Last class, it was decided that I should begin to think more broadly about the city and its relationship with water in general. Due to last week's travel I'd like to start with Los Angeles. Some questions I now have to address are;
In contrast, one very successful aspect of the water features is that half of them introduce a touch aspect that is slowly becoming less uncommon in today's world. As you can see in pictures two and four, there are some familiar faces interacting with the water. One is touchable and the other is clearly off limits. The touchable water was immediately a draw for all of us, and we enjoyed putting our hands in the water and our shoes on top of it (it was too cold to do anything more). Though in the other image the water is not accessible, its still surface created a very serene atmosphere to visually engage with as it complemented the building adjacent to it (the Center Theatre Group).
- What differs in the relationships between water by city? Are certain aspects similar, or do they vary more on the basis of culture, weather, and other circumstances?
- What specifically is the relationship between American cities and water, and what sort of relationships could we benefit from that other countries have already created?
- How can we protect our freshwater supply, and still utilize it in public spaces?
These guidelines will be used in every analysis of each major city in the coming weeks. For American cities I'd like to analyze New York City, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Denver, Anchorage, and Washington D.C. I have chosen these due to the fact that I have travelled to all of them at this point, so it will add an extra layer of insight to any research I find on these areas. For cities abroad I'd like to analyze a much wider variety. This includes San Jose, Costa Rica, Venice, Italy, Tokyo, Japan, Cairo, Egypt, Sydney, Australia, and Zurich, Switzerland. Over the coming weeks I will be hopping around this list and likely be analyzing more than one at a time (up to three), so that I can create a better understanding of all of the relationships cities have with water.
Interestingly, Los Angeles is actually a great place to start, because it sits next to the Pacific Ocean in close proximity to the desert. The city also contains a series of vastly different relationships between the cityscape and water. The first, being the most iconic due to its featuring in well-known movies, is the L.A. River. Though I never got to personally visit, I did manage to capture the view of it from the plane, and it is quite astounding in the way it dominates Los Angles by abruptly carving through the city fabric. Below is an image from the movie Grease (1978), and a photo I took from the plane.
A couple of quick facts about the waterway are that it was constructed in 1938, runs 51 miles, and was originally a flood-control channel NOT a so-called "navigable waterway" as it is considered today. Another more exciting fact that popped up in my research was the fact that this waterway was one of the key selling points that allowed Los Angeles to be the site for the 2028 Olympics!
Observing the waterway I was especially curious. Why is there so much concrete and so little water? Turns out before the large concrete channel was constructed there was a very wide range in river typology that abruptly would change throughout the city. In some areas the river was barely at a trickle, and in others it was incredibly unpredictable. This led to many floods, so the destruction caused by the river had to be put to a stop.
Unfortunately, the L.A. River has not been revitalized since its introduction to the city in the 40's, but this might change. Frank Gehry is currently working with the city of Los Angeles to restore at least eleven miles of the waterway with a pending $1-billion dollar plan to give it a "makeover." Again, I'd like to emphasize that this MIGHT happen, but at the moment seems highly unlikely due to other more extreme issues. Currently the city is clearly facing homelessness and needs to work on lowering the cost of living to a much more reasonable level if it wants to survive.
Another blow to the L.A. River is that it is considered by Washington D.C. to be one of America's most endangered rivers as of 2022. Although it is no longer a significant water source, it is very poorly managed, polluted, and is being exponentially affected by climate change. It is now basically treated sewer/grey water with no life. It's not really a river anymore... According to Gary Belan of AmericanRivers.org, there are two distinct paths that the city of Los Angeles could take at this point. It could either make nature and connecting communities via the river a priority or it could continue to control nature and divert water from the river. The latter would essentially dry it up, and create more climate issues for the city. Funnily, while other major cities around the world are freeing their channels and allowing them to thrive again, L.A. is actively seeking to fund adding more concrete through re-pavement and adding park/bridge hybrids in a series over the river (proposed by Gehry). It's interesting that this is happening in a state that has the reputation for being the most environmentally conscious to the point where taxes are imposed on every citizen to help keep energy/gas consumption at bay.
