20 years ago, Katrina hit New Orleans hard; today, the Crescent City is rising with faith and hope

In late 2005, just two months after Hurricane Katrina, the American Institute of Architects tabbed Boston-based urban planner David Dixon, to organize a national recovery conference with the goal of providing a roadmap for New Orleans out of the chaos unleashed by the most devastating natural disaster in U.S. history.

When New Orleans’ federally designed floodwalls collapsed in whack-a-mole fashion under the weight of Katrina’s relentless surge, a topographically challenged but cherished international city, which rests in a saucer between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, was swallowed up.