Waggoner & Ball Logo

Gentilly Resilience District Planning

Building on a suite of pilot projects, this plan imagines a long-term vision for one of New Orleans’ most flood-prone neighborhoods, outlining a strategy for next-generation water systems, resilient mobility, inclusive growth, people and place.

Building on the New Orleans’ first-ever Resilience District (which includes funding for large-scale green infrastructure projects like the Mirabeau Water Garden), this plan develops a next-generation, holistic adaptation plan for Gentilly, incorporating land, water, infrastructure, urban heat and reforestation, mobility, economic development, and culture.

The foundation of the plan is a robust study of Gentilly’s history, geography, and infrastructure. An expansive data-gathering phase led to the generation of a map atlas and contextualized the District’s physical geography, water systems, urban heat, and demographic patterns. This physical basis formed the foundation for the planning process, grounding discussions with community members and experts alike in the fundamentals of place. The design and planning team conducted a years-long planning effort that included a broad coalition of hundreds of local and professional experts ranging from hydrologists, planners, developers, educators, City agencies, non-profits, community leaders, and residents.

While the risks of climate change form a basis for New Orleans’ future challenges, the Plan treats Gentilly’s strengths as its road map to adaptation. Abundant land, wide rights-of-way, levees that defend against the sea, institutions of higher learning, and families with multigenerational roots all provide the basis for a vibrant future adapted to the impacts of climate change.

Beginning with land and water, the Vision takes a layered planning approach to building on the District’s assets with a catalog of adaptive strategies to thrive in the face of climate change. Alongside water management and economic development, the mitigation of urban heat islands is a central theme running through the plan. New blue/green infrastructure in the form of stormwater parks, neutral ground waterways, and neighborhood wetlands do double-duty as stormwater sponges and urban cooling systems. Indeed, the clear symbiosis between water, tree canopies, and urban cooling suggests that a future Gentilly that embraces Living with Water® will also be one that suffers less from urban heat.

Building on the district mapping, community input, and stormwater modeling, the design team identified sites for future urban water projects and urban design opportunities. Together, this suite of project concepts forms a foundation for future fundraising, and reinforces the importance of a District reconnected by a surface water system, reforested against urban heat, and redeveloped to maximize its economic engines and bolster community development.



Client

City of New Orleans

Year

2016-2024

Partners

Batture, LLC
Collection of Collections
Gaea Engineers
I See Change
Procella (now with Waggonner & Ball)
Sherwood Design Engineers