similar to Chicago after the Chicago fire, take the rubble from all of the houses that will need to be destroyed and use this rubble to build up certain parts of the city. You could redesign the city on the basis of cities like Amsterdam / Venice with several canals running through the city, and the 'new', higher, streets built from the rubble could be considerably higher in elevation than the canals.
Chicago used the rubble from the fire and poured it all into the lake to create what is now the foundation for Navy Pier.
sorry, chaglang, but n.o. has never been "devastated" by natural disaster before--all previous instances were nothing out of the ordinary for any city similarly sized and situated.
plague and flooding and *whatever* happen periodically throughout history to every place--what's your point?
Truly a sad reality. It may take several months/years for us to truly understand the scale of this disaster.
A friend of mine here is SF is actually hosting a few colleagues from New Orleans and trying to help them find a job and look for housing.
As in similar tragedies , I guess our major role for now is a humanitarian, helping those that lost so much.
***By the way, ASLA sent out this info today
FYI.
Special Report: Hurricane Katrina
As news reports, images, and first hand accounts of the devastation pour out of Louisiana and Mississippi, we felt it was important to share information with you about the aftermath and how landscape architects can help, both individually and as a profession. Although no official estimates are available, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Hon. ALSA, said in a news conference that the number of fatalities caused by the storm could be in the thousands, The Washington Post reports. Clearly, it will take the gulf region decades to recover from the human, environmental, and economic loss caused by the hurricane. Today’s Dirt looks at how our members in the effected areas are reacting to the disaster, and what ASLA, and its members can do to assist.
Louisiana ASLA
Some word has begun to trickle out of Louisiana, through emails from Chapter Trustee Chad Danos, ASLA, and Patrick Moore, FASLA. In an email to LCASLA members, Danos passed on prayers and hopes of safety, noting that the chapter’s executive committee will be meeting tomorrow to discuss how it can help members in the affected areas. Danos asks that all LCASLA members contact him by email at [email protected] to let him know how the association can assist them. In his email he suggests providing assistance in setting up various studios so that members can continue to earn a living and assisting with finding short-term and long-term housing.
In emails to ASLA executive vice president/CEO Nancy Somerville, and president-elect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, Moore says that his office has been contacted by the Louisiana Governor’s Office and The Shaw Group to help plan and implement the reconstruction effort. Moore notes that a “war room†has been set up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, along with representatives from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to help plan construction of approximately 40,000 new homes and new utility locations. Moore asks that members with any experience in planning in a post-disaster environment contact him at [email protected]
ASLA National
As with the South Asian tsunami disaster, ASLA National is prepared to take a long-term approach to aiding the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, working with local, state, and national officials to ensure that sound land-use practices are put in place to help mitigate the damage from future hurricanes and flooding. Just as after the tsunami in Asia, the immediate needs are to provide victims with clean water, food, and shelter. ASLA encourages donations to the organization of your choice to help fund relief efforts. Organizations that are already set up to collect contributions for Hurricane Katrina relief include:
The American Red Cross
Architecture For Humanity
National Recreation and Parks Association
If you know of other organizations collecting funds that would be of interest to ASLA members, please email them to us.
On Tuesday, September 6, representatives of ASLA will participate in an initial meeting with a number of allied design and construction organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers and The Infrastructure Security Partnership to report on what each group is doing to respond to the hurricane and to coordinate future joint relief effort activities.
I've been reading about this all day. I can't tear myself away from it. It's hard to fathom.....in a world where we have to take our shoes off in the airport because somebody might have a bomb in them.....that with one surgical swoop a giant storm can create a catastrophe on a scale approaching 9/11.
I can't imagine what sort of undertaking it is going to be to dry the city out. By all accounts, people who know this region's culture and society are determined to rebuild. Although I've never been there - ironically I bought a plane ticket for a long weekend in January just a month ago - New Orleans is a part of the American fabric just like Detroit, or Cincinnati, or Baltimore. To abandon it completely would be like losing a limb.
