The Mirabeau Water Garden is proposed as a flood prevention system for New Orleans and it is expected to be "one of the largest urban wetlands in the USA" upon completion. The project is being overseen by Waggonner & Ball and Carbo Landscape Architects, but the funding comes from an unexpected source — a community of nuns have donated their convent to make this happen.
The flood prevention system takes up space that belongs to the Congregation of St. Joseph — a state that was largely affected by Hurrican Katrina in 2005. Instead of rebuilding the damaged property, the nuns are giving the land to serve an environmental good. It is expected that the flood prevention system will have "the capacity to naturally absorb and store approximately 6.5 million gallons of floodwater."
Image Credit: Waggonner & Ball
What's Driving This Trend
- Flood Prevention Systems
- Opportunity to develop innovative flood prevention systems for urban areas.
- Urban Wetlands
- Potential for creating large-scale urban wetlands as effective flood prevention measures.
- Community Financing
- Emerging trend of communities coming together to finance large-scale environmental projects.
Who This Affects Most
- Architecture and Urban Planning
- Disruptive innovation opportunities to incorporate flood prevention systems in urban designs.
- Environmental Conservation
- Opportunities to develop and implement environmentally friendly flood prevention measures.
- Community Development
- Potential for community-led funding models to support large-scale environmental projects.
