Old South Baton Rouge Neighborhood & Economic Revitalization Strategy

Baton Rouge, LA

Old South Baton Rouge was once a self-sufficient, self-contained immigrant neighborhood, populated by the descendents of African slaves, as well as Italian and Jewish households. With the social gains achieved through the Civil Rights movement, Old South Baton Rouge began to experience a steady out-migration to the suburbs that continues today. Despite the loss of population and increased crime, the Old South neighborhood remains a very proud and historic African-American community. In 2005, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF) identified this area between LSU and Downtown Baton Rouge as a community in need of comprehensive revitalization efforts.

The RKG Team consisted of national and local experts in the areas of urban design, neighborhood planning, project implementation, real estate development, and public involvement. Despite years of unfulfilled promises, the consultants were extremely successful in getting large numbers of OSBR resident to get involved in a participatory planning process. The RKG Team also documented the history of the community and spent over twelve months building the capacity of local residents and organizations to play an active role in the implementation of the revitalization strategy. The strategy was built on a neighborhood conservation approach, which stressed the need to preserve the integrity of OSBR through historic preservation, regulatory controls, and neighborhood stabilization. The strategy also had a strong economic development component that focused on the renewal of an historic commercial district and higher density, mixed-use development adjacent to downtown and the Mississippi River.

Baton Rouge Map

Baton Rouge Public Meeting