Founded in 2017, Krewe D’Ensite - a sixty-person group of urban planners, architects, and resilience professionals - marches during Mardi Gras as part of New Orleans’ long tradition of themed parading krewes. Dedicated to “housing affordabilité, neighborhood walkabilité, and community vibrancé,” the krewe satirizes everything from gentrification to the over-reliance on tourism through costumes, floats, and throws for thousands of people each year.
Urban planning, which is often filled with bureaucratic processes, technical jargon, and legal minutia, is rarely described as “fun,” even by its practitioners. But being approachable and engaging - even fun! - outside of formal meetings is an important way to get people excited about shaping their communities and about the planning profession.
This presentation will detail why our krewe formed, how we choose our themes, how we ensure an appropriate tone for our issues, and how we navigate the different audiences along our parade route. Not every community has a Mardi Gras but the skills to make planning more welcoming in any public celebration are applicable everywhere.
