Parkspace in the Los Angeles River watershed ENLARGE
PAST, PRESENT, AND POSSIBILITIES
PARKSPACE
A potential recreational resource paved in concrete and engineered to facilitate real-estate development, the Los Angeles River in its present condition serves as a metaphor of the region's treatment of its natural environment.
Although Southern California is known for its benign climate and considered an outdoor Eden, the politics of the region have allowed potential nature preserves and parkspace to be converted into Los Angeles' famous low-grade suburban development, creating in the process one of the worst parkland-to-population ratios in the country. The current distribution of parks within the Los Angeles River Basin is illustrated by the above map, whereas its comparison with other urban areas is below. While the watershed contains several large parks, such as Griffith Park, Topanga State Park and Angeles National Forest, much of their area is non-accessible mountainous terrain. Home to over 6 million people, the valleys and coastal plains contain not even 35 square miles of park. Constituting a third of this parkland, the recreational areas at Sepulveda, Hansen, Whittier Narrows, and Santa Fe Dams suggests the potential of flood-control basins along the river to create regional parks.
Researched by students at LAUSD's Jefferson High School, the Los Angeles River Connection documents the river in its present condition.
Technical data on the Los Angeles County Drainage Area system's dams is available from the Army Corps of Engineers / Los Angeles District
| City | Population Density | Parkland Ratio | ||
| Los Angeles River Basin (non-mountainous area) |
5625 people per sq mi |
152 sq feet per person |
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| City of Los Angeles | 7770 people per sq mi |
130 sq feet per person |
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| Chicago |
12,200 people |
115 sq feet per person |
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| Boston | 12,500 people per sq mi |
166 sq feet per person |
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| New York City | 24,330 people per sq mi |
300 sq feet per person |
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| Minneapolis | 6350 people per sq mi |
756 sq feet per person |
Population and water use data for river basins of each state is available from the United States Geological Survey. Density figures for the non-mountainous area assume that no more than 1/3 of the Los Angeles River basin's total population of 9 million people live in the mountains and foothills.
The Los Angeles River at Lankershim Boulevard in Universal City, with the hills of Griffith Park in the background, 2000
Photograph by author