BATON ROUGE, La. — Former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will discuss the state’s economic future and the challenges of managing historic levels of investment during the 2026 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit, Oct. 21-22, at the Manship Theatre in downtown Baton Rouge.
The two leaders will join Camille Manning-Broome, president and CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX), for a conversation titled “Louisiana at an Inflection Point” on Thursday, Oct. 22. The discussion will focus on how the state can translate new investment into lasting prosperity while addressing infrastructure demands, population decline and community development.
Louisiana has attracted announcements for some of the nation’s largest investments in artificial intelligence, energy and industrial development, including Meta’s more than $50 billion data center project, Amazon’s $18 billion data center investment and a proposed $100 billion SpaceX development. New liquefied natural gas terminals and other industrial projects are also contributing to the state’s investment pipeline…