As a researcher who studies our region’s historical geography, I am often pressed to advise on economic development.
It’s not a role I’m particularly comfortable in. But there is one particular insight I am willing to share, for its basis in geography, and for its lasting economic effects.
To understand what happened—or rather, what didn’t happen—we have to go back to the 1820s, when New Orleans was booming in every conceivable way.
Population had more than tripled since the Louisiana Purchase, to over 27,000 by 1820; urbanization had doubled living space, from today’s Lower Garden District down to Bywater; and new steam-powered vessels dramatically increased trade at the port.
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