| Building Local Capacity: Planning for Local Culture and Neighborhood Recovery in New Orleans
Jacob Wagner
Michael Frisch
Billy Fields
This article reflects the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
How can successful partnerships for advocacy planning be formed and sustained in a postdisaster environment? What roles can university-community partnerships play to create a more equitable and sustainable city while retaining the qualities of local culture that make New Orleans distinct? This article describes an innovative partnership between The Urban Conservancy and the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design at the University of Missouri-Kansas City that is focused on local culture as the foundation for disaster recovery and economic renewal. Cultural heritage offers an alternative framework for recovery planning that prioritizes local culture and the historic
built environment as essential to the city’s identity and recovery. Successful partnerships
in a city like New Orleans require local knowledge, respect for local culture, and an understanding of local politics. In this context, a partnership informed by mutual respect with a goal of local capacity building was a useful approach to the university-community partnerships model.
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