ABSTRACT
The charge [of the Committee] was, literally, to create order out of chaos. (Bring New Orleans Back Commission, Urban Planning Committee,
“Action Plan for New Orleans”)
Almost immediately following the storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin launched the Bring New Orleans Back (BNOB) Commission. In the BNOB’s final report presented in early 2006, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin concluded,
We have an opportunity to turn our pre-Katrina dreams into post-Katrina realities as we rebuild this great city. . . . New Orleans will be a sustainable, environmentally safe, socially equitable community with a vibrant economy. Its neighborhoods will be planned with its citizens, and connect to jobs and the region. Each will preserve and celebrate its heritage of culture, landscape, and architecture.4
