Will the City Rise Again? The Contested Geography of Housing Reconstruction in Post-Disaster Haiti

Author(s)
Hooper, M.
Publication language
English
Pages
20pp
Date published
10 Mar 2015
Type
Articles
Keywords
Disasters, Shelter and housing, Urban
Organisations
Harvard University

This paper examines the contested geography of post-disaster housing reconstruction in Haiti. Drawing on interviews with representatives of 48 organizations, it identifies three spatial preferences regarding reconstruction: urban, non-urban, and mixed. Organizations favoring urban versus non-urban rebuilding differed markedly in their financial resources and voice. Many intergovernmental organizations and large international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—the organizations that most favored non-urban rebuilding—held relatively anti-urban perspectives. Small international and Haitian NGOs were more likely to see Port-au-Prince as a suitable site for reconstruction and express positive opinions about urban conditions more generally. The findings indicate that much of the formal housing reconstruction effort, particularly as led by large, well-funded and politically powerful organizations, will be directed to the urban periphery and countryside. This suggests Port-au-Prince may continue to face the same challenges of unplanned growth that have led some organizations to find it an undesirable setting for reconstruction in the first place.