The 2007 Planners Network Annual Conference

May 30-June 2, 2007, New Orleans, LA 
Race, Class and Community Recovery: From the Neighborhood to the Nation and Beyond

The 2007 Planners Network Conference confronted issues of race, class, injustice and the failures of planning, while seeking to learn from the work of community-based organizations, dedicated planners and local residents. The planning department at the University of New Orleans is the only accredited planning program in Louisiana, Mississippi or Arkansas, and has been extremely active in community-based planning efforts in the aftermath of the hurricanes.

Hurricane Katrina exposed tremendous rifts over class, race and community, not just in New Orleans but throughout the United States and around the world. It also shook the very foundation of planning and governance, whose failures were broadcast in high definition to the global community. Yet the effort to dig out and rebuild has been marked by tremendous innovation and will on the part of local communities, despite continued abandonment at the federal level.