- About the Lecture
-
About the Lecture
There’s no love lost between Kristina Ford and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; he made it clear that she was not welcome as the city’s main planner when he assumed office. The bone Ford has to pick is not merely with the current mayor and his notion of a casino- and hotel-dominated New Orleans, but with a wrongheaded planning process in her hometown, and elsewhere in U.S. cities. One big issue for Ford: how cities often treat the comprehensive land use plans they generate every few years as if they are realistic blueprints. “People look backwards when creating a vision of the future, and it’s often a nostalgic vision of what used to be—better in memory than in fact.” Ford notes, “I don’t know many plans from 15 years ago that contemplated Walmarts, or Home Depots.” Over time, zoning decisions diverge from the plan — or people simply ignore the plan altogether.
In the case of New Orleans, a city Ford reveres for its vibrant, distinctively diverse culture, urban planning never took into account how people actually lived -- in tight-knit neighborhoods, relying on an underground economy and spotty transportation. So after Hurricane Katrina, it is essential, believes Ford, that rebuilding plans embrace reality. Real urban recovery would mean luring back New Orleans residents, currently dispersed all over the country, with jobs. “With big contracts coming in, 25% must go to native New Orleanians,” says Ford. “If they don’t have skills, they should be taught.” When one family member returns, it “creates a toehold for the whole family to return.” Ultimately, “words for planning are gimmicks,” says Ford. Planners must stop “tinkering at the margins,” but step right into the politics of their communities, and “invite ways to measure their own effectiveness.”Related Videos
-
How Can We Plan for Safe and Sustainable Regions?
Chiang Mei, Michael Fischer and Anne Spirn
October 18, 2005
-
How Can Communities, Cities and Regions Recover From Disaster?
Lawrence Vale, Thomas Kochan and J. Thompson
October 5, 2005
-
Voices from New Orleans: Design and Planning Diaspora
Gary Van Zante, John Klingman, William Barry, Richard Tuttle, Lawrence Jenkens and Ellen Weiss
October 3, 2005
-
- About the Speaker
-
About the Speaker
Kristina Ford
Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies, Bowdoin College Former Executive Director, New Orleans City Planning Commission
From 1992 to 2000, Kristina Ford led the New Orleans city planning office. She also headed the New Orleans Business Corp., an agency created to develop city-owned property.
Ford was previously a planning director of Missoula, Montana, and author of the 1989 APA book, Planning Small Town America, and other textbooks on community planning issues. - About the Host
-
About the Host
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) is a department within the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT. It is comprised of four specialization areas (also referred to as Program Groups): City Design and Development; Environmental Policy and Planning; Housing, Community and Economic Development; and the International Development Group. There are also three cross-cutting areas of study: Transportation Planning and Policy, Urban Information Systems (UIS), and Regional Planning.
Video Player
Rebuilding New Orleans: An Opportunity to Re-Energize the Planning Profession?
- Kristina Ford
- October 17, 2005
- Running Time: 1:10:01
