A chance to rebuild, better?Having read your article "Building Sustainable Cities A more sustainable city, Ecopolis (city) or Eco-city, has fewer inputs (of energy, water, food etc) and fewer waste products (heat, air pollution, water pollution etc) than a less sustainable city. In this context, sustainability is a relative concept. " (Currents, September/ October 2005) four days after the Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. disaster, I can only wonder if those in charge of recovery efforts would even consider this a perfect opportunity for turning any of the affected cities into the model you have described. Media accounts of the flood destruction of New Orleans New Orleans (ôr`lēənz –lənz, ôrlēnz`), city (2006 pop. 187,525), coextensive with Orleans parish, SE La., between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, 107 mi (172 km) by water from the river mouth; founded portray por·tray tr.v. por·trayed, por·tray·ing, por·trays 1. To depict or represent pictorially; make a picture of. 2. To depict or describe in words. 3. To represent dramatically, as on the stage. a totally collapsed infrastructure and the need to almost completely rebuild much of the city from below ground up. The bitter irony is that experts have been predicting this scenario, unheeded, for years. The big question then becomes: Why would planners and public officials, even with the most vested of interests, think it advisable ad·vis·a·ble adj. Worthy of being recommended or suggested; prudent. ad·vis  a·bil to rebuild a city that will, given its current geographic location, most certainly be similarly destroyed again when another Katrina hits? Why not rebuild a sustainable city on ground that is above sea and lake level? Too much to ask? Probably. Sue Hall Grants Pass, OR |
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