The next step is to locally retain water. Pressure on the city drainage system during heavy rainfall is reduced, by creating mechanisms to hold rainwater and let it seep into the ground, before it enters the drainage system. Each part of the city makes a contribution to easing the water problem, and therefore, also actively contributes to the solution. In the new approach, areas may no longer simply discharge the excess water from their individual plots, but first capture and store it locally, to reduce pressure on the water system. It is at this grassroots level that many of the new measures are necessary and targeted. The new approach positions water as a much more integrated, intertwined aspect of the city, through to small-scale neighbourhoods and individual plots of land. Following these dialogues, H+N+S was contracted as part of a US-Dutch team, to develop a concrete Water Management Strategy for the city. Though the dialogues, a perspective was developed for the city: flooding would be limited by ample storage space for water (catchments) and water would become a visible, attractive and integrated aspect of the city. H+N+S were involved in the specialised field of water and design.
#LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE NEW ORLEANS SERIES#
In a series of discussions called the ‘Dutch Dialogues’, Dutch water experts and US stakeholders explored the options for a new water strategy for New Orleans. Local architects, such as David Waggonner, advocated for the reconceptualisation of the city’s relationship with its natural surroundings and the characterisation of New Orleans as a ‘living city in the Delta’. After Katrina, considerable effort was put into improving the dikes. Several key levees broke, and large parts of the city were flooded, resulting in more than 1800 deaths and $81 billion (USD) in damage. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused extensive devastation in New Orleans.
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