Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
By Lance Jay Brown, FAIA

Lance Jay Brown, FAIA

Lance Jay Brown, FAIA

Lance Jay Brown, FAIA

Lance Jay Brown, FAIA

I was in New Orleans again this spring. My first visit to New Orleans was in October when I joined a large group of community members and professionals convened by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to plan strategies for post Katrina recovery. At the time of that visit there were 50,000 people spending the night in the city. The population now is 180,000 plus. Statistically, the rate of return has slowed to a trickle and is not yet half of the pre-Katrina population. Back in October, the most informed leaders thought that at least 225,000 would be back by now.

One looming question is: why haven't people returned? The current residents of New Orleans feel abandoned. They feel that the country has lost interest in their plight. And the single most important event to take place in the past few months was the re-election of Mayor Ray Nagin. Mayor Nagin did not provide the leadership required before or during the hurricane. There is some doubt that he can provide the leadership necessary during the recovery. The reasons for his re-election, race aside, are unclear. It is profoundly disturbing not to have some news about how the New Orleans diaspora is to ultimately return home.

New Orleans was not in great shape before Katrina: one of America’s worst urban school systems, an economy based on cyclical natural resources and low wage service industry jobs, a history of high crime, and a tradition of corruption that discouraged investment. While Mayor Nagin apparently tried to correct the latter problem, no real efforts were made on the others. Many of those who fled the storm found better schools for their kids and better jobs for themselves. The sudden destruction of a massive amount of the city’s housing supply together with the loss of more than half of the city’s businesses has made return to the city difficult. Add to these storm impacts, the loss of schools, libraries, hospitals, and day care centers, and the rest of the infrastructure of daily life, and it is not surprising that people have not returned. On top of all this, and again a failure of leadership, is the lack of any conceptual planning that would provide a sense of hope and the roughest outline for recovery and rebuilding.

Continues…

Re-planning New Orleans—Finally Gaining Momentum
By Robert H. Lurcott, FAICP

Precious time has been lost in New Orleans, as have thousands of displaced families and businesses. A series of decisions and actions have stalled the rebuilding effort. I have been in New Orleans twice since Katrina. In October, I was on an American Planning Association (APA)-sponsored panel to advise the New Orleans City Planning Commission on restructuring the role of planning. This summer, I revisited to recommend consulting teams for a new round of neighborhood re-planning. From what I have seen, the title of Dan Baum’s recent story in The New Yorker, “The Lost Year,” is most appropriate.

Mayor Nagin’s early appointment of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission (BNOB) represented a top-down planning approach. Some significant missteps—particularly the proposal that some neighborhoods should not be rebuilt—negated its useful efforts. The BNOB-sponsored, Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) plan, was a responsible set of proposals, including a valid approach for community-directed rebuilding. However, reaction to the mapping of low-lying neighborhood areas for parkland, and suggesting a 30-day deadline for neighborhoods to demonstrate a readiness to rebuild, doomed the plan. The government’s unwillingness to provide operating support has left the city staff at 1/3 of its strength, hobbled the bankrupt power companies’ efforts to restore electricity, and paralyzed other infrastructure rebuilding.

The White House opposition to U.S. Rep. Richard Baker’s post-disaster business loan bill, scuttled the only proposal that would have provided adequate and timely support for a substantial amount of residential rebuilding. A City Council-funded neighborhood planning initiative has been widely criticized because consultant teams were “imposed” on neighborhoods. So at this point, only 1/2 the population has returned, power has been restored to just 60% of the city, merely 1/3 of the restaurants, 50% of hospitals, and 30% of the schools have reopened. The only rehabilitation happening involves individual efforts using flood insurance payments and private funding. These are scattered, without reference to available infrastructure.

New Orleans’ portion of the $10.6 billion federal funding for housing assistance is being held until adequate neighborhood rebuilding plans are completed. This prompted the most recent comprehensive neighborhood planning initiative—the Unified New Orleans Plan—supported by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Greater New Orleans Foundation. Neighborhoods choose to work with planning assistance teams certified by an outside professional selection panel to participate in the larger citywide infrastructure plan. Architecture, engineering, and planning firms involved in the initiative, including New York-based Frederic Schwartz Architects and Davis Brody Bond, responded to a nationwide RFQ. This effort has already drawn neighborhood involvement, and appears to be the best prospect for a broadly supported plan that will permit a rational, sustained rebuilding effort.

