Regionalism in New Orleans

New Orleanians derive a huge amount of identity from their neighborhood.  Each neighborhood has its own unique identity and history.  Also in a city with a rather unusual street grid (concentric roads echoing the 'crescent' of the Mississippi River around the city and radiating 'spokes' perpendicular to the river) neighborhoods are used to navigate with relative accuracy.  

For example, Xavier University (where I am staying) is on the edge of "Gert Town" just across Ponchartrain Parkway from Mid-City.  The famous French Quarter is the neighborhood "Vieux Carre."  Gert-Town is renown for being largely black and working-class, along with Bywater, Marginy, both the Upper and Lower Ninth Wards, and Central City.  Then again, I suppose that in a city that is majority black and not overly wealthy many neighborhoods appear to have similar demographics.  Despite these superficial similarities, deep-seeded rivalries and tensions still do exist as each one of these areas mounts a respective recovery effort.  

Each neighborhood has fairly clearly defined boundaries (usually roads or canals) and many have gone so far as to have "neutral grounds" installed between each area.  The "neutral grounds" are large green spaces that are in the medians of streets.  Thus, all over the city, various neighborhood borders are discernible by large, long, and tree-lined "parks." Historically, if locals had inter-neighborhood disputes and were to settle the dispute (wether by word or sword) they would meet on these buffer areas so as to prevent neighborhood warfare.

These neutral grounds are also fantastic opportunities as they often serve as parks and urban trail ways.  Many are not being used as such, but there is a huge amount of opportunity already built into this city. 

From time to time I may refer to a neighborhood.  In the bar to the right I have included a link to a PDF map of New Orleans neighborhoods so you can follow along where I am!  Look under the "Handy Links" section!