The Grove is a landscaping plan to turn neutral grounds in the city of New Orleans into public resources that can be segmented by use. Some segments can be used to grow produce to combat the city’s status as a food desert. Other segments can be developed into basketball courts and town centers for recreational use.

Another use for this plan is to create pathways all throughout New Orleans to create a connected city. There are neutral grounds all over, and most go unused due to inaccessibility. However, there are several outliers: St. Charles Ave. is a major road in New Orleans with a highly trafficked neutral ground. Its street car is vital for many residents to travel to work, and there are runners along St. Charles daily. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is a smaller locally-known neutral ground in Central City. All it has is a sidewalk right down the its middle, and trees that create edge friction which slows passing traffic. Those two factors have made it a more comfortable and accessible space for the neighborhood to use.

The blueprint that The Grove creates for the city of New Orleans would vastly improve the lives of New Orleans residents, and add much needed connectivity.

The street that I’ve focused on is N. Claiborne Ave. in the lower ninth ward.