Rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina was a seemingly insurmountable challenge, perhaps the biggest New Orleans has faced in its nearly 300-year history. But residents have responded by creating deeper connections with their ecosystems that underscore their commitment to the environment—from individual structures, to larger communities, and to the whole city.
In partnership with USGBC Louisiana, we worked for the past nine months to put together a book that captures the green movement in NOLA. We spent nearly a week there, talked with both professional planners and long-time residents, and witnessed the economic and ecological renaissance that is post-Katrina New Orleans.
The result is New Orleans: Structure, Community, City, a 100-page, full-color book that will be available at next week’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo November 22-24 in New Orleans. The book chronicles sustainable achievements such as the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, which treats all of its stormwater on-site, and the Urban Water Plan, which will revolutionize the city’s water infrastructure.
With a foreword by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the book tells the critical stories of a city rebuilding, with insights from Mark Ripple and Z Smith of Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, David Waggonner of Waggonner & Ball Architects, Tom Darden of Make It Right, and many more.
With the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina next year, New Orleans: Structure, Community, City shows a city that has prioritized sustainability as a key to its prosperous future. It’s a new New Orleans today—one that accounts for place above all else because there is no place like it.
Look for the book in the Greenbuild Bookstore, or flip through the digital edition below. Interested in ordering a copy? Contact Jen Illescas.
