Adrien Persac's perspective of the port of New Orleans, produced in 1858
Transforming New Orleans riverfront -maintaing public space
The Mississippi river has played a profound role in creating a sense of public space in New Orleans. As societal conditions have changed so too did the public opinion about the river. By and large the relationship between the river and its city depends upon the river’s perceived usefulness.
Public or Private Space?
New Orleans waterfront underwent a sweeping transition from an open, public space after the Civil war to a gridlock of storage warehouses. Belt line warehouses blocked access to the riverfront –separating the rest of the city from the river that made it.
A Look Back at Riverfront Land Use
Then… 
Bird’s eye-view of New Orleans riverfront after primary railroad construction in 1867.
Bird’s eye-view after the Dock Board’s Belt line formation
New Orleans waterfront underwent a sweeping transition from an open, public space after the Civil war to a gridlock of storage warehouses. Belt line warehouses blocked access to the riverfront –separating the rest of the city from the river that made it.
Crescent Park Project
Reinventing New Orleans riverfront as a recreational space Maintaining public space
The 8 year Crescent Park project is a result of a collaboration between the Army Corps. of engineers, the New Orleans city council and an appointed Crescent Park planning committee
Follow the link to visit the Crescent Park project website.
http://www.reinventingthecrescent.org/
For more on the making of Crescent Park
Sources
Capps, Kriston. “Eskew+Dumez+Ripple wins the AIA 2014 architecture firm award.” Architect Magazine, December 2013. Web. http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/eskew-dumez-ripple-wins-the-aia-2014-architecture-firm-award_o.aspx
Facts of interest about the Port of New Orleans: second port, U.S.A. New Orleans: Board of Commissioners, an agency of the State of Louisiana. November 1, 1922.
Kelman, Ari. A River and Its City: The Nature of Landscape in New Orleans. Berkley: University of Los Angeles Press, Ltd. 2003.
Sacher, John M. “Antebellum Louisiana.” KnowLA Encyclopedia of Louisiana. Ed. David Johnson. Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities, 28 July 2011. Web.
New Orleans’ Crescent Park exemplifies a public space in which the landscape’s history is visible. Incorporating native plant species along side architectural structures reminiscent of the Belt line wharves shows the transformation that New Orleans riverfront has seen over the 20th century.