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‘Recentralization’ and greater independence

The dependency on centralized services has been made clear in the hurricane’s aftermath. In typical planning, services such as water, power, waste treatment, communication, and even food distribution extend outward from central locations. For example, power is generated at a central plant and transformer stations along the way provide ‘step down’ to convert from high-voltage direct current to lower voltage alternating current used by buildings. The further out services are extended, the more expensive they become to provide and the less secure they may be.

As newer technolgies, applications, and arrangements gain hold such as onsite/localized power generation (cogeneration, solar power, wind turbines), water and waste treatment, and food production which make communities more independent, the advantages to recentralization, or the shifting of focus to smaller areas of dependency, begin to make sense.

Some other possibilities:

• Creation of jobs in maintenance and buildings operations
• Increased connection to where the necessities of life come from
• Greater independence and self-reliance from government and other large, often inefficient regulatory agencies
• Possibilities for small business and industry

The idea is not new - think of your school or industry’s steam generation plant. What if this were applied at the neighborhood level, rather than the city of county level?

Stronger buildings

The effects of wind and water on homes in the affected areas has been painfully evident.

Earthquakes in Turkey and Japan brought to the forefront the importance of establishing and adhering to building codes as well as developing materials and building processes to withstand the forces of nature. In the U.S., contemporary building techniques are often equally inadequate - cases in point are the current damage and periodic hurricane damage in the Gulf states (esp. Florida) to mobile-home parks. Rebuilding with plywood, studs, asphalt shingles, and nails (or staples, in the case of mobile homes) is not the answer.

Federal and local govenments, as well as developers and relief agencies, have an opportunity to give a chance to increasingly viable building alternatives and support the exploration of materials and techniques more appropriate to the affected areas. This may even take the form of studies of how other places affected by similar disasters have rebuilt in recent years and the lessons to be learned.

Overview of challenges

While no one approach can solve complex problems, keeping the challenges in mind can help begin to approach them better:

• General attempt to control nature, esp. water level of Mississippi
• Destruction of coastal wetlands which help buffer inland areas from hurricanes; reduction of capacity of land to absorb floodwaters
• Failure of levees and flood walls
• Impassable roads and accessing people to be rescued
• People stranded and having to reach higher ground
• High vs. low ground - the economic inequality evident in the physical elevations at which segments of the population live and work (read Chapter One of The Control of Nature by John McPhee)
• Power outages
• Contamination of floodwaters
• Security (looting, frustration with authorities for lack of response)
• Sun and heat exposure
• Air traffic control towers disabled
• Food and water supply disrupted
• Loss of crops and livestock
• Hospitals isolated
• Toxicity of land and debris after dryout

Some ways for design professionals to help

AIA Katrina Recovery Initiative

Our thoughts and best wishes for recovery and rebuilding are with the victims of hurricane Katrina - may this event spur others to insure fewer victims in the future and help make it possible for these areas to be more self-reliant.