Could forced relocation to safer ground improve the city's communities, or will its costs disproportionately impact the poor?
"At least in theory, a redistribution of population to available high ground is possible. Before the storm, some 460,000 people lived in New Orleans, which was continuing to lose population. After Katrina, the decimated city has only about 150,000 residents. Two years from now, 250,000 people may live in the city. Higher elevations would accommodate that population. Farley and others maintain that the lowlands should be returned to flood-absorbing swamps, or turned into greenbelts relatively impervious to flood damage.
Potentially, these denser, higher New Orleans neighborhoods (unlike many of its depopulated, pre-Katrina counterparts) could support more supermarkets, neighborhood stores and businesses. Social services would be easier to distribute; jobs would be closer. The need for automobiles would be reduced, a good idea in a town where some 20,000 people did not own their own car."
Read the full story: New Orleans as the new ecotopia
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way
Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”
Iowa taxpayers are paying thousands to clean manure out of their water
While the Clean Water Act makes states responsible for regulating factory farms that discharge pollutants, Iowa has turned a blind eye to the polluting farms.
Amtrak cuts ribbon on Seattle Airo maintenance facility
The $250 million, nearly 100,000-square-foot building can house an entire Cascades Airo trainset.
To power data centers, Google seeks autonomous control of thousands of homes’ electricity
The tech company has signed a deal to indirectly pay Mid-Atlantic residents to reduce their power demand when the grid is strained.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello