by Maayan Dembo

Spearheaded by the Van Alen Institute, and supported by the New Orleans Redevelopment Agency, the competition brings new life to some of the 30,000 vacant lots and abandoned structures left over from Hurricane Katrina throughout the city.

The competition, called Future Ground, is seeking submissions from “landscape designers, architects, planners, public policy wonks, and pretty much anybody in the business of shaping urban environments,” according to Aaron Seward from Architects Newspaper Blog. Ten years after Hurricane Katrina’s destruction, “Future Ground is looking to create design and policy strategies capable of adapting to changes in density, demand, climate, and landscape in New Orleans over the next half-century in an effort to turn these abandoned landscapes into lasting resources.”