March 9, 2006
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs
Glickman-Miller Hall, Atrium

About the Program | Participants | Download Video

The devastation of whole neighborhoods in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina raised the enduring issues of race and class in U.S. cities. Much like Cleveland, close to 23% of New Orleans residents lived below the poverty line, in highly segregated neighborhoods with limited access to transportation and other city services, but with highly developed social networks. Now these neighborhoods and many of the social networks that held them together have been destroyed.

This forum will explore the fundamental question: What does the exposure of deep-seated race and class issues and the ambivalent national response teach us about the value we place on our nation’s cities, including the people who live in them and the public policies that helped to shape them?

• In the near future, New Orleans will almost certainly be smaller.
• How can planners make sure smaller will be better?
• What are the lessons for other cities facing population loss?
• Can New Orleans become a model for other cities, consciously building communities of opportunity for all residents

Sylvester Murray, Professor of Urban Studies and Public Administration, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
Beverly Cigler, Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Penn State Harrisburg
Lenneal Henderson, Distinguished Professor of Government and Public Administration, University of Baltimore
Wendy Kellogg, Associate Professor of Planning and Environmental Studies, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University
W. Paul Farmer, AICP, Executive Director and CEO, American Planning Association
Jane S. Brooks, Professor and Chair, Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, University of New Orleans
Sabra Pierce-Scott, Cleveland City Council, Ward 8 and Majority Leader
Oliver M. Thomas, Jr., President, New Orleans City Council
Myron Robinson, President and CEO, The Urban League of Greater Cleveland
Norman Krumholz, Professor of Planning, Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University

Supported by Cleveland State University’s Walter B. Waetjen Endowed Urban Education Lecture Fund. In partnership with the Ohio Urban University Program; Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative; Ohio Planning Conference; Urban Land Institute, Cleveland Chapter; The Urban League of Greater Cleveland; AIA Cleveland; and the American Society of Public Administrators, Cleveland Chapter.