2026-09-18T21:56:01Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1290422021-07-05T14:03:20Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
James Wescoat.
He, Mengqi Moon.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
n-us-ca
2021-01-05T23:14:58Z
2021-01-05T23:14:58Z
2020
2020
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129042
1227045157
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, September, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis. Page 130 blank.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 118-129).
Presenting a case study of the L.A. River, this thesis analyzes the L.A. River revitalization master plans from 1996 and the subsequent efforts by public and private entities to create "an equitable, natural river." It demonstrates that the current urban design framework neglects to take a finegrained approach to distinctive river stretches and communities, lacks clear water justice objectives, and fails to adequately represent local stakeholders, and thus lacks the ability to actualize their vision. This thesis argues that the discipline and practice of urban design can use transmedia storytelling as a tool for power- and knowledge-sharing between urban designers and community members to achieve water justice objectives in the L.A. River. The thesis proposes a transmedia urban design method that incorporates transmedia stories and transmedia community engagement to inform the development of a just urban design.
By applying the proposed method with the Chinatown community and its stretch of the L.A. River, this thesis aims to unravel water injustice in the area. Since the 1930s, Chinatown in Los Angeles has long suffered from hegemonic representation, serving a nostalgic and archaic Orientalist imagination to the West. The misrepresentation of Chinatown has led the river revitalization and urban renewal processes to neglect the community, thus resulting in water injustice. As an alternative, this thesis proposes a counter urban design scheme for the Chinatown community and its river stretch. The transmedia urban design method and design alternatives aim to achieve four water justice objectives: procedural, distributive, corrective, and imaginative. It selects four sites in Chinatown for urban design intervention based a process of site analysis. Then it engages with local transmedia storytellers to generate preliminary programs for those sites. Lastly, it proposes a Chinatown-L.A.
River Master Plan and urban design alternatives for the four sites to address the water injustice revealed in the previous two steps. Corresponding to the four objectives, the transmedia engagement process fosters local community participation and representation (procedural justice), the Master Plan improves the access to the river (distributive justice), the urban design alternatives enhance the community's multi-racial experience next to and with nearby river communities (corrective justice), and the transmedia urban design method proves to create imaginery and voice to a new theme of water justice (imaginative justice).
by Mengqi Moon He.
S.M.
S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture
130 pages
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Architecture.
The Chinatown stories : investigating water (in)justice through transmedia urban design in the L.A. River
Thesis
application/pdf
2021-01-05T23:14:57Z
Publication
Master
Arch
unknown
unknown
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<Abstract>Presenting a case study of the L.A. River, this thesis analyzes the L.A. River revitalization master plans from 1996 and the subsequent efforts by public and private entities to create "an equitable, natural river." It demonstrates that the current urban design framework neglects to take a finegrained approach to distinctive river stretches and communities, lacks clear water justice objectives, and fails to adequately represent local stakeholders, and thus lacks the ability to actualize their vision. This thesis argues that the discipline and practice of urban design can use transmedia storytelling as a tool for power- and knowledge-sharing between urban designers and community members to achieve water justice objectives in the L.A. River. The thesis proposes a transmedia urban design method that incorporates transmedia stories and transmedia community engagement to inform the development of a just urban design.</Abstract>
<Abstract>By applying the proposed method with the Chinatown community and its stretch of the L.A. River, this thesis aims to unravel water injustice in the area. Since the 1930s, Chinatown in Los Angeles has long suffered from hegemonic representation, serving a nostalgic and archaic Orientalist imagination to the West. The misrepresentation of Chinatown has led the river revitalization and urban renewal processes to neglect the community, thus resulting in water injustice. As an alternative, this thesis proposes a counter urban design scheme for the Chinatown community and its river stretch. The transmedia urban design method and design alternatives aim to achieve four water justice objectives: procedural, distributive, corrective, and imaginative. It selects four sites in Chinatown for urban design intervention based a process of site analysis. Then it engages with local transmedia storytellers to generate preliminary programs for those sites. Lastly, it proposes a Chinatown-L.A.</Abstract>
<Abstract>River Master Plan and urban design alternatives for the four sites to address the water injustice revealed in the previous two steps. Corresponding to the four objectives, the transmedia engagement process fosters local community participation and representation (procedural justice), the Master Plan improves the access to the river (distributive justice), the urban design alternatives enhance the community's multi-racial experience next to and with nearby river communities (corrective justice), and the transmedia urban design method proves to create imaginery and voice to a new theme of water justice (imaginative justice).</Abstract>
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