Environment
AIA Co-hosts Louisiana Recovery & Rebuilding Conference
(archrecord.construction.com - 11/14/2005)
By Sam
Lubell
It is apparent that the rebuilding challenges
facing the state of Louisiana are going to be as huge as the
destruction wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. New Orleans,
for instance, appears to be in little better condition almost
three months after the first hurricane struck the city. Although
most homes are standing, the majority are water-logged, and
filled with trash, and mold which is growing worse by the
day. Thousands will have to be gutted, thousands more will
have to be bulldozed, and more still will likely be demolished
because owners—many without insurance—will not be
able to afford to fix them. Many neighborhoods sit still,
without residents, electricity, or other infrastructure. Many
other coastal cities and towns throughout the state face similar
challenges.
The first gathering of experts to approach
rebuilding in the state occurred November 10th through the
12th at the Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference in
New Orleans. The meeting was a goal of Governor Kathleen Blanco
and her Louisiana Recovery Authority. It was led by the AIA
and the American Planning Association, and co-sponsored by
the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the National
Trust for Historic Preservation. The conference was intentionally
wide-reaching, a response, its organizers noted, to the incredibly
complex problems posed by the situation, and the need for
a coordinated response. Participants, numbering roughly 600,
largely from Louisiana, included architects, planners, engineers,
preservationists, businesspeople, politicians, local leaders,
and citizens.
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The goal was to establish core principles
to help direct all future rebuilding efforts. Specifically
they will be handed to Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority
for its planning. Unlike the Congress for New Urbanism’s
Mississippi planning charrette in early October the conference
did not generate specific plans or designs. Speakers related
expertise, while participants created and ranked principles
in tableside breakout sessions, helping generate the final
principles. The sessions were moderated by America Speaks,
a Washington, D.C. non-profit that helped oversee conversations
about rebuilding in Lower Manhattan at the “Listening
to the City” town hall meeting. Governor Blanco, a keynote
speaker, pledged to utilize the principles in the state’s
rebuilding efforts.
Overall, the mood was hopeful, buoyed
especially by a desire to rebuild communities in a more effective
way than they had originally been built. “If you believe
in redemption, in second chances, in rebirth, then this is
the place,” said Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu,
in a speech on Friday. “Many ideas that have sat on shelves
will hopefully get realized thanks to an infusion of money,”
noted Angela O’Byrne, AIA, president of the New Orleans’
AIA chapter. But the optimism was tempered by some participants’
desire for more specifics than generalities, and by the staggering
realities faced by the state and the city of New Orleans.
Here, it is likely that over 300,000 buildings have been destroyed,
and where the majority of the displaced are still living elsewhere.
“The scope and complexity of this disaster has been unprecedented
in the history of this nation,” said Vice Admiral Thad
Allen of the U.S. Coast Guard, who is serving as the interim
head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on
Friday.
The securing of regional levees to withstand
a Category 5 storm, and the restoration of coastal wetlands
to further secure against storms, were widely recognized as
the most important principals of all. “Without coastal
protection we cannot rebuild,” said Governor Blanco in
her keynote speech. Dutch Engineer Rene Zijlstra shared comprehensive
techniques for securing the area, including the use of giant,
ocean-based hydraulic floodgates, and water pumps.
Another theme stressed by Blanco was
historic preservation, an important element in a city with
over 35,000 historic properties, many outside the spared French
Quarter and Garden Districts. “We must rebuild in a way
that retains the heart and soul of this community,” she
said. “We’re all interested in rebuilding for the
future while listening to the past.” Richard Moe, president
of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, concurred,
saying that people— who are understandably in a hurry
to move forward—shouldn’t just think about rebuilding,
but about preserving. Moe said that the Trust is pushing congress
for preservation tax credits and $60 million grants to help
with this process.
Tackling design issues, presenters and
participants proposed mixed-use and mixed-income development,
vital for this racially-divided city, as well as smart growth
without sprawl, construction of mass transit. The establishment
of a unified building code could, for example, require higher
building bases. Difficult issues that must still be faced
include using eminent domain to help secure levy and wetland
space, deciding which historic properties to preserve, and
how to bring people back to a city that was already declining,
and is now seen as unsafe. Michael Willis, FAIA, founder of
Willis Architects in San Francisco, referred to the importance
of public input for subsequent efforts. “We’re not
too smart that we can’t hear other peoples’ ideas.”
Other core themes generated at the proceedings
included the cleanup of brownfields, development of comprehensive
sustainability guidelines, the building of community demonstration
projects in the region, designing communities for walking.
Governmental issues included developing a unified disaster
response, using recovery as an economic catalyst, redesigning
the state and local education systems, and developing better
job training. Making government more transparent is an obvious
need in this region, known for corruption and for lack of
unity in politics.
The next, and perhaps more burning questions
are how the principles will be implemented, and who will implement
them. Neither has been solved. The city, state, and federal
government have not agreed on a coordinated leadership strategy.
For instance, the city of New Orleans is to hold its own rebuilding
session led by the Urban Land Institute today. It is also
unclear whether the principles from the last week’s conference
will be explicitly shared with the mayor’s Bring New
Orleans Back Commission, made up of local leaders, or with
federal leaders at FEMA, the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and elsewhere.
“If everyone’s in charge,
no one’s in charge said AIA COO Jim Dinegar. “If
there is a fragmented set of voices, the process will stall.”
Lieutenant Governor Landrieu said that history will either
say “We were united and worked to revive and rebuild
a great state,” or, “the federal government, the
state government, local governments, and business and community
leaders couldn’t come together, allowing political agendas,
personalities, egos, and enormous challenges of the day to
paralyze them. And because of that, one of the most culturally
rich places in America died.”
Meanwhile, disaster funds have already
been handed out by Congress, but money for rebuilding remains
largely unavailable. Engineers at the conference estimated
that $30 billion would be needed for rebuilding the levees
alone. Senator Mary Landrieu suggested asking Congress to
allow the state to keep more of its federal tax money. Congressman
Charles Melancon recommended sending a large group to Washington,
D.C. to rally for funds.
“If I sound frustrated I am,”
said Melancon. “If you could spend billions of dollars
in Florida and New York City without blinking an eye, surely
you can help one of the oldest and finest regions in the United
States.”
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