Spacing Montreal picks up my earlier post and adds this important point:
This sort of redevelopment reminds me of how downtown & inner city
Detroit has been rebuilt over the years: pockets scattered here and
there like patches on a devastated urban quilt. The problem with these
new developments is they have a decidedly un-urban character: suburban
style townhouses with garages out front surrounded by big steel fences;
CVS drugstores with similarly fenced in parking lots and strip mall
architecture; and wide roads where no building meets the sidewalk — all
located in what was once dense urban neighbourhoods. In a city like New
Orleans that is desperate for any kind of investment, watching this
unfold is intensely interesting from a city-building (or un-building)
point of view, but rather hard to watch from a human perspective, where
the suffering of these Americans does not seem to end. Poor NOLA indeed.
But then again New Orleans has Brad Pitt injecting his architecture and design savvy. What’s next: Britney Spears moves back and Perez Hilton takes direction of the rebuilding effort. What in god’s name does this constellation of urban renewal, federal intrusion, local arrogance and celebrity culture have to say about today’s society?
December 21st, 2007 at 7:59 pm
One thing that stuck out about those new developments in New Orleans was the big concrete slab. It’s obvious that the houses have been designed so that should they ever be destroyed by the next Hurricane Katrina, new homes can be rebuilt quickly.
Here is a perfect opportunity to rebuild communities and all the different levels of government can achieve is ugly suburban housing.
This also would have been a good time to stop and think. Perhaps some parts of New Orleans should not be rebuilt? Perhaps it would be better to increase the density in other parts?
December 21st, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Vincent – Nicely said. The development mindset boggles the mind. Score of urbanists willing to get involved. Scores of architects ready, willing and able to design great buildings. Historical buildings to rehabilitate. Parks to be built. Density to be increased. Residents who care deeply about their communities and their city who want to be part of the process. And what do we get: the worst of urban renewal and the worst of a bankrupt suburban model. Insult alter injury never applied more.