Industrial park or natural habitat? Two conflicting visions for the Los Angeles river –assessing sustainability in the 21st century.

LA: Chinatown Yard

Who killed the river that runs through Los Angeles? Did you even know there was a river? Using a mix of archive and new footage , this album tells the fascinating story of a city that has ignored the benefits of its river for decades. Now waking up to the fact that it could be a green belt with more acreage than all of Central Park, river activists are fighting developers to bring back nature to central Los Angeles. Up till now the city conquered the threat of floods by concreting over the river to make it the backbone of the urban drainage system, overriding the needs of deprived local communities. But laying ever more concrete and asphalt is no longer the way to meet 21st Century environmental needs; an alternative approach to flood protection and habitat restoration is necessary. This material forms part of The Open University course U216 Environment.