In the rush to rebuild, a house divided

... In Barbour's state, New Urbanists dominated a weeklong charrette held in October at the Isle of Capri casino in Biloxi. Led by Miami architect and CNU mainstay Andrés Duany, the so-called Mississippi Renewal Forum architects and planners from around the country who are loyal to the group's cause.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has also begun relying on New Urbanists for rebuilding advice. This week the newly formed Louisiana Recovery Authority tapped Duany to lead a statewide charrette and chose Berkeley-based architect and planner Peter Calthorpe, a CNU founder, to develop a long-term regional plan for areas devastated by hurricane flooding.

You might think that many American architects and planners would be encouraged by the news that these governors were turning to design professionals for counsel so early in the reconstruction effort. But you'd be wrong.

The idea that New Urbanists such as Duany and Calthorpe may be helping to write plans for the new Gulf Coast has horrified many architects and left-leaning cultural critics — revealing, in the process, quite a bit about the ambitions and anxieties that mark contemporary architectural practice in this country. ...

The response from other architects and critics was, to put it mildly, less measured. Eric Owen Moss, director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, told the Washington Post in October that New Urbanists were finding a foothold in the Gulf Coast because their agenda appeals "to a kind of anachronistic Mississippi that yearns for the good old days of the Old South as slow and balanced and breezy, and each person knew his or her own role." ...

Interesting article. I've linked to a google cache of it, because it is unavailable at the actual link:

http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-ca-neworleans4dec04,0,741998.story?coll=cl-calendar

Another interesting quote:

"Both suffer from an overly precious, faux-historical design. (The first image you see on the New Town at St. Charles website is a picture of three cherubic white kids fishing together on the end of a dock.) The overall effect is Eisenhower-era America as glossily reimagined by Ralph Lauren."

Is New Urbanism in housing planning a race issue now?

There is a development of this sort going up near where I live, being buil by Ryan Homes. I'm curious to go and see what they make of it. If socialist architectural critics don't like something, it is probably good.

REPETITIVE PROPERTY LOSS BREAKDOWN
The chart above shows repetitive-loss property claims under the National Flood Insurance Program and the dollar amounts paid on those claims. (A repetitive-loss property is one with multiple insured losses due to floods within a 10-year period.) The five Gulf Coast states account for more than half the claims filed--a clear indication of the vulnerability of property in Hurricane Alley. The chart does not reflect claims made because of Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Insured losses for those storms are expected to top $22 billion. DIAGRAM BY AGUSTIN CHUNG

"There is a development of this sort going up near where I live, being buil by Ryan Homes. I'm curious to go and see what they make of it. If socialist architectural critics don't like something, it is probably good."

My thought as well. If a commercial venture develops real estate for profit, it will of necessity appeal to what people want (so they will buy). Of course, there may be some Federal and State laws about building a percentage of housing for low income (as in the DC area).

Urban Renewal was a disaster for neighborhoods in the 60s. Sure, many of those neighborhood were on the decline, but eventually neighborhoods gentrify and come back strong. Instead many renewal areas were replaced with public housing high rises that brought all the wrong elements into one congested pot. Now most municipalities are tearing down those highrises and trying to rebuild neighborhoods with low density housing that would appeal to a typical homebuyer.

The facts are fairly simple regarding the issue of race and housing. Whites, Asians, Hispanics and Blacks don't want to live in neighborhoods loaded with criminals, unemployed and welfare moms. If they try to rebuild New Orleans identical to what it was, they will simply create some of the same slum areas that existed before.

The rebuilding strategy should emphasize the free market. Let commercial ventures have a cut at what will sell to the average person, because that will be good.

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