多效益基础设施:以洛杉矶河总体规划为例

Multi-benefit Infrastructure: A Case Study of the LA River Master Plan

在过去的35年里,关于洛杉矶河的重新构想和未来发展方向存在着争论。该议题的关键在于激发一种河流与沿河公众更为全面和真实的关系,深刻理解城市发展、生态修复和基础设施之间复杂的关联性,以多效益思维重新认知基础设施的多元价值。全长约82 km的洛杉矶河提供了城市区域尺度上的机遇。相较于封闭的基础设施或单一的自然化景观,《洛杉矶河总体规划》旨在创造一种新的编排和框架,通过与环境相适应的策略支持生态系统和社区发展,具体体现在三个方面:环境研究、基于数据的方法和多效益策略。研究的关键是将城市和河流的综合信息转化为数据集的统一格式,即“河流标尺系统”,其整合了生态、水文、水力和建成环境的实际条件。规划提出“多效益基础设施”的概念,涵盖了河流与城市在自然、社会和文化层面的多重关系,探讨了基础设施未来的发展方向,为大型城市河流及滨水社区和城市公共空间的整体规划研究提供了新的视角,以及兼具创新性和实操性的策略和方法。

Over the past three and a half decades,a debate has existed about the future of the LA River.Is it infrastructure,or will it be a“natural”river ever again?The Los Angeles County LA River Master Plan explored this question through multiple years of technical research,a data-based methodology for understanding community needs,and a community engagement process.From the data-based methodology of the LA River Master Plan,it is clear that focusing on multi-benefit infrastructure is critical for the Los Angeles River and that the community and urban connections to the river cannot be ignored in the river’s reimagination.Adopted in June 2022,the Master Plan suggests several strategies for multi-benefit infrastructure that focus on community needs,uniting ecological,social,and hydrological realities.The relationship between communities and the river studied during the LA River Master Plan is described in this essay.Flowing 51 miles through one of the most famous metropolises of the world,the LA River is bordered by some of the most expensive real estates in the United States,and despite LA’s fame as a sprawling city,communities along the river are crowded,and land is in short supply.Along the Lower LA River,communities rank in the worst 10%of environmentally burdened cities in the State of California,and many communities have less than 1 acre of open space per thousand people.For the last century,the LA River has been seen as“infrastructure”,a mostly concrete,engineered channel to move water to the Pacific Ocean as quickly as possible during large storm events,which can stack offthe Pacific and pour large amounts of rain across the 830-square-mile watershed.A dream of a fully“naturalized”river is largely incompatible with contemporary Los Angeles.Those who hold fast to an extreme image of a fully“restored”natural system can mislead the public.The river has gone through many evolutions and exists now as a distinct cultural landscape.We have to reconsider what an“urban river”can and should be.This is not about rejecting the idea of nature in the city or denying a river a connection to its“natural”past.The LA River Master Plan is about embracing a new permutation that supports ecosystems and communities through strategies that align with the context.Complexity exists between urban development,ecology,and infrastructure.Landscape architects can accept this challenge to design a better urban relationship between our ecological and social systems.The LA River offers this opportunity on a grand scale of public space,with over 1 million people within 1 mile of the 51-mile channel and over 4 million people in the relatively small watershed.The LA River is likely to be a centerpiece for ever-increasing density and urban connections for generations to come.While the endless debate between infrastructure and nature goes on,generations of children grow up without parks,with poor air quality,without space to exercise,and without ecological function in the neighborhood.It’s time to accept complexity and be creative as designers,recognizing that the LA River and the city can co-exist.