In one of the other threads, I think diabase posted a great article about N.O. being essential to this country's initial growth because of it's position as the final stop on the mighty Mississippi. Today, farmers across the country are suffering because they will have to turn to alternate forms of shipping to overseas customers, which will cost them 3, 4, 5 times as much. The port of New Orleans is the country's 5th largest.
What if we use that shipping capacity? Start a movement to stock barges full of building materials, supplies, donations, and ship them down the river. I don't know where to get a barge or how to ask for donations but I would try.
I think it's time we get our heads out of our asses and stop asking "if".....we need to start asking "when". Let's use the time it's going to take to drain N.O. of its toxic soup to start formulating a plan for how to get down there and get them back up and running. It's vital to our economy, our culture, and our future.
Thanks to everyone who has constructively contributed to the discussion so far. I'm just a doer more than a talker and need to offer these ideas up to all my intelligent archinector friends.
In a radio interveiw the mayor of N.O. made a very good suggestion that one of the most important things (the public) can do in response to the Katrina disaster is to write your elected officials to support/demand more governemtn action and accountability.
I’ve come late to the discussions as I was on holiday but I would support the theory mauOne eludes to, contrary to the subsequent response by st.
“but, from all data and studies, it has no link to the increased hurricane activity of the past few years (which, by the way is predicted to last for at least another decade).
there are much better and more accurate arguments against human's disregard for the environment than hurricanes--it only confuses the issue with misinformation.â€
Professor Saunders believes that global warming might be contributing to the problem.
"I think one has to wonder whether at least part of this activity could be due to global warming," he said. "Certainly, sea temperatures where hurricanes form have been the warmest on record over the last year or two.
As the country with the highest contribution to greenhouse gases and a President with an apparent F.U. attitude to others atempts to address the problem through Kyoto etc, my sympathies are with the poor people on the ground.
Katrina - what can we do?
Here is an idea..
similar to Chicago after the Chicago fire, take the rubble from all of the houses that will need to be destroyed and use this rubble to build up certain parts of the city. You could redesign the city on the basis of cities like Amsterdam / Venice with several canals running through the city, and the 'new', higher, streets built from the rubble could be considerably higher in elevation than the canals.
Chicago used the rubble from the fire and poured it all into the lake to create what is now the foundation for Navy Pier.
curtclay-
i think your "venice canal" idea is awesome. that's how those responsible for rebuilding need to think.
it could be an even more desireable destiniation than before.
sorry, chaglang, but n.o. has never been "devastated" by natural disaster before--all previous instances were nothing out of the ordinary for any city similarly sized and situated.
plague and flooding and *whatever* happen periodically throughout history to every place--what's your point?
Truly a sad reality. It may take several months/years for us to truly understand the scale of this disaster.
A friend of mine here is SF is actually hosting a few colleagues from New Orleans and trying to help them find a job and look for housing.
As in similar tragedies , I guess our major role for now is a humanitarian, helping those that lost so much.
***By the way, ASLA sent out this info today
FYI.
Special Report: Hurricane Katrina
As news reports, images, and first hand accounts of the devastation pour out of Louisiana and Mississippi, we felt it was important to share information with you about the aftermath and how landscape architects can help, both individually and as a profession. Although no official estimates are available, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Hon. ALSA, said in a news conference that the number of fatalities caused by the storm could be in the thousands, The Washington Post reports. Clearly, it will take the gulf region decades to recover from the human, environmental, and economic loss caused by the hurricane. Today’s Dirt looks at how our members in the effected areas are reacting to the disaster, and what ASLA, and its members can do to assist.
Louisiana ASLA
Some word has begun to trickle out of Louisiana, through emails from Chapter Trustee Chad Danos, ASLA, and Patrick Moore, FASLA. In an email to LCASLA members, Danos passed on prayers and hopes of safety, noting that the chapter’s executive committee will be meeting tomorrow to discuss how it can help members in the affected areas. Danos asks that all LCASLA members contact him by email at [email protected] to let him know how the association can assist them. In his email he suggests providing assistance in setting up various studios so that members can continue to earn a living and assisting with finding short-term and long-term housing.
