More from the Gulf Coast

• Habitat for Humanity is building homes in the area according to the regional style. Good, because here in Virginia the only Habitat homes I have ever seen are 2-story townhouse types. They have built over 1,300 homes in the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina and every month they start 50 more homes.

• Mississippi may not get the big press on rebuilding but I think they have the best overall plan. You can check out everything you need to know, right here through their Patternbook for Gulf Coast Neighborhoods. This patternbook also explains the four styles of Gulf Coast designs and shows examples of Acadian/Creole, Victorian, Classical, and Arts and Crafts buildings.

• Mississippi is also embracing New Urbanism, which wants to use city zoning to recreate our country’s small-town beginnings. Places where homes looked out on one another, homes were near enough to the street to seem engaging, and people used their porches to chat with neighbors. These places were also walkable with accessibility to transit; communities with real downtown at the center. In some places, this is so hard to visualize so it might be easier to use television shows as examples: Mayberry, Stars Hollow, Walnut Grove, Pleasantville, etc.
  
• Check out the specifics of New Urbanism and Smart Growth (a reaction against sprawl) at the Congress for the New Urbanism, NewUrbanism.org, Smart Growth America, and Coalition for Smarter Growth.
• Here are the other designs that were developed during the Mississippi Renewal Forum in 2005.