Eighteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Steeping in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles, my study reassess the vision we have of the city 50 years after the publication of the groundbreaking essay written by British writer Reyner Banham titled Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (Penguin Press, 1971). In his book, Banham divides the megalopolis into four ecologies: Ecology I: the beach towns of Surfurbia; Ecology II: the gated and luxurious communities of the Foothills; Ecology III: The plains of Id ‘the only parts of Los Angeles flat enough to compare with the cities of the Midwest’; Ecology IV: Autopia ‘a single comprehensible place, a coherent state of mind, where Angelenos spend the two calmest and most rewarding hours of their daily lives.’ Fifty years ago, we were on the eve of what would be considered as one of the biggest cultural shifts we had ever conceived. What makes Los Angeles still so similar and yet so different? When post globalization today means more threats -such as climate change, dislocation, habitat crisis, and sanitary crisis -how can a coastal city like Los Angeles provide tools for better diversity, livability and affordability? Following the steps of Reyner Banham and his groundbreaking vision on the integration of architecture into environment, I discuss the paradoxical relationship between architecture and eco-justice in today’s Los Angeles.