Urban Nature

Re-Envisioning the L.A. River

The Re-Envisioning series was a multi-disciplinary, community-oriented undertaking, with 56 co-sponsors as well as the host Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) and its co-host, the Friends of the L.A. River (FoLAR). Through the Re-Envisioning program with its more than forty lectures, forums, art installations, poetry readings and other events, the historical, cultural, political, community, environmental, and engineering perspectives about the evolution of the L.A. River were explored.

During the past decade, the L.A. River has become a subject of intense re-examination, a major topic of policy debate, and a new kind of environmental icon. It increasingly symbolizes the quest to transform the built and natural urban environment from a place seen as representing violence and hostility for communities and for Nature, to one of rebirth and opportunity. To re-envision the Los Angeles River as a place of community and ecological revitalization, as the Re-Envisioning series sought to do, sends a powerful message of renewal for urban rivers and ultimately for the quality of urban life.

To learn more about Re-Envisioning the L.A. River, please check out the final report: Re-Envisioning the Los Angeles River: Community and Ecological Revitalization, A Report on the 40 forums, events, activities, and projects held during 1999-2000. By Robert Gottlieb, Andrea Azuma, Brooke Gaw, and Amanda Shaffer.


Photo: Andrea Azuma