The 'Ad-Hoc' Redevelopment of New Orleans

"The result is precisely the hasty, haphazard aesthetic that some planners warned would emerge unless officials seized on Katrina as an opportunity to rethink the Crescent City in a more systematic fashion. But to many people who live here, some construction is better than none, whatever form it takes. Although about a quarter of the population has yet to return, at least some people are coming home."

"To be sure, not everyone is comfortable with what is being built. R. Allen Eskew, a local architect who has been involved in the planning process, called it 'generica' born of an 'irrational self-determination.'"

"'With the ad hoc repair to the city, New Orleans is missing a golden opportunity,' Mr. Eskew said. 'If your city has been destroyed, you've got a chance to make things right, not just to replace what was there. There is a tremendous amount of money being spent fixing things. The question is, is the fix of old paradigms the right way to get a community back in shape?'"

"Among the ideas advanced by architects and urban planners is permitting New Orleans to come back as a smaller city, with some heavily flooded areas left undeveloped; commissioning innovative 21st-century architecture for new public and residential buildings, even as the city's treasured historic structures are preserved; and rebuilding low-income housing on higher ground."