New Los Angeles

New Los Angeles, or NLA, is a city in Xenoblade Chronicles X. It was the Habitat Unit of the White Whale, before being ejected while falling into Mira's atmosphere. A protective gel surrounded NLA, and acted as a impact cushioner when the city crash landed. After landing, the gel solidified, coating the exterior ring of the city in a large spiked wall.

Unlike most other games in the series, this is the only major settlement in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Story
NLA is in a constant state of construction. On Earth, the city had its outer ring equipped with construction equipment and during its space travel to Mira, construction on the city continued. Even while on Mira, the city is still in an incomplete state, with various incomplete roads, sudden drops, and a conpletely undeveloped quadrant.

When the White Whale was attacked and forced to crash land onto Mira, the Ark separated into pieces, with the Habitat Unit being disconnected from the rest of the White Whale, including the Lifehold. Throughout the course of Xenoblade Chronicles X, the primary objective for the people of NLA is to locate and protect the Lifehold, after it being isolated from them. The tallest point in the city, the BLADE Tower, displays the percentage of power left in the Lifehold's electricity generators, serving as a constant reminder and enforcement of BLADE's main goal.

When the Ma-non agree to take refuge in NLA, the city starts to become a multi-cultural city, and being host to many Xenoforms. This causes some social and political tension among the human population, although this tension starts to dissipate over time as the cultures begin to understand and trust each other more.

Districts
New Los Angeles is separated into five regions. Four of these are districts and are connected both physically and via aircraft stationed in each district.

Administrative District
The Adminstrative District is where NLA's government operates and BLADE's base of operations. It is on a higher vertical level than all the other districts and is accessible on foot via elevators. It has two main corridors: Armorey Alley and Division Drive, with the former terminating at NLA's East Gate. On the lower level of the district is the Skell hangar.

Commercial District
The Commercial District is where a significant amount of social life happens. It has many shops and is the location of many s. Over time, a strip mall car park in the east of the district becomes the home of the Nopon Bazaar.

Residential District
The Residential District is a sleepy area in NLA where residents relax and spend their private time. There is a in the northeastern part of the district, where Hope can be found helping people.

Industrial District
The Industrial District is where energy production, research, and arms development happens. It has its own hangar and diner. The Industrial District is home to the NLA's West Gate.

Ma-non Ship
The Ma-non Ship is a interstellar spacecraft that takes refuge inside NLA's undeveloped quadrant. It is only accessible via Skell and a teleportal at the base of the BLADE Tower. It is separated into two sides, and each are the home of the Ma-non.

Demographics
New Los Angeles was originally designed by humans for humans. It is home to every single playable character in Xenoblade Chronicles X and where most social life happens.

Over time, the city starts inviting Xenoforms to live in the city, notably the Ma-non and Nopon. The Ma-non in particular are fascinated with human culture and enjoy living in the city a lot.

Many Xenoforms choose to live in NLA for safety, since they are being antagonised or threatened by the Ganglion.

Activities
Within NLA, red benches are used instead of BLADE basecamps as a means to control time.

Architecture and origin
NLA is modelled off a large American desert city called Los Angeles. As a result, the architecture and environment heavily follows American architecture and city planning. Notably, NLA features a classic lively commercial district, a residential district with a park, church, and large houses, a industrial district, and a high rise district called the Administrative District. These are equivalent to contemporary American historic downtown, residential, industrial, and central business zones, respectively.

Districting strictly based on land use and what is built in a given area is very common in real American cities, which is compatively uncommon (or less impactful) in cities elsewhere around the world, including in Europe and especially Japan (which are the origin locations of two other Arks in the game's universe).

Aside from the Administrative District, NLA has wide roads and a lot of open space. In the Administrative District, the high-rise buildings use somewhat contemporary international style steel and glass towers, which are very common and nearly exclusive to American central business areas.

The houses in the Residential District are fairly similar in design to single family desert houses in a hot place called the American "sunbelt". In many American residential zones, only single family houses, sport recreation centers, churches, and schools are allowed. It appears the Residential District in NLA takes that into its design consideration, as it only has single family homes and a church. Each house also has much private land and a driveway, which is also based on how those are required in almost every American city.

The main street in the Commercial District is a wide palm tree boulevard with on-street parking, and it has two very American fast food restaurants on it: a pizzeria and a burger joint. Most of the buildings in the Commercial District are mid-rise and are packed closely together, but there are also two high-rise buildings with lots of open space around them, which is very similar to an upzoned historic downtown zone in real life. The buildings have a diverse architecture, also very similar to a historic downtown zone. There is also a handful of strip malls, which are very popular in American cities, and were also invented in America.