As a New Orleanian said recently, “We’re gettin’ dere.”

Robert Lurcott, FAICP, is an urban planning consultant in Pittsburgh where he has served as Director of the Department of City Planning for 12 years.

NY Architect Puts Residents at Ease
Frederic Schwartz, FAIA

The NOLA shotgun lofts
Frederic Schwartz Architects

Since the fury of Katrina and the failure of the levees and our government, I have redirected my resources from Lower Manhattan planning and 9/11 Memorial design to trying to help the people of New Orleans. I believe that the people of the city have recognized our intensity and willingness to help by selecting us in a unique process where the citizens themselves voted for the planners of their neighborhoods.

My own perspective is that the New Orleans planning effort has stalled while people are suffering every day through a number of false starts following the pattern of post-9/11 planning for Lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center site. Citizens are tired of meeting after meeting with little or nothing to show. On the first anniversary of Katrina, a headline in The Times-Picayune reads “N.O. planning process puts residents on edge.” The return to the city has leveled off because of a lack of housing, jobs, and vision. The only viable plans thus far are those that were self-initiated by the (wealthy) neighborhoods. Quite simply and frankly, both post-9/11 and post-Katrina planning efforts have suffered from lack of political will and leadership, behind closed doors decision making, the squandering of an abundance of funds for everything except planning, greed and ego—especially in the design community—and failure to engage in out-of-box THINKing.

My own efforts were initiated in fall 2005, when I taught a studio at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (Cities in Crisis: New Orleans); 12 students designed community centers and neighborhood plans. The community centers would provide year-round educational and cultural programs for the neighborhood, as well as local hurricane-proof safe havens, shelter, and supplies.

We are one of six finalists for the Global Green USA Housing Competition (sponsored by Brad Pitt, chair of the design jury) for the Holy Cross neighborhood that will provide prototypical design for 18 new sustainable and affordable living units (12 multi-family units and six single-family homes) and a community center on 1.6 acres facing the levee and Mississippi River. Working with Atelier Ten and DIRT Studio, our project pushes the envelope of affordable sustainability through local off-site manufacturing and super-efficient planning of a new Shotgun LOFT housing unit typology. Our passive systems design and envelope offer a 53% reduction in energy consumption that, combined with its active systems design, generate 93% reduction. When we outfitted the units with additional photovoltaic cells, we raised the six house prototypes to a 213% output when compared to a high performing home in New Orleans (not a typical home which usually skews the results and data). We have also reduced carbon emissions of the building and site design by 90%.

Most recently, we were selected as a leader of the Unified New Orleans Plan master plan effort (an initiative funded by the Rockefeller Foundation) for Districts Three and Four (the largest segment of the central city) in New Orleans. We will work with neighborhood residents and other planning teams to submit realistic plans for residents who want and need to return NOW. It’s urgent to complete the master plan in order to release federal funds for the implementation of a number of neighborhood initiatives and city-wide infrastructure needs. In addition to addressing immediate issues such as housing, open space, jobs, sustainability, education, transportation, and safety, we’ll prepare both an immediate recovery plan and a long range master plan for both districts and their numerous neighborhoods. Our team includes three of the most talented New Orleans firms: Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Wayne Troyer Architect; and Waggoner & Ball Architects. Nationally, we are working with William Morrish, Mark Schimmenti and Ove Arup & Partners.

Along with fellow New York architects Deborah Gans, AIA, and James Dart, AIA, we have been selected by the City of New Orleans—under the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) Housing group and Carlton Brown's Full Spectrum development group—to design and build 150 sustainable, affordable homes in the hardest hit areas of the city, the Lower Ninth Ward and East New Orleans. The work with ACORN is a design/build effort for an affordable, sustainable disaster-resistant prototype that can be expanded into a program of manufactured homes by the thousands. The prototype will be raised off the ground, universally designed, flexible for one, two, and three bedrooms, and adaptable to different site locations. Our intention is to use the best new and proven technologies. This effort is critical not only for the immediate needs of the people of these two neighborhoods, but also for housing throughout the region. Design and completion of construction is on a fast track schedule of 270 days in order to alleviate the suffering of so many still living in trailers and in other cities.

