the INCREMENTAL house

Started, but unfinished And that opportunity after the storm to rethink and tackle poverty in America in a new way? Ummmm. Yes, it is a catastrophic failure on a national level, but on a local level as well, with endemic corruption that could probably rival many places I have visited within the last year. Consequently, for a city that was almost completely inundated, New Orleans is being rebuilt piece by piece with heroic efforts from tons of people. Local business in Lower 9th ward that serves some mean chicken But, zooming out and thinking about this form a larger scale, is this really the best we can do? Is Global Green and Make it Right the best we have to offer? They make look, sound, and smell different, but at the end of the day, they seem like more of the same. Cost overruns and excessive technologies bump up the initial costs of housing for those who need it the most. High profile figures do their best to give money an...

Here, it seems the whole green thing has gotten a little bit out of whack. It is kind of interesting how little I have really thought about green and sustainable stuff on my trip. It was kind of a shock to return and be bombarded with the word, ‘GREEN.’ In returning to the Gulf Coast , I am reminded how green is all the rage, not only here, but in the entire country. While it has always been at the back of my mind, it is just not that relevant in most of the projects I have been looking at. There are so many more fundamental things that are important, like having a home in the first place. Land, electricity, water, plumbing, opportunities, human rights, education, and the ability to leave a better life for the next generation. All these seem much more about sustainability (economic, social, and environmental) than the word, ‘GREEN’, just because it seems to get isolated and represent the latest fad. It almost seems like the re...

Lower 9th Ward Lower 9th Ward from the industrial canal levee Waiting Gym in the lower 9th Unfinished house in the lower 9th Public housing in upper 9th ward On my stop back in the US , I headed to the Gulf Coast to see how things were progressing after Hurricane Katrina. My first stop was New Orleans . One of the more telling things about New Orleans is that now, there are some areas of the city where you can’t really tell if it had been flooded or not. Some parts that had been flooded are back and in good shape, and there are neighborhoods that had never been flooded that look worse than those that have been flooded. The word decay was constantly popping up in my mind. Yet, while decay is very present, growth is very present, with the building industry booming, one of the few places in the country. New projects are popping up all over the place. Part of what makes this time and rebuilding interesting is ...

Senkata The rim of El Alto I went back to El Alto drawn to a city, an indigenous, self built city, that had served as a space of resistance against so many things wrong with the world. The now infamous gas wars, when Altenos prohibited natural gas destined for the US from leaving the Senkata Plant in 2003, brought down three presidents. There is an effective civic structure that can mobilize tens of thousands of people instantly. I saw it with my own eyes. But, I am not going to make it out to be the romantic notion of collectivity that I wish it was. It is not. Many people are aspiring, making money, figuring out this capitalism thing pretty well. Others are remaining poor, but trying to better themselves. Some people are financing all of this through the banks, and many others are doing it on their own. Class frictions are growing everyday, as some of these indigenous migrants are hitting a gold mine within urban commerce and real estate, while exploiting othe...

The new living room I had told Eloy that I would return in the evening to take a photo of his whole family in the new, almost finished apartment. I ran a little late, trying to catch up with everyone in the city. I caught a cab in El Alto, just because I was running late. It was the most beat up car I had been in a very long time. My window was entirely tape. You could feel every bump, it felt as if the engine was going to stop immediately, and then going over the speed bumps…..I felt them in my feet, scraping the underneath of the car, almost as if it was going to break in half. I think it even had an 8 track player. But, this guy didn’t give a damn. It was his livelihood, and he drove it just like a new one. I then piled into a minibus at Cruce Viacha. I still find these minibuses some of the most extraordinary parts of El Alto. I always like climbing in them. I always feel safer, and it is always a collection, of rough and tumble, hardworking people trying to mo...

Eloy and his family Current living quarters New house next to old house Eloy and his wife Dona Maria lived down the street and ran a store on the corner. I got to know them very well, as their store provided much needed staples such as yoghurt, bread, telephones, and chocolate. Half of the time, their two daughters, Erica and Pamela, when not in school, were running the store and listening to my phone conversations. During my time there, they were living out of basically two rooms. One room was the bedroom and everything else. Within that one room, all four of them slept along with Maria’s mother. The kids studied in there as well. Outside was the kitchen and a rudimentary toilet. They bought the plot of land in 1998 for US$10,000 and through the pooling of family resources, was able to buy two plots together (320 m^2). They moved from another part of El Alto because there were no real transportation options and places to run a business. He now belie...