Rebuilding a Sustainable Haiti

The scope of the destruction that followed the January 12th earthquake in Haiti was so great that the rebuilding process must seek to transform the country’s built environment, not just replace it. The country’s long-term welfare depends on a new and comprehensive approach to planning for the future. The Institute for Urban Design will hold the symposium Rebuilding a Sustainable Haiti on June 4th, 2010 to launch critical discussions on a long-term recovery plan that encompasses the country’s environmental, cultural, and economic wellbeing. The event will identify specific ways in which New York City’s planning and design community can work within the framework established by the Haitian government to encourage a truly integrated planning process for the reconstruction. Leading the afternoon’s conversation is Leslie Voltaire, the head of the government’s Haiti Reconstruction Commission, and who serves as Special Envoy for the United Nations’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti. He will be joined by representatives from UN-HABITAT, the Clinton Foundation, Partners in Health, and INURED, among others. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on June 4th, 2010, in the Rose Auditorium at the Cooper Union, from 1:00pm to 6:00pm, and will consist of three main discussions. The first will provide a foundational understanding of the inter-related nature of the country’s pre-quake issues. The second will examine the Haitian government’s Action Plan and will form the framework for future efforts and the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) document it grew out of. Mr. Voltaire will lay out the plan in detail, and debate its points with responding panelists. The final session of the day will focus on the specific challenges that rebuilders face, including coordination of efforts, risk reduction strategies and the environment, and the transition from a temporary camp to a permanent new town; it will incorporate lessons learned from relief efforts after major disasters elsewhere.  By bringing together architects and planners together with government officials and NGOs, the Institute for Urban Design hopes to build new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, and to work for a more sustainable future in Haiti.  AIA Continuing Education credits will be offered to eligible attendees (CES LUs 4.0; HSW 4.0; SD 4.0) For more information, please visit http://ifud.org/haiti