An Economic Development Architecture for New Orleans By Kevin F. McCarthy

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina, followed by multiple levee failures, devastated New Orleans and other parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast, inflicting major damage to commercial property, infrastructure, and housing. The failure of the levees and the subsequent flooding of New Orleans caused enormous damage and disruption to the city, its people, and its economy. Recovering from a disaster of this magnitude poses a major challenge to the city, the state, and the nation. The complexity of this challenge is compounded by the fact that New Orleans’ population and economy had been lagging for several decades before Katrina. In response to this situation, this report provides recommendations regarding effective organizational and strategic approaches to revitalizing the city’s economy, identifies the best practices that other cities have used to foster economic development, and describes how these practices might be applied to New Orleans. Recommendations consider the organizational structure of a New Orleans economic development program and how it should strategically focus its efforts. Planning for the successful future economic development in the region depends on avoiding the mistakes of past efforts, so consideration is also given to historical trends and development missteps.

In response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures on New Orleans and its economy, the Horizon Initiative, a private-sector organization, was formed in 2006 to expedite the city’s recovery with a particular focus on economic recovery.
Horizon, in collaboration with the New Orleans City Council, has been evaluating alternative organizational structures and strategies to revitalize the city’s economy. To assist in this effort, Horizon contracted with the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute (RGSPI) to provide recommendations as to the most effective organizational and strategic approaches to accomplish Horizon’s objective. This report was produced in response to that challenge and aims to provide an organizational architecture for New Orleans’s economic revitalization.
As such, it specifically addresses three questions:
      - What strategies should the effort employ?
      - How should the effort be organized?
      - How should priorities be assigned, and how should the approach be implemented?

This report is not a detailed redevelopment plan. The content and approach of a specific economic plan or strategy are essential for putting it into action, and such issues are beyond the scope of this report. What this research does is provide guidelines for evaluating both alternative organizational structures and the many economic development proposals being put forward for New Orleans’s economic recovery.