Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Brain, David

Keywords

Geographic Information System, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tremé Neighborhood

Area of Concentration

Urban Studies

Abstract

This thesis uses Geographic Information Systems to investigate the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Tremé is an important historic neighborhood in the city, situated within the tourist zone, and is frequently credited as being America’s oldest free black neighborhood. Despite the neighborhood’s renown, two different organizations— the City Planning Commission and the Historic Faubourg Tremé Association— delimit very different geographic boundaries for Tremé. To determine why one group would include some sections of the neighborhood and exclude others in their definition of Tremé, research was conducted on the neighborhood’s history and changing identity over the course of New Orleans’s development. Maps of Tremé from the Colonial period to the present day were digitized and analyzed to determine whether there was a historical precedent for either organization’s boundaries, or if there were ulterior motives in excluding certain areas from their Tremé. Considerations about Tremé are framed within the current climate of recovery, rehabilitation and capital improvement in the decade since Hurricane Katrina, which caused major demographic shifts. The final product was a series of maps recreating Tremé’s evolving features and boundaries over time, and revealed more historical accuracy with the HFTA boundaries. However, the findings also point to a purposeful restructuring of the neighborhood’s identity in the 20th century, coinciding with the rise of preservation in the city’s historic neighborhoods.

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