Mapping the Geography of Cool
Coolness, by its very nature, explores edgy terrain; thus, in cities, it becomes geographical, occupying certain spaces, disdaining others, and seeking new ones when uncoolness approaches. And that’s when, and where, coolness affects real estate. Tulane geographer Richard Campanella maps the geography of cool in New Orleans, courtesy The Times-Picayune (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits…
A Glorious Mess: Perceptual History of New Orleans Neighborhoods
Be skeptical of “official” city neighborhoods, writes Tulane geographer Richard Campanella. Neighborhoods are best delineated, named, and understood by the people who inhabit them, he argues, and in New Orleans, that makes for a glorious mess. Courtesy New Orleans Magazine. New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and…
The History—and Geography—of Public Drinking in New Orleans
Drinking has a geography, and New Orleans has a geography of drinking. Where did this come from, and how does it work? Tulane geographer examines a key moment on Bourbon Street in the 1960s when potations took to the public space. Courtesy The Times-Picayune (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s…
Pleasure Atlas: New Orleans
Making space for—and money from—pleasure in New Orleans is as old as the city itself. By Tulane geographer Richard Campanella, courtesy LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture a Pleasure Atlas of New Orleans (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” will feature a series of…
How Do You Fence a Cloud? Tracking Bourbon Street’s Pedestrian Parade
A recent spate of shootings on Bourbon Street precipitated a citywide debate on how best to patrol and secure the rollicking strip. This article, courtesy The Times-Picayune, draws upon Tulane geographer Richard Campanella’s research into the spatial dynamics of the nightly Bourbon Street pedestrian parade (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months,…
Culture Wars, Ethnic Rivalry, and New Orleans’ Messy Municipality Era
An ill-fated attempt to resolve social problems through political geography—and by exploiting ethnic geography—is explained by Tulane geographer Richard Campanella in "Culture Wars, Ethnic Rivalry, and New Orleans' Messy Municipality Era," courtesy The Times-Picayune (PDF). New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” will feature a series…
An Ethnic Geography of New Orleans
This Journal of American History article by Tulane geographer Richard Campanella maps and spatially analyzes the residential settlement patterns of various ethnic and racial groups in New Orleans, from antebellum times to post-Katrina. New Orleans: Place Portraits — Over the next nine months, AAG’s “Focus on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast,” will feature a series…
Cityscapes of the New Orleans Slave Trade
New Orleans formed the nation’s premier slave emporium for most of the years between the 1808 ban on the international slave trade and the outbreak of the Civil War. As Tulane geographer Richard Campanella describes in this two-part article courtesy Preservation in Print Magazine, the slave trade formed a veritable cityscape in New Orleans, as…
The Seduction of Exceptionalism
Most residents, and many scholars, fall under the spell of exceptionalism in deciphering New Orleans. The word “unique” appears regularly in everything from travel literature to journal articles about the city; that all is “different” here forms a cornerstone of civil pride. All well and fine, writes Tulane geographer Richard Campanella, but that finding, if…