Exactly one year later, the needs are still enormous. We are honored to be a part of the effort to rebuild and revive New Orleans.

Frederic Schwartz, FAIA, is principal of NY-based Frederic Schwartz Architects.

A Model for Living
By Deborah Gans, AIA

Backyard Wetland Brochure
Courtesy Deborah Gans

Because of its low-lying elevation, the extensive hurricane damage, and subsequent evacuation, Pines Village in New Orleans is perceived as potential future wetlands requiring 6,000 houses to be razed. There is an assumption that the displaced community will simply move to other neighborhoods. If the community were to return to other locations in New Orleans—such as the Ninth Ward where many own familial property—it would displace residents with even less economic power. Most significantly, the impression given by the media that the neighborhood is abandoned is incorrect; most blocks with at least one house under renovation are tactically being held. To level this area, which is no lower in elevation than other suburban developments including “whiter” Jefferson Parish, therefore, implies ethnic cleansing.

As the subject of a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Outreach Partnership Center grant awarded to NJIT and Pratt Institute in association with the local partner Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), we are designing a sustainable block for Pines Village to serve as a model for rebuilding along Lake Pontchartrain and similar low-lying suburban coastal areas bound to be affected by global warming. We will develop a cluster of dwellings and shared infrastructure for the block to replace damaged and destroyed houses and landscapes. The model is intended to be replicable and become an established settlement pattern that will benefit a range of income groups, focusing on the lower income populations who often inhabit these less-desirable areas.

While James Dart, AIA, Ron Shiffman, and myself are consultants to ACORN on two other ventures, serving as planners to the Ninth Ward as part of the new Rockefeller Foundation-initiated Unified New Orleans Plan and as architects of 150 adjudicated properties, we feel that the Pines Village model block has perhaps the greatest potential to wed planning strategies with rebuilding in the immediate future.

Deborah Gans, AIA, is an architect and professor at Pratt Institute. Ronald Shiffman is a planner at Pratt and founder of the Pratt Center. James Dart, AIA, is an architect and faculty member at NJIT.

Field Notes from New Orleans on the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Robert A. Collins, Ph.D.

Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had about 450,000 city residents; now, demographers estimate that there are about 230,000. Lack of affordable housing and decent-paying jobs hinder their return. There are jobs available, but they are primarily limited to the construction, healthcare, and service sectors. Jobs in high-paying fields such as law, research, and high-tech are scarce as these sectors of the economy have not recovered.

Immediately after Katrina, most urban planners argued that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to apply proven principles of city planning to develop a mixed-use, mixed-income, mixed-race city with a diversified economy. Sadly, this opportunity has been squandered due to Mayor Nagin’s failure to provide strong leadership, make tough decisions, or articulate a specific vision to unite the city. Instead, he spends much of his time making offensive statements to the news media.

In the absence of visionary leadership, residents have organized themselves and are planning their communities at a neighborhood level. I am involved in the rebuilding efforts by working with Frederic Schwartz Architects, one of the teams selected by a Rockefeller Foundation-funded effort to work with local residents to construct plans for each local planning district. I am also involved in rebuilding the neighborhood surrounding Dillard University by locating resources to redevelop the university neighborhood for residential and commercial uses. In addition, I consult with corporations of all sizes to assist them in constructing disaster plans and business continuity plans. In the absence of governmental guidance, the best hope for the city is to rebuild from neighborhood level out—starting with local residents, universities, and businesses—then dragging the local government along.

Robert A. Collins, Ph.D., is Chair and Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Dillard University in New Orleans and a consultant to corporations in the area of disaster planning. His forthcoming book is titled: Resilience: Protecting your Business from Disasters in a Dangerous World. He can be reached at rcollins@dillard.edu or collins451@att.net.

Biloxi News
By Gail Ressler, IIDA

Volunteers rebuilding a roof.
Gail Ressler, IIDA

Brett Zamore presenting his design, with AFHny volunteers and Biloxi residents.
Antonio Salvador, Assoc. AIA

When I traveled with five other volunteers from the New York City Chapter of Architecture for Humanity (AFHny) to the Gulf Coast in late August, we experienced a window into the lives of those left behind a year after Katrina. On the drive from the New Orleans airport to Biloxi, things seemed almost normal from the highway; but, when we slowed down, we saw many broken windows, areas with no signs of life, and the ubiquitous white FEMA trailers scattered across the brown dirt. Once in East Biloxi, we surveyed the many boarded up houses with washed away interiors and covered with spray painted messages. As darkness fell, the enormous illuminated casinos, with their flashing signs and working ornate fountains, contrasted with the adjacent debris piles that have not yet been fully cleared.

We spent the next two days supporting Architecture for Humanity’s Biloxi House Fair and Model Home Program hosted by Hands On USA, bringing together local families with 12 invited architects to develop housing proposals (for photographs from the event, see the Model Homes website). We drew “Dream Houses” on brown paper with children, and talked with displaced families who are grateful for their trailers but long for real homes. The Vietnamese immigrant community was especially hard hit; with limited English language skills, many have missed out on aid.

We left the Gulf Coast feeling like we had contributed in a small way, and we reconnected with reasons we had become design professionals. The way in which housing is developed will transform the Gulf Coast of the future. Thoughtful and accessible architecture is one way to positively impact future generations.

There is much work to be done, and we will be soliciting volunteers in the fall and spring to return. My thanks to our team: Valeria Bianco, Kevin and Brian Crowley, Michelle Min, and Antonio Salvador, Assoc. AIA. For more information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, project updates, check out the following websites:

• AFHny
• AFH
• Hands On USA

Gail Ressler, IIDA, is the owner of gail ressler Interior Design and on the Steering Committee of AFHny.

New Urbanism Casts Own Light On Gulf Coast
By Robert Orr, AIA

The Waveland SmartCode
Courtesy Robert Orr

Charrette Book from the Waveland Charrette #2, 06.24-06.28.06
Courtesy Robert Orr & Associates

The biggest achievement to date has been forging the tipping point of awareness among a critical mass of citizens that they can control the rebuilding of their communities. Americans are moving beyond the mere standards for turning radii of fire trucks and garbage trucks, mobility (high speed) of vehicles, and one-size-fits-all zoning standards that have created forlorn, incomprehensible, and accepted habitats. Through the eyes of New Urbanism, Gulf Coast citizens have learned that it is possible to identify, comprehend, and rebuild organic human habitats in the same way that Environmentalists have learned to develop habitats for all living things. The only difference between New Urbanists and Environmentalists is that New Urbanists include the human being as part of the planet’s ecosystem; and, that humans are just as imperiled as all the other species although, in the saddest form, bent unknowingly on its own self-destruction.

My firm and I have contributed many thousand hours of pro-bono time and many trips to the Gulf Coast. We’ve spent many hours working one-on-one with hundreds of local citizens to teach them, through smarter common sense standards, how to take control of their lives, to believe in their history and roots, and to create better communities centering on the human being rather than undermining human communication, human habitat, and meaningful life. I have personally relearned authenticity along with the local citizens in the backwaters of their sprawl, in the organic and sustainable patterns manifest in scattered vernacular architecture and urbanism, and in identifying what might become the boundaries of groups and neighborhoods that can begin to establish the bonds and comfort to embrace and create the civitas.

In addition to New Urbanist planning and SmartCode work, which is certainly well represented, the linked Waveland Charrette book covers Smart Growth Planning and SmartCode issues. Its pages are also filled with real public and private projects brought before the charrette team. The team engaged all these projects, regardless of the scope or type. It turns out that including actual “on-the-boards” projects added considerable focus to the planning exercise; participants came away seeing the benefits of Smart Growth in much more tangible ways. A surprisingly broad base of citizens actually “got it,” where former lectures and abstract examples had failed. The biggest benefit is that these same people are now moving forward at the grassroots level to make sure things happen the right way, that the legislators don't leave anything out.

Robert Orr, AIA, is principal of Robert Orr & Associates and an active New Urbanist.

