Collage: A Creative Call to Arms for City Transformation: Los Angeles River Edition
2013
The Los Angeles River is a highly significant waterway that flows
approximately 51-miles through the second largest urban region in the
United States, into two of the world’s busiest ports, and outlets into the
world’s largest body of water: the Pacific Ocean (LARRMP 2007). After a
series of devastating floods in the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers channelized the River in concrete for flood-control measures,
drastically altering the ecological function and aesthetic appearance of
the River (LARRMP 2007). Efforts to re-envision and ‘revitalize’ the Los
Angeles River into something other than a drainage ditch have ensued since
the 1970s, and included the creation of both a county-wide and city-wide
Master Plan (in 1996 and 2007 respectively), which have determined an
overall ‘vision’ for the future of the River and provided a comprehensive
set of specific recommendations for how to achieve it (LARRMP 2007).
Regardless of such increased attention and intention, the Los Angeles
River remains in relatively the same state it did 80 years ago, begging
the questions ‘what is inhibiting such a city transformation from
occurring?’ and ‘what can be done to more effectively transform parts of
cities, like the Los Angeles River?’ Through a combination of personal
observation and analysis conducted in Los Angeles, as well as case study
and published literature research, this thesis investigates and identifies
issues associated with large-scale urban transformation initiatives (using
the Los Angeles River revitalization as a context), and provides a
possible framework for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of such
efforts by facilitating a more inclusive, innovative, and cohesive
approach to addressing urban transformation initiatives.
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