Take a stroll along the section of the LA River that runs through the Central Los Angeles neighborhood of Frogtown and you’ll encounter cyclists, dog walkers, birdwatchers and the occasional artist. With its islands of mature trees and dense vegetation, this is one of the more scenic turns in the much-maligned river – give or take an abandoned shopping cart or two.
In recent years, the area – referred to by environmental planners as the “Glendale Narrows” – has also been a point of pilgrimage for researchers and students in USC School of Architecture, USC Viterbi School of Engineering and USC Cinematic Arts. Led by landscape architect and associate professor Alexander Robinson, the team has designed and built a 1:120 scale hydraulic model of the Glendale Narrows, housed in the City of Los Angeles’s Hydraulic Research Laboratory. The model is designed to support the research and community engagement goals of the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan, one of the nation’s most technically complex urban flood control projects, and is made possible with the support of City of LA Bureau of Engineering, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the USC Office of the Provost, USC Dornsife Public Exchange, Metabolic Studio, and grant funding from organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts.