io9: new orleans

A City Prepared for Disaster Is a City that Looks to the Future

Annalee Newitz — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Back in May, there were reports that the rebuilt levees in New Orleans were still leaking, despite the fact that storm season had nearly arrived. One example of a leaker was this one, a levee along the Industrial Canal that was patched up for nearly $22 million and barely managed to hold back the waters whipped up by yesterday's highly-diminished Hurricane Gustav. Though Gustav was predicted to possibly reach Category 4 and slam New Orleans directly, luckily the storm went down to a Category 2 and didn't pass directly over the city (Katrina, which flooded the city three years ago, was Category 3). It would seem New Orleans was saved by luck alone. But there are also signs that New Orleans is fast becoming one of the most disaster-prepared cities in the world.

Though it's likely that a bigger assault on New Orleans would have caused the rebuilt levee to collapse — and indeed it might still collapse under the pressure of all that water — the US Army Corps of Engineers is hasty to point out that the repairs are not complete yet. Still, there is hope that the data they gathered during yesterday's storm will make the completed levees more likely to be flood-proof. Certain areas, like the industrial area you see above, were flooded despite preparations. But while most of Louisiana's coast suffered a blackout, New Orleans remained powered up. Sloshing levee photo above the fold by Stephen Morton/Getty Images. Topped-up levee and industrial area photos by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

The most horrifying images and stories that emerged after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans were all related to the evacuees. Or rather, the lack of evacuees, since the process of getting people out of town went so badly that casualties were high and tales of evacuation centers grim (people were beaten and raped in the city's emergency facilities, for example). But when Hurricane Gustav threatened this year, evacuation began days in advance and free busses and trains carried more than 2 million people out of the New Orleans and Louisiana coast areas. Of course, about 10,000 people remained behind in New Orleans. But that was by choice. Perhaps because huge portions of the population never returned after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has become one of the most easy-to-evacuate cities in the world. Evacuee photos by Mario Tama/Getty Images

In the months leading up to Hurricane Gustav, images like this one by the graffiti artist Banksy started showing up on the levees. New Orleans has already started to weave its status as a weather disaster city into its public art. This is significant because when storm disasters become part of the city's self-image, part of its mythology even, it can serve to reinforce its citizens' ability to mobilize in a disaster. This playful image may seem frivolous when compared to the faces of those evacuees above, but it's testimony to the way New Orleans residents view themselves as storm survivors.

Now it simply remains to be seen if the city and the US government can finish those repairs in time to save the city from a truly dangerous storm. We've got evidence now that it can endure a category 2, but there is already another hurricane called Hanna brewing over the Atlantic — soon to be followed by more in this storm-heavy season. Will New Orleans go the way of Mayan cities, which some believe were abandoned due to years of terrible weather? Or will it become a hardened city of the future, prepared for disasters that could become part of everyday life as our climate slowly transforms?

Banksy art photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images

This City Will Never Drown Again

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:10:00 PDT

This gorgeous image of a floating city is one design team's idea of what New Orleans might look like in the future. Let me add to that: a better future, where urban design is graceful, humane, and forward-looking. Their idea is to create low-cost houses that are buoyant, and that survive floods by welcoming the Mississippi River into the city.

Harvard design grad students Kiduck Kim and Christian Stayner explain how this would work:

Housing plats and roads are marked by solar-powered lighting poles. Individual dwellings bob, tethered with RV-type umbilical cords through which potable water, electricity, sew-age, and telephone connections continue uninterrupted. When the water subsides, depositing the city in a new arrangement.

Sure, it's Utopian, but I need Utopianism on Monday. Really, I do.

Floating in a Sinking City [Harvard via Inhabitat]

A Utopian Future for the New Orleans Riverfront in 200 Years

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:00:23 PST

The brainfarm over at Sentient Developments calls our attention to the concept designs of Adam Benton, who has worked on Stargate among other things. Here you see a sumptuous illustration of a forested world dotted with space ports. When I imagine a Utopian future for New Orleans, this is what I see: a beautiful, clean Mississippi River edged with graceful, high-density housing and thick wetlands. If you want to see more of Benton's curvacious, festively-colored space ships, click on.

It's like a holiday ship, all red and shiny! Maybe it's delivering presents to gas beings on Jupiter. Images by Adam Benton.

The Art of Adam Benton [Sentient Developments]

First Look at the Future of the New Orleans Waterfront

Annalee Newitz — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:00:39 PST

A team of architecture firms has released the first sketches of plans to rebuild the New Orleans waterfront. (Final plans will be announced in February.) They include developing trails and buildings a four mile stretch along the Mississippi River, giving people more access to the water and views of its serpentine banks. At the center of the project is this bent warehouse (above), which will be broken in half (below) to create a glass-enclosed parklike area where people can take in views of the river. Images courtesy of TEN.
New Orleans Waterfront Plan Takes Shape [Architectural Record]

A Model Of Urban Growth In Living Matter

charliejane — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:45:49 PST

A New Orleans artist has created a bio-art project about the future of cities. Artist Allison Kudla created an algorithm that combines urban growth patterns with the growth of cells. Then she used a robot arm to print a representation of it onto 4 foot-by-6 foot sheets using agar, a living and growing gelatin used in biology experiments. This is just one of the weird science-art projects on display this weekend at the DesCours festival in New Orleans. There's even an art project about talking to people in other cities using your ass.

The Ex-Com Couch will make its debut this weekend in New Orleans as part of the DesCours Festival. Similar couches will be placed in Sydney and Los Angeles. When someone sits on one of them, the other couches will make a "signature motion" to indicate who's sitting, and on which part of which couch. It's the first butt-powered telecommunication setup. (On the left, an actual segment of the couch in progress. On the right, a computer illustration of what it'll look like. Ex-Com stands for "external communciation," natch.)

You'll also have a chance to interact with the ReSpore NOLA project. ReSpore started out as a "virtual petri dish" that simulates the dots of mold that slowly covered the walls and ceiling of artist David Sullivan's house and his friends' houses after Katrina. If you go here, you can see ReSpore cover your own webcam image with mold. But this weekend, you'll be able to see a live installation.

Also on display: Hover, a canopy that stores solar energy during the day and uses it to power fabric cells incorporating photovoltaics and LEDs, for an off-the-grid lighting source. Plus artificial snow, textile art, a mobile photo booth and more.