94.9 Landscape Projects for the Lower 9: Rebuilding Strategies for New Orleans

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The Lower Ninth Ward Studio Workshop Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture University of Colorado at Denver HSC How do we live here?

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The Lower Ninth Ward Studio WorkshopFour faculty members and twenty eight graduate students of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Colorado at Denver are presenting a follow-up to the design charrette and workshop held March 2-4, 2006 at the Holy Cross School --- “How Can We Live Here?”.“How Can We Live Here?” was meant as a catalyst to assist the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association and the Lower Ninth Ward Home Owners Association in developing design strategies for rebuilding the Holy Cross Neighborhood and the entire Lower Ninth Ward. People of this community have the right to come home to their neighborhood. “How Can We Live Here?” provided design tools to assist residents in moving forward in the reconstruction of the neighborhoods of New Orleans, and an opportunity to make things right in the flooded areas of the city. Two months later, the New Orleans Studio Workshop is returning with a continuation of “How Can We Live Here?”

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 949 Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 consists of nine design strategies that have been in development since January. The students’ goals are to assist in the effort of many to work with residents of the Lower Ninth as they re-imagine, redesign and rebuild home. The event is sponsored and assisted by the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association; The Lower Ninth Ward Home Owners Association; Councilmember, District E, Cynthia Willard-Lewis; Representative, District 99, Charmaine L. Marchand; and Holy Cross School.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The design strategies address – Exit Landscapes Hydrologic Strategies Diaspora Communication + Action On the Edge Connectivity Holy Cross School Disaster Overlays Seeding, Staging, Cultivating

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Exit Landscapes Exploration of Migration Concepts and Sister City Concepts To provide a flexible but reliable network of evacuation strategies that would allow for families within the Lower Ninth Ward to be evacuated together in the event of a future event like that of Hurricane Katrina, where individuals, families, and communities rely on each other so that those who could not leave in Katrina know how to leave, where to go, how long they will be displaced for, the conditions of the shelters, and how the are to return to the Lower Ninth Ward in a more efficient, quick, and easy manner.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Evacuation Errors _ How can a culture of prevention be embedded in New Orleans

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The proposed Urban Homesteading Program would allow for residents of the Lower Ninth Ward to find opportunities for relocation in other cities.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The sister city concept allows for these residents to set up temporary or permanent roots in a designated sister city, so to allow for both remediation of the physical land and the rigorous and thoughtful planning process to be executed in the Lower Ninth Ward. The sister city would allow for lot exchanges so residents could either trade for a new piece of land for permanent relocation or come together with fellow Lower Ninth Warders, to establish a co-operative living, working & training situation, where residents could return to the Lower Ninth Ward after a period of time and always have a place to evacuate to in the event of another event such as Katrina.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Hydrologic Strategies

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Taking a look at the groups invoked with the possible closing of the MRGO through the lens of the opportunities and constraints for each one.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Successes seen in the eight main project types used in wetland restoration.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Another look at the eight main project types used in wetland restoration; projects that have varying levels of success, take a large amount of time and money.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Strategies that may be useful in the discussion of the closure of MRGO

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Six key locations and strategies for beginning the closure of MRGO. These come from the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, as well as an addition of a local intervention in Bayou Bienvenue.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Diaspora

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 • Create an information exchange network through charity email addresses • Increases community awareness and empowerment • Will allow collective mourning, sharing of personal experiences and solidarity to occur

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The symbology of the ladder is an unorthodox, and therefore effective, means of establishing collective sensitivity, leading to awareness, action, and hope. Art installation is a radical means of sensitizing the nation – planting the seed in the American mind for a heightened engagement in the events of Katrina.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 This project investigates the relationship between human experience and time, ultimately opening the process of remembering through landscape narrative. It is not just that “places” serve to remind us of the stories that are associated with them, in certain aspects, the places only exist because they have stories associated with them. This projects remembers the events of August 29th through September 24th, and the human experience of fear and loss and ultimately serves to remind us that time stops when we forget.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The transition from a cleared home lot to an occupied home lot is deliberate and extended by a strategy of clearing, seeding, growing, and clearing again. The voids that are the result of a demolished home become an index for the regret of the community. The ground becomes a recharging event, recovering landscape equating to recovering community.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 A memorial structure that serves as a canvas for expressing grief, anger, and hope. Strategy – Sanctification through participation. A memorial ground – a place that is the repository of memory, precious objects, and offerings. As the base for a new pedestrian bridge, the memorial ground is the metaphorical foundation for a new future of the Lower Ninth Ward.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Communication + Action www.lower9.org Rethinking Community The inability to establish communication channels has disconnected the Lower 9th Ward community. Raising awareness is the first goal. Through communication and the exchange of information, connections can be built.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 www.lower9.org • learn about the project goals and work being developed

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Goals Raise awareness about the current and changing state of New Orleans and specifically the Lower 9th Ward. Work on building connections between evacuees living in Denver and provide a platform for an exchange of information. Provide opportunities for people in other cities to help. Reconnect evacuees with their families, friends, neighborhoods, neighborhood associations and one another. Provide a model that other cities can use to begin reconnecting evacuees in their location with New Orleans

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 events • Learn about events held to raise awareness in Denver

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Method Hold events in Denver to raise awareness about the continuing issues in New Orleans and generate support for evacuees living both here and around the country as they struggle to return home. Create a website that functions as a Communication Platform.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 forum Share ideas A communication exchange facilitates new connections

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Communication Platform Outcomes • share ideas about how to rebuild New Orleans • offer feedback to those ideas submitted • view the results of the Awareness Events • Evacuees get reconnected to home and family

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 webcams • See how New Orleans is recovering

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 getting involved A list of organizations active in the gulf region

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 On the Edge

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The first phase of development will raise portions of the land above the flood plain, including land bridges that every resident can access as an exit out of the neighborhood in the event of another levee break.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 Modular housing is chosen for it’s low cost and quick set-up time.

94 9Landscape Projects for the Lower 9 The possibility of harnessing wind, solar, and advanced building techniques, will allow the residents of the Lower Ninth Ward to return on their own terms. The control the city currently has over power restoration will be taken, and the decision of returning to the Lower Ninth Ward will be placed in the hands of the people.

94.9 Landscape Projects for the Lower 9: Rebuilding Strategies for New Orleans

94.9 Landscape Projects for the Lower 9: Rebuilding Strategies for New Orleans

Presentation Transcript

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