Design for a new urban-landscape infrastructure that provides the inhabitants of New Orleans with an inspirational living environment and alleviates the hydrological and ecological problems afflicting that city.

In 2005 New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, flooding most of the city and forcing almost all its inhabitants to evacuate. Now, a good five years later, the large civil engineering works that are to protect the city against future flooding are in place. It is now time to think about an integrated perspective on the severely damaged low-lying suburbs beyond the flood walls.

Three major issues in Gentilly and Lakeview, once fully functioning suburbs, are exemplary for all low-lying parts of the city.

1. New Orleans depends almost wholly on the direct discharge of rainwater, with water storage scarcely figuring in the technocratic water system. The current drainage system which is almost completely underground has become outdated and is unable to effectively deal with the subtropical rainfall. Streets are flooded several times yearly with extreme levels of over 60 cm of water once every ten years. Hidden away in tunnels and behind retaining walls, the water in this delta is neither visible nor experienceable. More importantly, a deep drainage regime results in heavy subsidence.
2. The hurricane-force winds and the stagnating floodwater in Katrina's wake have together destroyed 70 per cent of all the city's trees. The upshot is a lack of shade during the hot summers and a barren and seemingly deserted suburban landscape.
3. In the area featured in this project, an average of 30 per cent of all residents have failed to return after the protracted period of evacuation. The many unoccupied properties this has left have a negative impact on both the image and the resources of the two neighbourhoods. The severely damaged urban tissue will not heal of its own accord and requires restructuring. At the same time, the sheer numbers of derelict buildings hold out opportunities to resolve the rainwater issue and improve the spatial quality of Gentilly and Lakeview.

The transformation process proposed in this project will give rise to an urban landscape that works for rather than against the people there by giving them a healthy and attractive living environment with ecological processes integrated in it. Not just that, this urban landscape impacts on them in an inspirational and revelational capacity and by stimulating the imagination.

Topography, rate of subsidence, rainwater flooding and the original landscape define the boundaries between four landscape zones. These provide a functional and aesthetic footing for interventions at all levels of planning that are to mitigate the three problems described above. A new water system in which water is given all the space it needs and is foregrounded in the neighbourhood as a quality, combines with a robust network of native vegetation to present a landscape framework. The new landscape identity is given shape in a design for a 530-hectare New Orleans City Park. It is transformed into a 'water-machine' with water storage serving the surrounding neighbourhoods. Besides having the park act as a key landscape mainstay, three design studies at the micro planning scale show how the working landscape registers in the urban area. By strategically mobilizing the voids within the typical grid structure of the suburbs, an attractive water-rich area can emerge where the largest canals are turned into linear parks. Temporary functions (such as tree nurseries as incubators for the yet-to-be-healed green structure) can give empty lots a duty to perform until water-storing connections can be introduced there. The design respects local feelings by seeking a balance between an ambience of security (clear-cut boundaries, visible surveillance) and having the water and vegetation appropriate to the landscape zone right up close and experienceable. We believe with an American optimism that a new and up-to-date approach to the landscape infrastructure will contribute to restoring the low-lying suburbs. The unexploited open space in the city is no longer regarded merely as a problem but is the key to renewed contact with the landscape. With city, inhabitants and landscape in close contact, the attractive residential climate that ensues will act as the driving force behind revitalizing Gentilly and Lakeview as the 21st-century suburbs this unique city deserves. We spent three months living and working in New Orleans. Our work is related to the so-called Dutch Dialogues, a series of workshops bringing together a great many Dutch and American professionals to work on proposals in the provinces of planning, design and water management.

Place of education: Wageningen Universiteit | Specialization: landscape architecture | Tutors: Jusuck Koh, Ingrid Duchhart, Rudi van Etteger, Maike van Stiphout