If ever there was a city in need of some inspired, creative urban planning, New Orleans is it. Rebuilding New Orleans will be a Herculean undertaking, but there is at least one plan that has long been afoot that may now be possible due to the forthcoming billions of dollars in federal aid. Some government officials, local leaders, and real estate developers see the recent devastation as an opportunity to rebuild New Orleans into a better city than it was — an “Afro-Caribbean Paris” — and to address its long-standing problems of concentrated poverty and high crime rates. Read more about “Operation Rebirth” at the WSJ Real Estate Journal.
Unfortunately, the article makes no mention of Coast 2050, a strategic plan to restore the coastal wetlands and protect the Louisiana coast against future storm surges. I have heard several knowledgeable pundits over the last few weeks say the same thing: if you don’t rebuild the wetlands, there’s no sense in rebuilding the levees.
Technorati Tags: Katrina, Urban Planning
