The Politics Of Demolishing New Orleans

"The process of rebuilding New Orleans has barely begun, yet it is possible to detect emerging fault lines beneath the effort that will, in large measure, determine its outcome. One early point of friction is how fast to move with demolition.

...Whether undertaken house by house or street by street, with or without input from preservationists, the demolition of much of the city's eastern neighborhoods is inevitable, and some people have begun trying to gaze beyond the coming debris piles and burn pits to imagine what might arise from the ruins."