Can The Southland Grow in an Age of Drought?

The state of California is severely short of water. And the dwindling supply is coinciding with yet another building boom. Can the Southland keep on expanding if drought is the new normal?

The state of California is severely short of water. And the dwindling supply is coinciding with yet another building boom. Can the Southland keep on expanding if drought is the new normal?

Hadley Arnold (left), co-founder of Woodbury University’s

Arid Lands Institute, explains that with an imaginative blend of conservation, recycling and reclamation, Los Angeles could grow and grow, in new architectural and urban forms.

She describes how every surface of a building, as well as roads, sidewalks and parks will have to become water absorbers and collectors, and she makes clear that if we are to save water we must also save energy.

Smart water-saving design needs to address urban impermeability in places like Sun Valley, above, in image by Joseph Nunez.