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Using concepts from Science and Technology Studies (STS) such as «laboratory» and «field» and methods such as actor-network-theory (ANT), this article traces non-governmental organization (NGO) assistance in the rebuilding of a heavily damaged neighborhood in post-Katrina New Orleans. The assistance strategies maps easily onto Latour's three-step laboratization process, which embodies the dynamics of actor-network-theory (ANT). This article traces the Holy Cross neighborhood in New Orleans as it became a field-site for the growth of a large «green» network and accompanying «green» technologies. The mapping of a post-disaster community's planning and reconstruction using an ANT laboratory scheme as a model, reflexively reveals what is missing in both the actual community rebuilding outcomes and in ANT itself. Using the critiques of other science studies scholars, the article concludes with suggestions of additional tools and strategies to make post-disaster «greening» a more robust and relevant project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an interview with Gene Cizek, director of the Preservation Studies Program at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, about urban renewal projects in the region in the wake of hurricane Katrina in 2005. He describes his involvement in investigating the possibilities of using historic zoning as an alternative to developing an historic district during the 1970s. Cizek notes the benefits of cypress as a building material.

The article describes the conditions in New Orleans, Louisiana a year after hurricane Katrina struck. Neighborhoods have been upended or destroyed by flooding and wind damage. One characteristic that shapes the Southern identity is a connection to place rather than the disconnectedness and mobility that is more prevalent in the rest of the U.S. Place distinction or regionalism is a collection of shared identities, behaviors and practices that circumscribe local public cultures and spaces.

The article presents an interview with Michael Kelly, former executive director of the Housing Authority of New Orleans in Louisiana, about the rebuilding process in the region following hurricane Katrina. Kelly describes the state of public housing in the city in 1995 and its difference from the Housing Authority in San Francisco, California. He cites his contributions to the HOPE VI urban revitalization demonstration project in the area.