POD proposes a new people oriented development model for green and healthy living for the sustainable regeneration of the Tulane-Gravier neighborhood. By initiating an ecological dialogue with NOLA’s City Park, a resilient, active and vibrant community grows into a live-in park at the other end of the historic Bayou St John’s canal. At its core, this development relies on the ecological and social opportunities offered by Tulane-Gravier’s mosaic of underexploited vacant lots to create an inhabited and eventful urban park. POD is a ‘free zone’ of rich and diverse public spaces shaped to the needs of the community. This project borrows from urban forestry to orient a strategy of green acupuncture to nurture a thriving and resilient community.
Of vacant lots and urban wilderness
Taking the form and function of a generous green canopy linking the City Park to the historical Vieux Carré, POD introduces urban wilderness into everyday life to forge a bond between people, community, city and nature. Apart from enhancing “la vie de quartier”, the greening strategy and its “softer” infrastructure aim to alleviate the city’s challenges with runoff water management, both on a daily basis and during extreme weather events. Using vacant lots as improvement opportunities, the entire neighborhood becomes a greener, safer and more resilient place; a ‘wilder’ yet meaningful greenspace.
While being notorious for its vulnerability to flooding, NOLA is better known for its unique history and cultural heritage. The canopy of trees, which has forged the city’s landscape and identity through time, is a big part of this heritage. Large oak trees, Pecan orchards and cypress trees each have a role to help maintain a balance between cityscape and landscape, neighborhood and park, nature and residents.
Greenway and water management
The bioswales integrated along larger streets harbor a generous cover of indigenous trees, shrubs and plants, thereby facilitating natural drainage while reducing the urban heat island effect. The neighborhood is organized into plateaus that potentially control flooding at a larger scale. The Lafitte Greenway, which acts as a green spine, is the main feature of a water management system that can naturally harvest, filter and purify surface runoff and pollutants. The Greenway is also a living and evolving open space that weaves through fields, orchards, rain gardens and recreational spaces, offering informal leisure, learning and socializing opportunities.
Public amenities and community gathering places
Slowly seeping through the vacant lots of the whole neighborhood, POD’s lush greenscape fosters healthy and active living through sustainable mobility. With its safer streets and slow-car zone, the entire neighborhood encourages walking,gardening, playing and gathering in public spaces. Linking close-by neighborhoods together, the underside of I-10 becomes the new Sky Blue Market, both a citywide cultural landmark and a lively community-based meeting place. It comprises a food market, a bourbon distillery, gathering areas for concerts and cultural events, open show spaces for local artists, among other things. With the new streetcar on Rampart Street, N. Claiborne Avenue is redesigned as a public express buses corridor linking the neighborhoods to the East to downtown and the Canal streetcar.
