New Orleans：Water City

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1000-0232.2015.03.026

Abstract：The city of New Orleans has been defined historicaly by its relationship to water, the Mississippi River, its delta, Lake Ponchartrain, the Gulf of Mexico, and many smaler bodies of water. Over time the form of the city has moved from more sustainable high ground along the rivers’ natural levee, into low swamp-land, causing dangerous subsidence, and making the city increasingly vulnerable to flooding. The engineering of the Mississippi for flood prevention and navigation has disconnected it from its land-building delta and contributed to massive coastal land loss and threatening all of southern Louisiana. In the post-Katrina environment however, there are new regional and urban initiatives addressing both a more sustainable approach to river management at the scale of the delta, and more resilient forms of urban development in the city. This article traces the historical forces that have led to the current predicament and describes the promise of the today’s new approaches.