Resiliency revised
Description
In environmental terms, New Orleans is a city that should not exist. With the Mississippi River eager to escape its engineered confinement, the topography of the city sinking slowly due to subsidence, and the steady rise of sea level partnered with wetland and coastal erosion, the future of New Orleans is wet and it is fast approaching. Initial settlers built on the naturally elevated sediment deposits of the Mississippi River, but over time and as the city grew, swamps were drained and occupation spread into lower, more saturated ground. For over two hundred years, humans have interfered with water's natural authority over this area. We have contained, diverted, drained, and regulated rivers, lakes, and swamps to maintain a constructed version of the ground plane that subverts natural processes to the regions' detriment. Plans for the future of New Orleans have been debated since Hurricane Katrina served as an expose to our synthesized and extremely fragile system. From the Dutch Dialogues, a comprehensive u an redevelopment plan, to smaller scale water management studies such as the Mirabeau Water Gardens, the drawing board has rarely been empty. Proposals have met resistance from the community, and ten years after the disaster, no coherent plan has been outlined. New Orleans isn't the only city searching for answers; delta and coastal cities the world over are recognizing the need to rethink resiliency and sustainability in light of global environmental changes. This project proposes neighborhood-scale interventions that bring previously concealed water processes to light by exhibiting them in a sustainable community-centered resource. Rather than altering existing infrastructure, this strategy would utilize current neutral ground conditions in order to take pressure off the City's drainage network. By accepting and accommodating water within the urban fabric, New Orleans can address the deficiencies in defensive water infrastructure to define a new resilience.