New Orleans creatives take the initiative to rebuild

Even before Katrina, the city of New Orleans was lacking in creative urban investment. Perhaps spurred by the aftermath, there is a crowdsourcing swell of activity to rebuild the city better than before.

One such group is the Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals (YURP), a fast-growing membership group of several hundred cultural progressives dedicated to making New Orleans their permanent place of residence.

The group’s goal is to establish New Orleans as a creative and entrepreneurial destination for young people and bring the city to the top of the list shared by New York, San Francisco and Austin. In five years they’d like to see New Orleans as a national hot spot for “educated, young people seeking opportunity, culture and a unique quality of life that can’t be replicated elsewhere.”

They’ve established an open social network here, and are preparing to initiate a beta community to transform those virtual members into physical tenants and patrons for cutting edge businesses, buildings and lofts in their very own ‘YURP district’.

Image source: nycgeo.

About The Author

neilkt