We’ve been here in New Orleans for 300 years. We wouldn’t still be here if we didn’t have the ability to adapt. But we don’t like change. We still reminisce about long-closed drugstores, bakeries, and supermarkets. And, 300 years later, we’re still on the brink of flooding when it rains for an hour.

The Urban Conservancy is on both sides of this street. They want to keep things as they are, and they want change. They want you to support your local small retailer, and they want you to bust up the concrete in your yard and make a garden to help stop street flooding.

Dana Eness is the Executive Director of The Urban Conservancy. 

Seamus McGuire is an architect whose company, Cicada, is all about new buildings and new technology. They have a fleet of drones – that they use for architectural photos, videos, 3D scanning, and mapping. And they do 3D printing. At the same time, Cicada is dedicated to keeping the new New Orleans blending with the old. 

For both The Urban Conservancy and Cicada, the central question is, How do you get tradition and change to be in balance, rather than conflict?

Photos over lunch at Commander’s Palace by Jill Lafleur.