Author Description

URBANbuild Local Global--is primarily a documentation of the work of URBANbuild--a comprehensive program launched to be a unique multi-scaled laboratory for city research as well as a vehicle to generate innovative design strategies and site-specific interventions to aid in New Orleans's revitalization and future urban development. The program primarily focused its investigations on culturally significant neighborhoods central to the core of the city that had been severely damaged, not only by Hurricane Katrina, but also by a long history of neglect and urban decay. One of the critical intentions of the program was to tactically operate across a wide range of distinct scales: from the macro-scale of the city and its constituent districts and neighborhoods, to the micro-scales of individuated buildings acting as architectural components inserted within the urban field. The term "URBANbuild" signifies the compression of this broad spectrum, referring to a progression that spans from urban design to design build and the range of disciplinary areas and differently scaled studios that comprised this program. In addition, the term alludes to the complex enfolding of design research with material practices--the interweaving of analytical urban investigations and speculative architectural design research concurrent with the construction of real built artifacts. The scalar superimposition that characterizes URBANbuild's multi-layered nature thus emerges as a method for collaborative cross-disciplinary dialog, as a resistance to either overly local and ad hoc, or overly global and generic solutions for the city's future.URBANbuild: local_global is, quite literally, a double-sided book. Its intention--to simultaneously look inward toward the city of New Orleans, and outward toward a larger global context--emerged from the desire to reconnect local research, analysis, and design with a broader framework that embraces external knowledge and experience. The two sides of this book