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Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference

November 10-12, 2005
New Orleans

A major planning and visioning conference, the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, brought planners, citizens, officials, and community leaders to New Orleans November 10-12, 2005.

The conference was presented by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), in collaboration with the American Planning Association (APA) and co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Speakers included Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, U.S. Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), U.S. Reps. William Jefferson (D-La.) and Charles Melancon (D-La.), Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

More than 400 invited Louisianans registered to participate. Attendees included representatives of a broad range of local and state organizations, Louisiana citizens, religious and civic groups, community leaders, and public officials. An overflow room was provided for those who were unable to register for the conference.

The invitation-only planning and visioning conference was the first step in what's likely to be the largest rebuilding effort in U.S. history. It aimed at developing design and planning principles that will guide Louisiana's post-Hurricane Katrina long-range rebuilding efforts. Sessions focused on infrastructure, economic development, public services, environmental and public health, and community building.

The complete agenda is listed at: http://lrrc-prod.aia.org/lrrc_agenda.

Daily Highlights and APA Staff Reports

APA staff members attending the conference filed reports. Click here for staff roundups.

Conference organizers summarized each day's events in a daily briefing. Click here for daily highlights.

Photos

Click here for photos of the devastated areas visited by conference speakers.

Instant Electronic Feedback

As recommended planning principles for rebuilding Louisiana were developed by conference participants, Louisiana citizens in attendance were be able to provide instant feedback on a range of planning and design principles and to rank their importance.

This feedback was tabulated and analyzed in real time by AmericaSpeaks (a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts citizen engagement projects) and will be part of the conference's final recommendations.

After the conference the Louisiana Recovery Authority has plans for public meetings and design charettes. For more information, please contact the Louisiana Recovery Authority: www.lra.louisiana.gov.

First Statewide Conference

This event was significant for these reasons:

It was the first statewide post-hurricane planning conference for Louisiana, and it set the stage for the rebuilding process by addressing the fundamentals.
It was based upon the participation of, and feedback from, Louisiana citizens. Conference participants included a wide range of local stakeholders, citizens, public officials, community leaders, and businesspeople from the affected areas.
Presenters represented a diverse range of national and local planning, design, research, environmental, construction, infrastructure, public policy, and academic expertise.
The conference was conducted in public, and news media were invited to cover all sessions.

The strictly nonpartisan professional planning conference was based upon a specific process of generating ideas, analyzing information, focusing discussions, and gathering instant feedback from participants. From this process will emerge a body of principles that ideally will guide statewide and local rebuilding efforts.