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HISTORIC
PRESERVATION
Paving Paradise
THE CENTURY BUILDING DEBACLE ANDTHE FUTURE OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION 
PRESERVATION IN THE PROGRESSIVE CITY 
Debating History and Gentrification in Austin
WILL BETHLEHEM TURN STEEL INTO GOLD? 
PLUS: KATRINA, ONE YEAR LATERFirst in a Two-Part Series
ISSUE TWELVE / 2006
THENEXTAMERICANCITY
US $7.95 CAN $10.95
COMMENTARY / URBAN AFFAIRS
 
REBUILDING URBAN PLACES AFTER DISASTER
essons from Hurricane Katrina 
dited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter
“This book reveals fresh and insightful approaches to the challenges of facing natural disaster. Contributionsrom the fields of regionalism and environmental planning are positive and prospective, offering new ways tonderstand how the places we call home are interconnected with each other and with the land. I’m particularlystruck by the thoughtful writings about the individuality of these places, where cultural expressions in musicand architecture are irrepressible, even amidst debris and discouragement.” —Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Partner, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Chairman, Urban Land Institute“After reading
ebuilding Urban Places 
one comes away with the understanding of how complex a process its to restore our urban communities after experiencing such a catastrophe . . . and an understanding of theeaps this country must take to help and protect our citizens.” —John Timoney, Chief of Police, Miami“No elected official or planning professional should miss this book. Birch and Wachter have collected essaysspanning every dimension of rebuilding. From historical lessons to cutting-edge practices, there is so much to learn.” —Brent Warr, Mayor, City of Gulfport, MississippiDisasters—natural ones, such as hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, and unnatural ones such as terrorist attacks—are part of the American experience in the twenty-first century. The challenges of preparing for these events, withstanding their impact, and rebuilding communitiesafterward require strategic responses from different levels of government in partnership with the private sector and in accordance with theublic will.Disasters have a disproportionate effect on urban places. Dense by definition, cities and their environs suffer great damage to their complex,nterdependent social, environmental, and economic systems. Social and medical services collapse. Long-standing problems in educationalaccess and quality become especially acute. Local economies cease to function. Cultural resources disappear. The plight of New Orleans andseveral smaller Gulf Coast cities exemplifies this phenomenon.This volume examines the rebuilding of cities and their environs after a disaster and focuses on four major issues: making cities less vulnerableo disaster, reestablishing economic viability, responding to the permanent needs of the displaced, and recreating a sense of place. Successn these areas requires that priorities be set cooperatively, and this goal poses significant challenges for rebuilding efforts in a democratic,arket-based society. Who sets priorities and how? Can participatory decision-making be organized under conditions requiring focused, straegic choices? How do issues of race and class intersect with these priorities? Should the purpose of rebuilding be restoration or reformation?Contributors address these and other questions related to environmental conditions, economic imperatives, social welfare concerns, and issuesof planning and design in light of the lessons to be drawn from Hurricane Katrina.Contributors include: Elijah Anderson, Richard J. Gelles, Robert Giegengack, Nick Spitzer, and Dell UptonThe City in the Twenty-First CenturyNov 2006 | 400 pages | 8 color, 60 b/w illus. | Paper | $34.95
 www.pennpress.org
 
from the editor
YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED TO FIND
that, in a magazine about the city of thefuture, we’ve built an entire issue around thetheme of historic preservation. But preserva-tion is just as important to a city’s beauty andflourishing as are growth, demolition, andchange. Every day, whether or not they frameit in such terms, civic leaders take stands onthis issue. Which structures are so valuablethat they should be left intact and adapted fornew, modern uses? Which should be destroyedto make way for more sound or innovativedevelopments? While we believe that growthand change are vital—and inevitable—inAmerican cities, we also know that newer isn’talways better, and that the wrecking balldoesn’t always signal progress.In “Paving Paradise,” Joseph Heathcottrelates the gory details of one of the most con-troversial preservation battles in recent histo-ry. The Century Building in downtown St.Louis, a late-18th-century office tower withcast-iron doorways and ornate marble detail-ing, was torn down in late 2004 to make wayfor a 1,000-unit parking lot. It’s the stuff of folk songs, and a preservationist’s nightmare.And yet one of the oldest and most esteemedpreservation groups in the country, theNational Trust, supported razing the buildingand paving it over.In “Preservation in the Progressive City,”Jeffrey Chusid, a Cornell professor and for-mer Austinite, tells a tale of clashing progres-sives in one of the most radical cities on theplanet. Austin preservationists, long wary of the Smart Growth crowd, eventually faced off with a social justice group, who then blamedboth Smart Growth and preservation laws forspurring gentrification in East Austin.No city has ever struggled with the kindsof historic preservation dilemmas currentlyfacing the Gulf Coast cities of New Orleans,Biloxi, and Gulfport. Which buildings shouldbe preserved and rehabilitated, or knockeddown and never rebuilt? Now that the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina haspassed and the issues that the storm stirredup are slipping off the political radar, we feltit was important to keep you updated ondevelopments in the Gulf Coast. Emily Weissreports on the role of Christian missionariesin the clean-up effort, and Brent Warr, themayor of Gulfport, Mississippi—a city gener-ally overlooked by the media last summer—talks about casinos, local heroes, and howGulfport is slowly rebuilding. On a bitter-sweet note, Doug Giuliano offers a darklyhilarious take on his experiences as a FEMAvolunteer last fall. These are the first articlesin a two-issue series about the storm’s long-term lessons and ramifications.For our next issue, appearing this winter,
The Next American City
will be ramping upeditorial production and undergoing a radicalre-design. This will mean both a new look andnew kinds of editorial coverage. Our goal, asalways, is to be a powerful and provocativevoice in the national conversation about allthings urban and suburban. We will be experi-menting with new kinds of writing and report-ing, offering our readers more timely, fresh,and insightful views on city developmentsaround the country. We’ll also tackle, as ourmain theme, one of the most controversialnews topics in recent memory: immigration.I’m very excited to come on board as full-time editor of the magazine. Adam Gordon willremain involved as editor-in-chief. In upcom-ing issues, other editors, writers, and artistswill use this space to give a behind-the-sceneslook at their contributions to the magazine.Please let me know how we’re doing. Or,if you’re in the Philadelphia area, feel free tostop by
The Next American City
’s new officesat the University of Pennsylvania’s Institutefor Urban Research in Meyerson Hall.Happy reading,Jess McCuan
Editor  jess@americancity.org 
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