Many big visions for new Big Easy

Even as the US Army Corps of Engineers claimed victory Tuesday in pumping out the last of more than 224 billion gallons of floodwater, some in New Orleans were looking forward to the chance to rebuild and, perhaps, reshape one of America's major cities.

Within days of hurricane Katrina, urban planners, architects, and engineers flocked to the city to get a first look at the potential. If their efforts seem uncoordinated, their goals are lofty. Many planners and politicians don't want to merely re-create New Orleans, but to make it better - socially, culturally, economically, environmentally, and physically.

Their excitement is palpable. "It's the urban planning challenge of this century," says Kristina Ford, an environmental studies professor at Bowdoin College who headed New Orleans city planning for eight years. "How can we rebuild the town so we can re- create over a period of a few years what took 300 years" to evolve?

Between 140,000 and 160,000 homes may need to be razed because of hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding. Some estimates put the rebuilding cost at $200 billion. And that's with a host of questions unanswered: Which houses will need to be torn down? Will the city shrink because some neighborhoods become uninsurable and therefore unbuildable?

"This is a city that's had a terrible tragedy, but there's an opportunity to build it back and build it back better," says Ed McMahon, a senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute and a former New Orleans resident. "It could become a city that integrates rather than isolates, a city that inspires, a city that celebrates history and diversity and culture and people."

Mr. McMahon's organization, which helped New York, Oklahoma City, and other cities in the aftermath of disasters, is ready to assist and advise New Orleans. So are countless others. Recently, the mayor formed a 17-member Bring New Orleans Back commission. The American Planning Association has tapped five people, at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to help in short-term planning. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana has proposed that President Bush appoint a commission to implement flood-control and hurricane-protection work. Local developers, politicians, and national organizations are all offering their two cents' worth.

"We're struggling through this as we speak," says Jeff Roesel, principal planner for the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission. "A lot is happening, and you really have to stay on top of contacts to figure out what they're doing. Everyone is going off in their own direction."

For his part, Mr. Roesel is hesitant to propose specific plans until more is known about FEMA's new flood elevation maps. Talking about a neighborhood "is all speculation until we know what insurable standard it can be rebuilt to," he says. "You can't plan something you can't rebuild."

That hasn't stopped others from speculating. Discussion of the future of the Lower Ninth Ward, in particular, has been contentious. Home of Desire Street - as in Tennessee Williams's "Streetcar" - and musicians like Fats Domino, the Ninth Ward has a colorful history but sits on a lower elevation than much of the city, and endured some of the worst flooding when the Industrial Canal levees broke.

It was also a largely poor, black community, many of whose former residents have been scattered around the country - a fact that has led to some charges of racism when planners suggest the whole Lower Ninth might need to be razed and turned into a wetland or park.

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