The Four Ecologies 2.0

by Suthata Jiranuntarat (MArch I ’19), Sonny Meng Qi Xu (MArch, MLA ’18)

How do we re-tool the twentieth-century metropolis in light of pressing issues of climate change, social and economic inequities, and social and cultural dissonance?
How do we re-imagine the mono-functional infrastructure as a set of evolving and working landscapes and urbanistic appropriations that catalyze change and take on multivariate issues of the twenty-first century?

Re-tooling Metropolis Los Angeles: The Four Ecologies 2.0 confronts Los Angeles’ aging, derelict, and underutilized infrastructure and lack of public spaces and re-conceptualizes new potentials and experiences of multi-functional, productive, and performative infrastructures and urban realms. Through the lens of Reyner Banham’s Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, the project re-imagines Banham’s Ecologies for the twenty-first century. The Four Ecologies 2.0 proposes a new language of movement and civic life for Los Angeles. One that not only serves mobility, but integrates social, cultural, economical, and ecological functions to create hybrid systems for the future.