ABSTRACT
One of the central challenges in the recovery planning of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina was how to create more livable, sustainable neighborhoods. With the inundation of 80% of the city and the intense demands of housing and infrastructure rebuilding, making communities safer and stronger seemed like a consensus mandate for planners tasked with coordinating rebuilding efforts. While terms like livability and sustainability flowed easily off the tongues of planners, many neighborhood residents were suspicious of efforts to improve the city, with concerns of neighborhood removal, race, and equity emerging as clear issues in early recovery planning.
Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans now has a set of livability-based recovery projects that are open in neighborhoods throughout the city. These new parks, bicycle facilities, and public spaces were designed to improve neighborhood places and solidify recovery investment. While issues related to neighborhood abandonment have eased, issues related to gentrification and displacement have quickly taken their place as key issues of concern.
This chapter provides an overview of how livability issues have been negotiated in the rebuilding planning of New Orleans. The chapter is structured to provide an initial overview of the key post-Katrina livability challenges. This is followed by a case study of the Lafitte Greenway, a linear trail and park that bisects the city through multiple neighborhoods, classes, and races. The Lafitte Greenway was explicitly planned as both a linear park and trail and as a recovery project designed to spur redevelopment. Major redevelopment is occurring along the corridor with a new Whole Foods at Broad Street, a major mixed-use development at Bayou St. John, and the Mid-City Market at Carrolton Avenue. The pace of redevelopment has created concerns about for whom the new emerging livability amenities are designed. The case study of the Lafitte Greenway presents a lens for understanding the delicate pathways for negotiating the meaning of livability in the recovery planning of New Orleans. The case study draws from both plan evaluation and primary document analysis and key stakeholder interviews.
