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Monday, February 01, 2010
The Reconstruction of Haiti
Some good suggestions from Stefanos Polyzoides, a founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism:
1 Tent settlements and temporary service installations, immediately,
2 Ruble clearance, New urban plans, Mass training in construction, next,
3 Infrastructure construction, roads, water, sewer systems, asa practical,
4 Service building construction, clinics, schools, community centers, same,
5 Lot by lot reconstruction to basic seismic standards and tropical conditions, following
6 Civic and Public building reconstruction, down the line.
There is little place in such a sequence for finished pre fabricated housing. In a country with 100% unemployment, world aid should focus on sending materials and tools, and helping the the local people organize into work squads that build with maximum labor input.
SELF HELP AND INCREMENTAL BUILDING SHOULD BE AT THE CENTER OF SUCH EFFORTS.
Most of all, the above must be endorsed, directed and controlled jointly by Haitian and World leaders, so that no major political mess up derails the effort. There is a lot to learn from our collective shortcomings in the Gulf.
Stefanos
February 1, 2010 in Architecture, Current Affairs, New Urbanism, Urbanism | Permalink
Comments
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We disagree. Mr. Polyzoides, another thoughtful but misguided individual is projecting US culture onto Haiti. They do not have the time before hurricane season sets in nor the years ahead to begin a large education and building effort. If this was possible in the past, the dozens of wonderful relief organizations operating there would have done it. He is coming a little late to the idea perhaps.
The Haitians being resettled in villages outside the capital need housing NOW, not in months or years when the flow of materials and skilled labor is up to speed. Once any permanent shelters supplied CAN be replaced by superior buildings built by Haitians then so be it.
We are currently working with families who HAD traditional homes in Haiti, who want our ready-to-erect models on site so they have a home while they are waiting the months to years necessary to get started on rebuilding as Polyzoides suggests. You cannot change culture overnight. We can supply adequate housing in the interim and that is what our company has been called up to do.
This is not an urban planning problem. This is an industrial supply need. HaitiHouse.org is meeting that need immediately.
To learn more about a realistic approach to building protected villages see our site at http:www.haitihouse.org. For proposals to build submit your needs and we will gladly work with you directly. sales@haitihouse.org.
We have unique solutions available beyond our products posted online that will provide safe, secure homes for Haitians where they can grow food and carry out daily tasks in a protected environment.
Today we are going to release the next generation models and will give you one of the first releases. We have been in discussions with ministers in Haiti, Dominican Republic, families, and relief organizations and have devised a method to create FlatPackQuad™ village units, creating a safe, clean interior courtyard where ALL daily activities can occur in a private space used by neighbors and families, but which protects their lives and belongings.
This very exciting advance will help Haitian society grow and prosper beyond just providing rudimentary housing.
If you supply us with an email address we will include you on company releases. We are very proud to be delivering our cargo2™ container bunkhouse/office relief units to the U.N. this Sunday. Keep your eyes peeled as you may see HaitiHouse.org on the worldwide broadcast news feeds from Haiti!
Posted by: HaitiHouseOrg at Feb 7, 2010 6:47:07 PM
Dear Haiti House,
You may make a wonderful product, but your competitive attitude is in my opinion inappropriate for the situation. If you wanted to intentionally misrepresent what Polyzoides said, it would be hard to misrepresent him as thoroughly as you did.
There is no 'ownership' in rebuilding lives. It sickens me when I hear agencies say their processes are proprietary. If you like what we are doing either support us or steal this plan. We need dozens of tug boat NGO's working together to build back Haiti better. Let's not waste donor dollars on working in silos. Haiti has suffered enough.
Posted by: John Massengale at Feb 7, 2010 8:28:21 PM
I completely and 100% agree with John Massengale's point raised above.
The overall attitude of HaitiHouse.org I'm afraid, stinks to high heaven and with good reason I state this fact.
Earlier today I contacted HaitiHouse.org having only just been made aware of their website and domain name registered 10 January 2010.
I wrote asking them if there was any way that we could collaborate together - I was completely in praise of their product.
Lo and behold I receive by way of reply a most blunt and rather rude email telling me in no uncertain terms that they did not wish to collaborate in the slightest, with HaitiHousing.org and further went on to veritably demand that HaitiHousing.org should desist from pursuing it's plans on it's current domain name, which is of course similar to their own.
I was shocked to receive such communication and written, conveyed in such a blunt style too. Dismayed even.
They don't seem to care in the slightest about the grassroots community projects trying to make a difference in Haiti - as far as they are concerned it's all about them and 'stuff everyone else'.
HaitiHouse.org is very clearly demonstrating the wrong attitude here.
Surely it is better for individuals and groups and companies to network with each other to effect the most amount of positive change on the ground, for the people of Haiti?
To respond so rudely and disparagingly, really shows their true intentions - just another money grabbing American corporation trying to muscle in, to the exclusion of everyone else rendering worthy assistance.
I think they ought to clean up their bad attitude and stop positioning themselves as the ultimate solution in this disaster.
Above, they make mention of the fact ... to be on the lookout for their company on the worldwide press news etc - today I typed their company name into Google News, lo and behold, not one mention of them at all, by any well known major news agency. Not one single mention!
HaitiHouse - Get off the high horse and start putting your money where your mouth is, either become a part of the solution or go and fight your battles elsewhere.
Stop throwing your weight around and start networking more responsibly please.
Mark
http://www.HaitiHousing.org
Posted by: HaitiHousing.org at Mar 7, 2010 9:24:34 PM
