Wisner Tract Stormwater Park & Habitat Restoration

New Orleans, Louisiana

A wilderness escape in the city

After significant damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, Wisner Tract, a 150-acre golf course located in New Orleans' world-class City Park, remained untouched. As a result, it has been embraced by the community as a wilderness escape from the bustle of city life. Design Workshop was selected to develop a new park design for the area. The team is currently working to a new urban habitat experience, blending environment, community, and education for New Orleans residents. Emphasizing flexible, passive programming with stormwater management best practices, the project will create a new aesthetic and functional amenity for the city. City Park intends to set a regional precedent for functioning wildlife habitat, passive programming, stormwater management and equitable access to natural environments. Through initial public engagement for the project, the Design Workshop team has engaged nearly 500 city residents and regular park users through a series of community workshops, focus groups and an online survey. A robust approach to site analysis has delivered a nuanced understanding of the site’s current and potential ecological value and capacity to better manager stormwater for adjacent neighborhoods.

Services Provided: Landscape Architecture, Master Planning, Public Engagement

Client

New Orleans City Park