Another project that Los Angeles just spent 60 million on is Taylor Yard, which is supposed to be a nice relaxing park next to the "thriving" river. In a funny twist, the Mayor of LA decided that the city will become responsible for recycling all waste water by 2035. Where wastewater is currently recycled is Glendale and Burbank. If all of it were to be recycled there, as planned, there would be no water left to run down the river where the park is located. It'd just be an empty concrete channel for as long as they'd continue process and reuse the water.
So, we've addressed the major issues with the unusual concrete channel, and now I'd like to move on to other ways the city of Los Angeles works with water. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is another place to look towards in terms of the direct relationship the city has with water. I'd like to dive first into policies and next into the couple of water features located directly outside.
Here are a couple of quick picture studies of the surrounding water features directly in front of and across the street from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Headquarters by Albert C. Martin Associates.
Due to the consistent droughts almost every year, Los Angeles has a consistent need for regulation especially in water. This is where the L.A. Department of Water and Power HQ comes into play. Every drought season they firmly apply restrictions with things such as limitation of watering yards, washing down sidewalks/driveways becomes prohibited, and highly encouraged limited use of water in everyday activities within a home. If certain guidelines are not followed, especially the most obvious like watering your yard at non-designated times, the Department of Water and Power will fine homeowners anywhere from $50 to $2,400 depending on the phase of the drought, how much your water meter is set to, and how many warnings one has had. Flow restrictors and full board authority are the next steps after these have been severely surpassed.
According to William H. Whyte in the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces though "designers are doing rather well with designing for water in public spaces, one major aspect is lacking: access" (pg. 47). By dividing the features into half touch/visual and half strictly visual, the architect introduces the concept with a foundation of the old way of featuring water. The only other complaint Whyte made was that some fountains seem to just operate as maintenance. This was made clear when a classmate of mine, Katie Greer, commented that the dormant fountain "Just looks like a flying saucer," and I'd agree that it really was an odd sort of an eyesore.
Two ways one could eliminate this problem is to either use materials and a filtration system that requires less maintenance or to make the center of the fountain more sculptural. For instance, the fountain directly outside of the Fay Jones School of Architecture is incredibly sculptural, and never runs in the winter. This bothers no one, because it features a nice attribute that can stand any kind of weather year-round. Though these are small critiques they are some that can be learned from so that, as an architect, one can make better design choices when designing a public space.
Lastly, as a final quick note, it is important to mention besides the public interactions and the L.A. River that the water in Los Angeles is considered to be in the hard to very hard category of water. This means that bad contaminants are high in the water supply in general. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power found that the current level of arsenic in the water is 430 times MORE than the Environmental Working Group recommendation. Chromium was also found at 29 times recommended levels and acids from disinfectants were at 184 times the recommendation. According to Carlos Granada from ABC 7 though this is technically legal, it is not at all safe and are directly linked to many types of cancer. Currently the regulations are outdated, and were based on ideas from decades ago that had limited access to information. This is why it has gotten so bad, and the Department of Water and Power HQ has no legal backlash to keeping its scarily high levels of toxicity in the water supply, and making an extra buck. This is possibly one of the darkest kept secrets that some sort of know about, but are not well informed about. This is why we need to look to other countries to see how they are managing their water supply for their citizens, and see how exactly to handle architecture surrounding water in an environmentally and human-friendly way.
Links & Reading Sources:
https://la.curbed.com/2015/8/19/9936922/la-river-history-before-concrete-after-photos
https://www.americanrivers.org/media-item/los-angeles-river-named-among-americas-most-endangered-rivers-of-2022/#:~:text=Washington%2C%20D.C.%20%E2%80%93%20American%20Rivers%20today,health%2C%20clean%20water%20and%20communities.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/la-times-today/2022/02/22/la-times-today-los-angeles-river#:~:text=and%20other%20states-,Much%20of%20the%20water%20in%20the%20LA%20River%20is%20treated,Burbank%20and%20city%20of%20LA.
https://www.theriverproject.org/projects/taylor-yard
https://www.ladwpnews.com/phase-3-water-restrictions-frequently-asked-questions/
The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte
https://abc7.com/how-safe-is-los-angeles-water-ladwp-drinking-la-tap-ewg/11213503/#:~:text=Analysis%20of%20Los%20Angeles%20Department,from%20disinfectants%20at%20184%20times.
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