SmartCode Customizes Gulf Coast
By Sandy Sorlien

Block structure revealed by Katrina, in Gulfport, MS October, 2005. The boat was left there by Hurricane Camille in 1969.
Sandy Sorlien

Transect diagram showing the six normative zones on which the SmartCode is based.
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.

The main street of Waveland, MS, on 08.29.06.
Sandy Sorlien

An existing raised cottage in Gentilly provides a model for coding raised frontages in the New Orleans SmartCode.
Sandy Sorlien

The SmartCode is a freeware unified design and development ordinance based on the rural-to-urban Transect (see diagram). It's a form-based and mixed-use system created to replace obsolete zoning that separates uses and promotes sprawl. The SmartCode's six Transect Zones connect all scales of planning, from regional infrastructure to the Katrina Cottage (see Cusato report). And it must be adopted, if only as an option, in order for the MRF, LRA, and GCIA plans to be implemented.

While receiving less attention than New Orleans, Mississippi's losses alone would qualify as the worst natural disaster ever to hit the U.S. Mississippi suffers from the same insurance and FEMA delays as Louisiana. Even so, when I visited on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to photograph the Katrina Cottage Square opening in Ocean Springs, there were signs of life in every coastal town: casino openings, new houses going up sporadically, clean beaches, paved roads, new Waffle Houses. But there are still vast swaths of empty lots, bare slabs, and dead traffic lights. The major bridges are still out. And, as you might imagine, not all new construction is in good urban form. In Biloxi, I had mixed feelings seeing the excitement of a Vietnamese family opening a noodle house in the ravaged Point Cadet neighborhood—in a bland strip mall with the parking lot in front.

Six weeks after Katrina, the Mississippi Renewal Forum (MRF) was held in Biloxi, MS, led by town planner Andres Duany, FAIA, and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). During the six-day, 200-person charrette, teams planned each of the 11 Gulf Coast cities, addressing architecture, regional, transportation, environmental, and code issues. As an independent SmartCode consultant, I was head of the Codes team, and since then have returned 12 times for code customization work in Mississippi and Louisiana, the latter under the auspices of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and, in New Orleans, the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association (GCIA).

The planning process has proceeded, mostly with enthusiasm, and should bear fruit over the next few months. Eight of the 11 cities planned during the MRF have already hosted teams for full-blown individual code customization charrettes. I worked with New Urbanist teams in Waveland, Pass Christian, Gulfport, and D'Iberville, customizing the SmartCode to community wishes and local architectural character. We expect at least two Mississippi cities to adopt downtown SmartCode overlays this month, with more to follow.

In Louisiana this spring, charrette teams led by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co drew up plans and customized SmartCodes for Vermilion and St. Bernard Parishes, the towns of Abbeville, Erath, Delcambre, and St. Charles, and the city of New Orleans, based on the Gentilly neighborhood charrette in April. My role was to review all of these calibrated codes, and to analyze New Orleans building types and frontages through photography in order to code its “design DNA” for the future.

Sandy Sorlien is a photographer and SmartCode consultant living in Philadelphia. She is the author of Fifty Houses: Images from the American Road and co-author of SmartCode & Manual.

Affording Community Housing in Gulf Coast
By Marianne Cusato

Practical and dignified, the Katrina Cottages will be available this fall.
Lowe’s

One year after Hurricane Katrina we are witnessing a transition in the renewal efforts along the Gulf Coast. For months, ideas about reconstruction were being discussed while debris was being cleared. Now, with checks from the government about to start circulating, construction on a larger scale will begin.

Housing remains a primary concern. In Mississippi alone, 38,000 families still live in FEMA trailers, and thousands more are displaced in other forms of temporary housing. Meeting the demand for housing along the coast requires that the industry both develop new methods for delivery and seriously re-examine conventional design practices. It is for these reasons ideas like the Katrina Cottage continue to gain traction.

The Katrina Cottage is safe (designed to withstand 140mph winds), affordable (materials packages from Lowe's are estimated between $45-$55 per square foot unassembled), and fast to build (estimated from four to six weeks). While Katrina Cottages meet all practical requirements, they also provide residents a dignified home.

