New Orleans after Katrina: Building America's Water City

摘要

After the catastrophe caused by hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans architects and engineers started a process to develop an integrated and comprehensive urban water management plan. During five years, a group of American and Dutch designers, engineers, planners and scientists worked together to develop a new approach for the water management system in the metropolitan area. The plan proposes a system which is different from the pre-Katrina system in two ways. First, instead of a continuing soil subsidence, the new water system will result in a stabilization of soil- and groundwater levels. Second, instead of separating urban districts and downgrading public spaces, the new water system will contribute to new spatial quality and coherence of the urban fabric. The plan shows that innovative water management strategies not only improve protection against flooding, but also create new perspectives for the spatial, social and economic future of the delta city. The most innovative aspect of the plan is the way in which hydraulic engineering, spatial design and governance are related to each other from the regional to the neighbourhood scale.