New Orleans as a Laboratory for Architecture and Urban Planning

From The Architect's Newspaper:

"Construction that began a few years ago is now starting to finish up, while the city's new Mayor Mitch Landrieu has launched a program to instigate 100 city-initiated projects that will begin or even be completed in the next three years. In total, according to William Gilchrist, the city's Director of Place-Based Planning, over $13 billion in federal, state and local investments will go into effect. In many ways, said Gilchrist, the city has become a laboratory for new ideas in architecture and urban planning."

The ambitious plans have attracted a star-studded team of architects, development experts, and even Hollywood actors. Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation is "building contemporary-style, highly sustainable (from solar powered to rainwater harvesting) homes in the Lower Ninth Ward- the hardest hit of all of New Orleans' neighborhoods," according to Sam Lubell (author of the article). The hope, according to Lubell, is that a large portion of the projects are completed by the city's tri-centennial in 2018.