Ezra Rawitsch

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 an outside-in perspective.

I studied on a Morehead-Cain scholarship at UNC Chapel Hill, and 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

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 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: University of Chicago Press, 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: Hennessey + Ingalls (Los Angeles), Vroman’s (Pasadena), Book Soup (West Hollywood)

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

Selected work

A place-analysis tool I'm building at The Business of Cities. Borderless benchmarking for placemakers.

placeview.org
Reports at The Business of Cities

Benchmarking and strategy for cities and regions, including Perth, Oxford, Melbourne, Oslo, South East Queensland and Adelaide. The full list is on the firm's website.
Carolina Cartography

Mapping, narrative, and human geography. New perspectives on spaces, places, and geographic difference.

carolinacartography.org