Doug Giuliano recounts his adventures in the FEMA wonderland after heading to the Gulf Coast to help with hurricane recovery. What started as noble intentions ended mired in the muck of bureaucracy.
"Last fall I made a phone call to test the FEMA waters. I was quickly pulled into a riptide of inertia.
A few months after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a master's in city planning, I still had not found the Philadelphia planning job I wanted. It was November 2005, and a friend was doing debris cleanup after Hurricane Katrina in Florida. FEMA volunteering seemed like a way to use my degree, get a basic per diem, and help some people out. My friend connected me with Mark, an engineer in Chicago, who told me that I would be on a team of ten to twenty planners, architects, and engineers creating a Hurricane Katrina recovery plan for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Days later, Mark called me at my temp job and asked if I wanted to go to Mississippi. I had to be there in three days."
FULL STORY: An Outsider Peers into the FEMA Trailer
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.
The Tiny, Adorable $7,000 Car Turning Japan Onto EVs
The single seat Mibot charges from a regular plug as quickly as an iPad, and is about half the price of an average EV.
Atlanta Bus System Redesign Will Nearly Triple Access
MARTA's Next Gen Bus Network will retool over 100 bus routes, expand frequent service.
Toronto Condo Sales Drop 75%
In two of Canada’s most expensive cities, more condos were built than ever — and sales are plummeting.
Vehicle-related Deaths Drop 29% in Richmond, VA
The seventh year of the city's Vision Zero strategy also cut the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes by half.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)