When the levee system protecting New Orleans failed and was overtopped in August 2005 following the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, 80 percent of the city was flooded, with a loss of 103,000 homes in the metropolitan area. At least 986 Louisiana residents died. The devastation hit vulnerable communities the hardest: the elderly, the poor, and African-Americans. The disaster exposed shocking inequalities in the city. In response, numerous urban plans and myriad architectural projects were proposed. Nearly nine years later, debates about planning and design for recovery, renewal, and resilience continue. This bold, challenging, and informed book gathers together a panorama of responses from writers, architects, planners, historians, and activists-including Mike Davis, Rebecca Solnit, Naomi Klein, Denise Scott Brown, and M. Christine Boyer-and searches for answers to one of the most important questions of our age: How can we plan for the urban future, creating more environmentally sustainable, economically robust, and socially equitable places to live? A 2014 grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts supported in part the publication of this book.

When the levees broke in August 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina, 80 percent of the city of New Orleans was flooded, with a loss of 134,000 homes and 986 lives. In particular, the devastation hit the vulnerable communities the hardest: the old, the poor and the African American. The disaster exposed the hideous inequality of the city. In response to the disaster numerous plans, designs and projects were proposed. This bold, challenging and informed book gathers together the variety of responses from politicians, writers, architects and planners and searches for the answers of one of the most important issues of our age: How can we plan for the future, creating a more robust and equal place?

The Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning series offers a selection of some of the best scholarship in urban and regional planning from around the world with internationally recognized authors taking up urgent and salient issues from theory, to education for and practice of planning. This 7th volume features contributions on the theme of Transformative Planning: Smarter, Greener and More Inclusive Practices. It includes chapters from leading planning scholars and practitioners who critically examine how transformative planning practices seek to reduce inequalities, promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, achieve gender equality, improve human health and well-being, foster resilience of urban communities and protect the environment and thereby change urban planning paradigms. Several case studies of emerging transformative planning interventions illustrate practical ways forward. Transformative Planning offers provocative insights into the global planning community’s struggle and contribution to tackle the major challenges to society in the 21st century. It will be of use for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in the wide-ranging fields encompassed by urban studies, sustainability studies, and urban and regional planning. The Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning (DURP) series is published in association with the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN) and its member national and transnational planning schools associations.