Public spaces in New Orleans post­Katrina. Plans and projects as instruments for urban and social revitalization.

The article, that represents the outcome of an integration among a study of recent literature and an on­site enquiry realized at the end of the 2010 at the University of New Orleans and at the Tulane University, reviews the plans and actions for the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The aim is to demonstrate that, though the natural disaster has inflicted tension to city fabric, these projects, analyzing the economic and social contexts, have constituted an opportunity to provide a spread of urban quality and community aggregation, both eliminating present inequities and strengthening the cultural identity and the relationships with the public spaces of everyday life.