As construction begins in volume this coming year, we will start to see the new face of the Gulf Coast. How we build today will determine the future 20, 50 or even 100 years down the road. Although it is crucial to address the immediate demand for safe and affordable housing, we need to do so in a way that rebuilds communities, not just creates shelters. To fully realize a strong future for Mississippi and Louisiana, we need to follow through with the master plans that have been designed and implement tools, such as the SmartCode, that have been developed. Our goal for years to come will be meeting today’s demands while building a strong vision for the future.

Marianne Cusato is a New York-based designer who became involved in the rebuilding and renewal efforts along the Gulf Coast last October when she attended the Mississippi Renewal Forum. In response to a challenge from Andres Duany, Cusato designed the first Katrina Cottage. She continues to develop the idea for the cottages, and has recently partnered with Lowe's to bring a series of Katrina Cottages to the people of the Gulf Coast starting this fall. For more information visit Cusato Cottages.

Global Green USA and Brad Pitt have announced New York-based Workshop/apd winners of the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans for their entry, “GREEN.O.L.A.” To see all six finalists’ entries, click here.

HUD Funds Housing in Four Gulf Coast States
Almost a year since Katrina, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, announced the funding of $973 million for rebuilding affordable rental housing through reconstruction or rehabilitation of existing units in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas, with the latter two states receiving the bulk of the monies. Since the beginning of the year, the agency has allocated a total of $16.7 billion of CDBG funds to these four states for long-term recovery from Gulf Coast hurricanes. Last month, HUD awarded $4.2 billion in CDBG disaster assistance to Louisiana in addition to the $6.2 billion allocated to the state earlier this year.

Architects, Engineers, and Contractors Contribute to Mississippi
The Gulf Coast Rebuilding Fund, which has raised money to help pay design and construction fees for public facilities that will replace those lost in the hurricane, will award its first two major grants. The fund, spearheaded by Frank Stasiowski, FAIA, president of PSMJ Resources and his wife, Joan Tomaceski, has grown from contributions received from more than 40 architectural, engineering, and construction companies. These awards will cover design fees for a new community center in Bay St. Louis and a city hall in Waveland, both in Mississippi. In addition, the fund made a small grant for the Waveland design charrette organized by the Mississippi Renewal Commission. Click on link for more information and to make tax-deductible contributions.

Biloxi’s Largest Gulf Coast Resort & Casino Reopens

The Beau Rivage Resort and Casino.
Courtesy Beau Rivage Resort and Casino The Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi reopened exactly one year after Katrina. The restoration of the 3.2 million-square-foot resort, headed by owner’s representative Tishman Construction Corporation and general contractor, WG Yates, had a crew of 1,200 workers employed by local Mississippi contractors, many of which had been involved in the resort’s original construction in 1999. In what would usually require 18 to 22 months of work, the project was completed in a record-breaking eight months, following three months of debris removal. Per Mississippi gaming laws, casinos had to float on mobile marine vessels. The casino level of this resort, including lounges, restaurant, retail, showroom, kitchen, main entrance, and central energy plant, floats at 20 feet above sea level on top of five barges anchored by nine million pounds of structural steel piles 170 feet deep. The hotel's 32-story tower, the tallest in the state, remained intact after a 30-foot tidal wave hit, but its first two floors were washed out.

© Stephen Wilkes

On View 09.14.06–12.01.06
In Katrina’s Wake: Restoring a Sense of Place
Consisting of 26 photographs by photographer Stephen Wilkes, this exhibition tells the stories of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and the Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Through poignant portraits of survivors and haunting images of architectural details, Wilkes' images highlight the World Monument Fund's ongoing efforts to preserve the Gulf Coast’s vibrant architectural heritage. World Monuments Fund Gallery; 15 East 27th Street

Check out the Brookings Institute “Special Edition of Katrina Index: A One-Year Review of Key Indicators of Recovery in Post-Storm New Orleans.” Detailed information about the state of New Orleans one year since Hurricane Katrina is available as a downloadable .pdf file.

NPR has extensively covered the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Check out the NPR: Katrina: One Year Later website for articles, podcasts, blogs, and photographs.

Last November, e-Oculus published a special issue, “Gulf Coast Report.” To re-read the issue click the link.

If you would like to respond to any of the articles in this issue or voice your opinion about Gulf Coast revitalization, please email e-Oculus.