I traveled to New Orleans earlier this year to cover the annual conference of the American Planning Association.  As part of this coverage, I accompanied conference attendees, who are urban and city planners, city planning officials, and educators in the planning field, on a tour of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, the part of the city most devastated by hurricane Katrina.

More than five years after the storm, it is obvious that it will be a very long time, if ever, before this neighborhood fully recovers.  But while there is plenty for residents to be pessimistic about, I was struck by the dogged optimism of the residents I spoke to.  One spoke of the many months of having to live “frontier style” – no services like drinking water, electricity, or sewer, no mail, along with having to carry a gun to protect what little they still had.  And yet, this resident was cautiously upbeat about the future, and looking forward to moving back into her house this winter.