New Orleans East Revitalization
Honorable Mention in C40's 2023 Students Reinventing Cities competition, recognized by Mayor LaToya Cantrell.1,2 A student team's revitalization plan covering disaster resilience, renewable energy, transit, housing, and jobs.
Why New Orleans East.
New Orleans East is one of the largest areas of the city by land,3 and home to Versailles, the largest Vietnamese-American enclave in Louisiana.4 It was one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.3 Years later, much of the district still has vacant lots, limited transit, and aging infrastructure.
C40's Students Reinventing Cities competition asks university teams to reimagine real urban sites as green, inclusive, climate-resilient neighborhoods.2 The New Orleans site was the Read and Lake Forest corridors in New Orleans East.1 Our team's proposal has eight layers, including disaster planning, solar energy, transit, green jobs, and community development, planned together so each supports the others.
Our team, People First, was mostly Loyola University New Orleans students; I took part as a Tulane student. We received an Honorable Mention2 (the site's winning entry was Imperial College London's ReNew Orleans).5 Mayor LaToya Cantrell honored the team in September 2023 and asked us to present the plan.1 Along with new infrastructure, the plan includes local hiring, job training, and affordable housing for current residents.
The eight plan layers.
Turn layers on and off to see where each part of the plan sits in New Orleans East.
All eight layers.
The plan handles climate resilience, affordable housing, and local jobs together, as one project for New Orleans East.
Sources
- 1Mayor of New Orleans meets Honourable Mention Team People First | New Orleans Students Reinventing Cities · C40 Reinventing Cities, Sep 25, 2023Honourable Mention for Team People First; Read & Lake Forest Corridors site; Mayor LaToya Cantrell received the team's presentation.
- 2Loyola team wins honorable mention in the global 'Students Reinventing Cities' competition · Loyola University New Orleans, Sep 14, 20232023 honorable mention; competition description; Mayor Cantrell recognized the team on September 25.
- 3New Orleans East · WikipediaAbout 65% of the city's land area; most of the area flooded severely in Hurricane Katrina (Aug 29, 2005).
- 4Vietnamese · 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities)Versailles in New Orleans East is the largest Vietnamese enclave in Louisiana.
- 5New Orleans Winning Team present their project to Mayor LaToya Cantrell · C40 Reinventing Cities, Oct 10, 2023Imperial College London's ReNew Orleans was the winning team for the site.