The first thing I noticed about Mid-City was that it was a growing neighborhood in a shrinking city. During the 1990’s, as New Orleans continued on a 30 year population decline, Mid-City gained over 3,000 new residents. The second thing I noticed is that Mid-City is New Orleans’ most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhood.
Mid-City was gentrifying, but for all the right reasons that planners seem to think are OK: affordable and historic housing, walkable commercial corners and strips, a diverse community and strong everyday institutions like the Rock ‘n Bowl. It seemed that if there were so many healthy elements in Mid-City before Hurricane Katrina, then the neighborhood had a strong chance to fare well in the disaster recovery process.
What was right with Mid-City before Katrina and attracted so many new people to the neighborhood can serve as the tools for recovery.
Michael Haggerty, M.U.P. ’06, Harvard University Graduate School of Design
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