The Battle for Biloxi: new Urbanism?

This past Sunday the NY Times Magazine had a very interesting and troubling article entitled the Battle for Biloxi. (which is will also soon be playing in New Orleans!)

A few key points from the article:

* New Urbanism is in theory the idea that we do not want sprawl and everyone wants a "traditional" town. Thus after Katrina destroyed so much, planners were allowed to redo the regions plans.

From there:

"The forum presented its 11 plans to the 11 communities of the Gulf Coast, and many of the smaller, wealthier towns, like Ocean Springs and Pass Christian, were enthusiastic about adopting them; New Urbanism, after all, reconstructed the kind of life they'd been living all along. But Biloxi is bigger and more diverse: it's perched on the end of the peninsula, so hurricanes roll over it regularly, and the city's casinos generate a lot of cash. Playing posthurricane politics in Biloxi is like trying to sword-fight on a rolling log, and as the months wore on, almost everyone found something to object to...."

* later:

"In East Biloxi, the problem was money. About 12,000 people lived in that part of town, about 50 percent of them white, 30 percent black and the rest predominately Vietnamese. Most of the area is just a few feet above sea level, most of the houses are one-story cottages and most of the people are poor. Katrina came through on a 30-foot surge, destroying about 3,500 homes — perhaps 60 percent of the housing. "

* Of course these new plans and homes will cost money. So the reporter (Jim Lewis) goes out into the street:

""Affordable to who?" That's the first question, and the most difficult to answer. There used to be a lot of ways for people to get by in Biloxi...

Now that much of it needs to be rebuilt, everything is going to cost a great deal more. I asked Andrés Duany what he meant by "affordable," and he said: "$140,000. We can make a really nice three-bedroom house for $140,000, working with mobile-home manufacturers." When I asked Bill Stallworth, a black councilman whose ward includes about half of East Biloxi, he was just as blunt. "That's not affordable for this area," he said. ""

And

"Besides, Moule and Polyzoides's plan had come down from above, and it felt like a decree....there were public meetings to discuss the rebuilding, but many people didn't hear about them or were too busy picking through the debris that had once been their homes. Stallworth, the councilman, described a process that was already well under way before any of the residents were asked how they wanted to rebuild: "It took into account a lot of great planners and their ideas, but not very much from the people.."

And problems exist even in the rich areas as some of the rules are at best silly. Of course (and I am not sure why it is an "of course" but it is):

"Most of the New Urbanists...seemed vexed by the very idea that anyone could disagree with a creed they found self-evident, but the movement does have its critics, especially among architects."

Whew...that is some article (7 pages)...Highly recommended!

It is a very tough problem: regulation or free markets? Is this a case where mandating codes and what has to be is the "optimal" solution? Or should we just let markets work? As Dr. Bob so aptly put it "it is a Gordian Knot."