City: New Orleans
State/Province: Louisiana
Country: United States

William Gilchrist, Director of Planning and Building, City of Oakland:
“The big idea is to connect the city with its major defining asset, the Mississippi River. Given the unusual topography we have, the riverfront is the high natural levee, and the whole city has not physically connected with it in a way you might typically find in other cities along rivers. In a city like ours—where we are always balancing history, preservation, and reinvention—this is a bold move at a large scale that is authentic to the city’s character, but also new and creative.”

— William Gilchrist, FAIA, then director of Place-Based Planning, City of New Orleans