Los Angeles River Sustainable Revitalization Project

This future-solutions project imagined how the Los Angeles River could be transformed over the next 50 to 100 years from a heavily polluted concrete channel into a cleaner, greener, and more habitable urban environment. The project focused on reducing contaminated urban and agricultural runoff before it enters the river while also creating new public space for recreation, education, and community use.

Our team evaluated multiple possible solutions, including filtration systems, mobile water-cleaning units, retention ponds, absorbent concrete, bioretention cells, and protective river infrastructure. We selected an artificial river environment because it combined natural filtration, pollution prevention, water reuse, ecological restoration, and public-space development into one broader system.

The proposed environment would replace sections of the existing concrete channel with soil, grass, trees, aquatic plants, and engineered filtration zones. Plants such as duckweed, sunflowers, cattails, pondweed, water lettuce, and phragmites were selected for their potential to absorb ammonia, heavy metals, bacteria, algae, oil, and other pollutants. The surrounding vegetation would capture runoff, filter contaminated water, and allow cleaner water to continue into the river.

The concept also explored future technologies such as genetically modified plants designed to absorb hazardous chemicals more efficiently, carbon-negative concrete that captures carbon dioxide, and photocatalytic concrete that helps break down pollutants. These technologies would support a more durable, low-carbon, and self-sustaining river environment while reducing maintenance and erosion.

Beyond water treatment, the revitalized river would include parks, walking trails, bike paths, accessible pathways, educational signage, and natural gathering spaces. The goal was to turn the river into a useful “third place” where residents could exercise, relax, learn, and interact while improving the image, health, and economy of surrounding communities. The project also considered major challenges, including flooding, erosion, funding, long-term maintenance, public support, homelessness, political disagreement, and unequal access to the redeveloped space.

To explain the filtration process, our team proposed a CAD-designed and 3D-printed interactive plant model. Users would pour contaminated water into the top of the model, watch it move through an internal activated-carbon filter, and collect cleaner water at the outlet. This physical model was intended to make the microscopic process of bioretention easier to understand and connect the technical solution to the larger river concept.