On August 14, 2021, the Grand Sud departments of Haiti were hit hard by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. Haiti also experienced a direct hit from Tropical Storm Grace overnight on August 16.The back-to-back disasters, coupled with an ongoing political crisis, exacerbated preexisting vulnerabilities. More than 2,200 people died and nearly 13,000 were injured. Several […]
Continue readingReginald Desroches
Reginald DesRoches is Rice University’s eighth president. He also serves as a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and professor of mechanical engineering. As president, DesRoches is the chief executive officer of the university and its 8,200 plus students, eight schools and more than 900 faculty. He previously served as Rice’s Howard Hughes Provost and […]
Continue readingEric MacFarlane
Eric MacFarlane is the First Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Department of Design and Construction, a department with which he has worked since it was founded in 1996. MacFarlane is originally from Cap-Haïtien, though his last name may lead you to believe otherwise. His father’s family is originally Jamaican and came to Haiti […]
Continue readingYouth Design Charette
On a beautiful, sunny, Wednesday afternoon, young Haitian students from the Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project gathered with their mentors on the second floor of the Flatbush Avenue Branch library. Their task was to identify, build, and present a project that would contribute to the sustainable development of Haiti. The session was facilitated by ArchForKids, a […]
Continue readingWater Resources
Why is Stormwater Management rarely mentioned in the reconstruction of our cities and surrounding areas? Flood waters have been inundating our cities and surrounding areas for years causing significant damages throughout the country, from the destruction of houses, buildings, roads and plantations to the killing of residents, including children. Yet when we talk about the […]
Continue readingTransportation
Transportation System in the Port-au-Prince Area For the past 30 years, there have been numerous transportation studies on the Port-au Prince area by the Haitian Government and international organizations. Yet we witness the conditions of the capital today: congestion, delays, anarchy, chaos, accidents, etc. As we all know, transportation does not exist in a vacuum; […]
Continue readingUrban Planning
The question of what to do with the shantytowns (or “bidonvilles”) that have come to define Port-au-Prince over the years has haunted politicians and urban professionals alike. Le Nouvelliste, Haiti’s oldest daily newspaper, has reported in an article published on March 12, 2013 that the Martelly-Lamothe government has decided to adopt the notion put forward […]
Continue reading