visions of the Southland: A Year in Los Angeles County

Edited by Wade Graham and William Deverell, maps by Ezra Rawitsch. University of Chicago Press, 30 November 2026.

Thirty-six essays trace a single year in Los Angeles County, its glitter and its grit, from water and air to music, prisons, transit, and art, by writers including Gustavo Arellano, Lynell George, Christopher Hawthorne, Carolina A. Miranda, Susan Straight, and David L. Ulin. I researched and designed the book's thirty maps, grounding each essay in the County's rivers and faults, its fires and freeways, and making visible the patterns you can't otherwise see.

More about the book at southlandlosangeles.com

Five maps from the book: LA County at the scale of other cities and states, citrus country and public health, water and aqueduct infrastructure, and fires along the San Andreas Fault.
Five of the thirty maps: the County's scale against other places, citrus country and public health, the water system, and faults and fires.

Preorder

United States
Vroman’s Bookstore (Pasadena), Amazon
United Kingdom
Waterstones, Amazon UK
Canada
Indigo, Amazon Canada
More booksellers, in 20 countries
Australia
Amazon, Readings, Fishpond
Belgium
Amazon, bol.com, Standaard Boekhandel
Brazil
Amazon
France
Amazon
Germany
Amazon, Thalia, Hugendubel
India
Amazon
Ireland
Amazon
Italy
Amazon
Japan
Amazon
Mexico
Amazon, Buscalibre
Netherlands
Amazon, bol.com, Libris
Poland
Amazon
Saudi Arabia
Amazon
Singapore
Amazon
Spain
Amazon
Sweden
Amazon, Adlibris
Türkiye
Amazon
United Arab Emirates
Amazon
United Kingdom
Foyles, Hatchards, Hive
United States
University of Chicago Press (publisher), Hennessey + Ingalls (Los Angeles), Book Soup (West Hollywood)

Or ask your local bookshop or library to order it (ISBN 978-0-226-82902-9).

Selected work

More work

  • What the 10 Richest Angelenos Tell Us About L.A. and Its Economy

    Detail of the map: median annual income across central Los Angeles, with 13 miles between the highest median income, $222,000 a year, and the lowest, $10,300 a year.

    My map for Rick Wartzman's essay: where the county's ten richest residents built their businesses, set against the median annual income of Angelenos, with 13 miles between the highest and the lowest.

    Zócalo Public Square, 2021. Essay by Rick Wartzman, map by Ezra Rawitsch.

  • Housing Systems Researcher, Habitat for Humanity International

    Pages from the SUNRISE report on financing prosumer renewable energy: the cover, an infographic on the benefits of plug-in solar panels, four more project infographics, and a table of financial products.

    Researched how to bring down the cost, raise the quality and improve the energy efficiency of affordable housing in Europe, supporting policy recommendations and pilot projects funded by EU Horizon 2020, EU LIFE, GIZ and the European Climate Initiative. Wrote and presented reports on financing renewable energy in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, including one for the SUNRISE project (EUKI).

    Brussels and Bratislava, 2023 to 2024

  • Associate Urban Development Consultant, DRAW Brooklyn

    Renderings of the Model Block in Red Hook, Brooklyn: a street corner, the building along the street, an aerial view at sunset over the waterfront, and a public courtyard.

    At the urban design and development practice of Alexandros Washburn, former Chief Urban Designer of New York City: research, spatial analysis and development insight for clients, including policy research, GIS analysis and communications for the Model Block proposal in Red Hook.

    Brooklyn, 2019 to 2021. Renderings by Quantum Space Studio.

Selected writing

Contact

ezrawitsch@gmail.com

LinkedIn, Instagram, and I write Department of Geography on Substack.