Giving Compass' Take:

• Keren Zhu, J. Luke Irwin, Stephanie Tanverakul, Timothy R. Gulden discuss the factors that need to be considered in Los Angeles River revitalization. 

• The authors emphasize the importance of engaging the many stakeholders in projects like this one. How can funders work to bring these stakeholders together? 

• Read about the benefits of prioritizing healthy rivers. 

Currently a predominantly concrete channel running through the city, the Los Angeles River has great potential to revitalize Los Angeles's water resources, landscape, and identity. Creating a new vision for a river that stretches through 33 cities and for 50 miles from a mountainous upper watershed to a flat coastal zone presents a complex challenge for policymakers, engineers, and urban planners.

The length of the LA River itself can both help and hinder revitalization plans. On one hand, it touches more people and communities who could support and benefit from a revitalized river. On the other, it also means that there are many potential stakeholders with varying needs and goals. A major challenge for planning is to come up with a unified and comprehensive plan. Different organizations have offered possible answers for the river's future at different scales. Some, such as the County's Los Angeles River Master Plan or the City's Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, are large-scale. Others, such as the Department of Water and Power's “One Water LA” or the LA River Ecosystem Restoration Plan, are more focused on a particular topic or area.

The substance of these plans differs as well. For example, the LA River Downtown Design Dialogue seeks to foster interactions between human and natural systems in a bustling oasis. The LA Sustainable Water Project seeks to use the river to enhance local water supply and improve water quality. Friends of the Los Angeles River advocate for habitat restoration and public access. Still other plans are focused on different stretches of the river, rather than treating it as a whole, highlighting the need for a coordinated master plan that integrates planning across both upstream and downstream segments of the river.

Efforts to restore the Los Angeles River should embrace complexity and diversity, leveraging and building on existing regional and local plans and incorporating diverse funding sources as part of a continued path for success.

Read the full article about Los Angeles River revitalization by Keren Zhu, J. Luke Irwin, Stephanie Tanverakul, Timothy R. Gulden at RAND Corporation.