Water Spaces in the Urban Landscape. Los Angeles, California

Abstract

Los Angeles in California is an extraordinary example of the hydrology of big metropolis located in arid lands. Energy intensive infrastructures divert water from large geographies to the city while channels accelerate the flow of local resources to the sea. Increasing aridity and desertification attached to this model suggest the need for low energy alternatives based on form and living systems performance in order to bring back to space and territory their role as water management and flood control. The project of the ground as extensive infrastructure for harvesting, treating and reusing water, changes the hydrological balance, reducing run off in order to preserve valuable and useful urban rainwater. The city works as a blue infrastructure, a big multi-skilled system of hydraulic management. Recovering local watersheds gives back to water and its spaces their main role organizing urban form and environmental conditions. The idea of urban nature moves away from the decorative british lawn to a more pragmatic conception, as an organic machine that treats water, builds soil and climatizes urban atmosphere.