Our team's goal was to invite people moving past Arabi into the downtown by offering easy wayfinding and a reason to go there. One part of our team developed strategies for the heavily trafficked vehicular corridors to the north, while I developed strategies for pedestrian activity on the levee to the south.

People often walk dogs, run, and bike the levee on the Mississippi River as its one of the only contiguous dedicated pedestrian pathways in the city and surrounding suburbs. The levee is particularly active south of Arabi, but not many people leave the levee to enter the downtown. One strategy to promote more crossing was a playful wall design that added local artwork (symbolized here with colorful graphic circles), symbols denoting businesses people could visit on the other side, bike locks so bikers wouldn't have to hoist their bike over the wall, and pool ladders that make it easy to hop over while playing off the apt local saying that New Orleans is a city in a bathtub.

On the Arabi side of the wall, our strategy was to serve Arabi denzens by adding a sidewalk that undulates up occasionally to provide a more interesting walk with views of the river, and incorporates rest with shade structures and benches at key locations. We also designed a platform to provide space for locals who cross the levee to sit by the river that rises and lowers with river levels.

I analyzed personas of those people who use the Arabi downtown, riverfront and circulation corridors as part of my design process.