Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

When most people think about New Orleans, the city’s music, food, architecture, and lifestyle probably come to mind. The port city, also known as The Big Easy, is the birthplace of jazz and the home of the country’s most elaborate Mardi Gras celebration. It is a place known for its traditions. Cities naturally change over time, but Katrina sped up the level of that change and left a radically different cityscape in its wake. The character of the city was altered due to circumstances beyond its control, and many of its defining cultural patterns were either diminished or replaced. Population changed, neighborhoods were decimated, and tourism remained on hold for several months. This paper examines some of the positive and negative changes caused by Katrina, including physical and population changes in established neighborhoods, the rise of investment rental property, a shift in the availability of traditional food and an increase in upscale restaurants, spiraling costs for established festivals, and not only an increase in crime but its spread from previous low-income areas into the heart of the tourist section, the French Quarter.