In emails to ASLA executive vice president/CEO Nancy Somerville, and president-elect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, Moore says that his office has been contacted by the Louisiana Governor’s Office and The Shaw Group to help plan and implement the reconstruction effort. Moore notes that a “war room†has been set up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, along with representatives from FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to help plan construction of approximately 40,000 new homes and new utility locations. Moore asks that members with any experience in planning in a post-disaster environment contact him at [email protected]
ASLA National
As with the South Asian tsunami disaster, ASLA National is prepared to take a long-term approach to aiding the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, working with local, state, and national officials to ensure that sound land-use practices are put in place to help mitigate the damage from future hurricanes and flooding. Just as after the tsunami in Asia, the immediate needs are to provide victims with clean water, food, and shelter. ASLA encourages donations to the organization of your choice to help fund relief efforts. Organizations that are already set up to collect contributions for Hurricane Katrina relief include:
The American Red Cross
Architecture For Humanity
National Recreation and Parks Association
If you know of other organizations collecting funds that would be of interest to ASLA members, please email them to us.
On Tuesday, September 6, representatives of ASLA will participate in an initial meeting with a number of allied design and construction organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers and The Infrastructure Security Partnership to report on what each group is doing to respond to the hurricane and to coordinate future joint relief effort activities.
I've been reading about this all day. I can't tear myself away from it. It's hard to fathom.....in a world where we have to take our shoes off in the airport because somebody might have a bomb in them.....that with one surgical swoop a giant storm can create a catastrophe on a scale approaching 9/11.
I can't imagine what sort of undertaking it is going to be to dry the city out. By all accounts, people who know this region's culture and society are determined to rebuild. Although I've never been there - ironically I bought a plane ticket for a long weekend in January just a month ago - New Orleans is a part of the American fabric just like Detroit, or Cincinnati, or Baltimore. To abandon it completely would be like losing a limb.
In one of the other threads, I think diabase posted a great article about N.O. being essential to this country's initial growth because of it's position as the final stop on the mighty Mississippi. Today, farmers across the country are suffering because they will have to turn to alternate forms of shipping to overseas customers, which will cost them 3, 4, 5 times as much. The port of New Orleans is the country's 5th largest.
What if we use that shipping capacity? Start a movement to stock barges full of building materials, supplies, donations, and ship them down the river. I don't know where to get a barge or how to ask for donations but I would try.
I think it's time we get our heads out of our asses and stop asking "if".....we need to start asking "when". Let's use the time it's going to take to drain N.O. of its toxic soup to start formulating a plan for how to get down there and get them back up and running. It's vital to our economy, our culture, and our future.
Thanks to everyone who has constructively contributed to the discussion so far. I'm just a doer more than a talker and need to offer these ideas up to all my intelligent archinector friends.
In a radio interveiw the mayor of N.O. made a very good suggestion that one of the most important things (the public) can do in response to the Katrina disaster is to write your elected officials to support/demand more governemtn action and accountability.
To write your congressperson:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.senate.gov/
It doesn't have to be long, short & sweet is probably better; it will take you five minutes. And try to get as many people as you can to call/write.
I’ve come late to the discussions as I was on holiday but I would support the theory mauOne eludes to, contrary to the subsequent response by st.
“but, from all data and studies, it has no link to the increased hurricane activity of the past few years (which, by the way is predicted to last for at least another decade).
there are much better and more accurate arguments against human's disregard for the environment than hurricanes--it only confuses the issue with misinformation.â€
Professor Saunders believes that global warming might be contributing to the problem.
"I think one has to wonder whether at least part of this activity could be due to global warming," he said. "Certainly, sea temperatures where hurricanes form have been the warmest on record over the last year or two.
link
As the country with the highest contribution to greenhouse gases and a President with an apparent F.U. attitude to others atempts to address the problem through Kyoto etc, my sympathies are with the poor people on the ground.
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