Louisiana

Low-income residents of the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans have lived alongside a potentially lethal legacy of federal policy decisions -- and on top of a 95-acre municipal dump.

Vincent Marcello intended to build a swimming pool in his backyard, which is built on top of the city's oldest burial grounds. 15 coffins have been excavated so far.

Before Katrina, New Orleans was unfriendly and unpopular for cyclists. Today, the city has 15 streets with bike lanes totaling 40 miles of bike pathway, and is gunning to be as bike-friendly as Portland or Seattle.

Martin C. Pedersen says New Orleans' recovery is far from over in the Ninth Ward, even with the efforts of groups like Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation.

Candy Chang is using public art installations to spark community involvement and input on land use.

With great success, the city is on a fast track to transform six Great Depression-era public housing projects - totaling 4,000 units - into mixed-income housing. "People will be watching New Orleans closely," observes Linda Couch.

Bicycle use has increased in many parts of New Orleans, thanks to new bike lanes.

Six pilot cities are selected for the launch of a new federal, interagency initiative know as 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities': Fresno, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Chester, PA.

A discrimination lawsuit filed against the federal government and the state of Louisiana was settled this week in favor of homeowners who claimed that the way funds were distributed was biased against the poor.

Created by President Obama in response to the BP oil spill last summer, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Task Force is now working on a project that restores the flow of sediments to wetlands in Texas. Funding from BP helps facilitate the costly process.

In this piece from Places, Deborah Gans offers a firsthand look at planning for recovery in the city's neglected East side.

A local firm is leading an effort in New Orleans to manage the city's water more like the Dutch.

By analyzing maps and topographical information, this post from Data Pointed shows how the Mississippi River is likely to change course and head towards lower ground.

Mattel chose to premiere its "Architect Barbie" at the AIA Convention in New Orleans, and reporter Doug MacCash foregoes the plastic icon to talk to another sort of icon - Andres Duany.

The recovery of New Orleans is happening in many small ways. One of them is the work of community groups to rebuild and re-inhabit damaged homes.

An article in The Architect's Newspaper describes post-Katrina redevelopment plans and calls the city a lab for architecture and planning.

In this article, Roberta Brandes Gratz argues that demolition-based strategies are not an effective way for shrinking cities to promote revitalization. Instead, she cites a recent auction of blighted homes in New Orleans as a better alternative.

Various plans and strategies have been crafted over the years to try to help New Orleans recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. While early plans took a stronger stance, the city is now taking a less heavy-handed approach.

In this interview, Treme creator David Simon discusses what motivated team that produced "The Wire" to turn their attention from Baltimore to New Orleans.

Stray chickens have overrun many parts of New Orleans since it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.