For New Orleans, Green Plans, But No Green Buildings

"There's a green cast to virtually every plan to rebuild New Orleans, and an army of planners, affordable housing groups, environmentalists, and government officials hopes to make it happen. Several of these organizations, including Enterprise and Global Green USA, have partnered on various efforts.

But given the political infighting between the state of Louisiana and city of New Orleans, the slow pace of federal housing assistance and insurance settlements, and overall planning fatigue, the rallying cry for green is a little hard to hear -- even for those who are otherwise receptive. Says John Knott, a sustainable developer and president of the Noisette Co. in South Carolina, of rebuilding in New Orleans, "If people can't meet basic needs of housing and jobs, it's hard to get them to think about tomorrow."

Quite so. It's more than a little ironic that a diffuse army of planners is seeing New Orleans as an opportunity to promote sustainable development, at a time when more than two-thirds of the city's onetime residents are more concerned about having an affordable roof over their heads -- one that will not blow away in the next big storm. To most locals, "sustainable" has more to do with making sure the levees hold than with energy-efficient buildings or a new urbanism."