The Katrina Cottage, designed as an alternative to the ubiquitous post-Katrina FEMA trailer, is now gaining popularity nationwide as both an affordable housing solution and a quaint vacation cottage."
"Two years ago, New York City architect Marianne Cusato designed a pretty, little yellow house she envisioned as an alternative to the dreary, government-issued trailers that were sheltering tens of thousands of people along the Gulf Coast displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Her 308-square-foot "Katrina Cottage," had shutters, a peaked tin roof and a front porch, in keeping with traditional Southern sensibilities. Resistant to rot, termites and water damage, it was designed to withstand winds of up to 130 mph. It cost less than the Federal Emergency Management Agency's $70,000 camperlike trailers and could be used as a permanent home and added onto later.
'I wanted to create a more dignified version of the FEMA trailer,' Cusato told Cottage Living magazine. 'The Katrina Cottage shows how we can create beautiful and affordable homes that give people a place of pride.'
What Cusato didn't envision is that people around the country, not just those holed up in trailers along the Gulf Coast, would clamor for a Katrina Cottage of their own. That's what happened after a prototype of her cottage debuted at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Fla., in January 2006."
Read the full story: A cottage of their own
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
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
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority