Resilience by Design

28Apr15

Architects think about materials a lot—as much as they think about budgets, plans, programs, and sites. But there’s another way to think about materials, as in the raw materials of a neighborhood or a community: the people and their sense of place, their pride in what they do and where they live, and the means of producing—and sustaining—a way of life. In thinking about materials in this way, we get closer to a universal definition of resilience.

Which brings me to the idea, advanced in “Rebuild by Design,” that people have an instinctive appetite for building the collective attachment to their place. If the pace of rebuilding in New Orleans was less than what I had hoped to see, the spirit of the people was a source of hope. I met folks who are not only rebuilding structures but who, more importantly, are rebuilding human infrastructure.

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Tags: Creativity, Design