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In her 1961 classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs titled her final chapter “the kind of problem a city is”. Jacobs proceeds to describe cities as “problems in organized complexity… variables are many, but they are not helter-skelter; they are ‘interrelated into an organic whole’. “. Most New Orleanians instinctively understand this city as complex, with single, ‘grand’ solutions rarely addressing the problems for which they were intended, and often, having all sorts of unintended consequences. At the Institute we have turned our focus to the particulars of the city —specific examples of what is working— for what Jacobs pointed out as the ‘un-average’ clues to how processes in a city happen. In this section, we are posting challenges in the city seeking ‘un-average’ solutions.

Harness this opportunity: Arts occupation repurposed for community benefit?

Educational master planning led by the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board will potentially leave over fifty (50) secondary, elementary and middle schools abandoned. The vitality of a neighborhood depends on its many amenities: schools, parks, stores, housing. The closing of these local schools is a serious blow to not just the children who attend, but the many other community activities that can take place in, or around, a school. Schools build community resilience. Financial constraints and demographic ‘projections’ have resulted in the pending off-loading of these assets. Can these buildings,that embody the energy and aspirations of… (continued)
Posted: 12.16.2008 By:
0 comments Filed Under: artists, neighborhood vitality, planning, repurposed, schools, new orleans