How cities are rebuilding to be more resilient to natural disasters
By Zoe Rohrich
Fourteen years after Hurricane Katrina, the neighborhood of Gentilly, New Orleans, is still in the process of rebuilding.
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In response to the pushback, New Orleans came up with an alternate solution: allow residents to remain in their homes, but also retrofit the area’s landscape to help the neighborhood better withstand the next natural disaster. The plan included new ditches, rain barrels and dry creeks designed to hold substantial amounts of water and reduce runoff that could destroy homes and other property.
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In response to the threat that rising sea levels pose to the town of San Rafael, California, Rebuild by Design competitors proposed solutions that would shift the city’s resources away from the current pump and levy system, build bike lane levees that double as flood protection, and gradually elevate highways and structures in the area.
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Outside the U.S., the organization Build Change is on a mission to make disaster-resilient infrastructure commonplace and accessible to the world’s hardest-hit areas– training workers in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to build with durable configuration, and with local materials and technology.
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