This Week's Forum Will Plan Gulf Coast of the Future

From the Daily Journal


At least three Northeast Mississippi architects will get the chance of a lifetime to entirely redesign the Mississippi Gulf Coast as part of a historic, six-day Renewal Forum.

Tom Howorth of Howorth & Associates, Chris Morrow of Pryor & Morrow, and Glenn Currie of Johnson Bailey Henderson McNeel will join some of the country's top architects and city planners at Biloxi's Isle of Capri Casino Hotel starting Wednesday.

The forum, which runs Wednesday to Sunday, will unite as many as 300 people to brainstorm the future of the post-Katrina Coast through workshops and site tours.

"The decisions that are made now will decide what the Coast will look like in 10 years, 20 years, and beyond," Gov. Haley Barbour said in a press release. "We hope to provide local communities good ideas and resources to seize this opportunity to do this right."

For Howorth, the forum is a unique chance to transform urban ideals into a coastal reality.

"From an architectural, urban design and infrastructure standpoint, we have a lot of opportunity to do what the governor has been talking about - building the Coast back bigger and better than ever," he said. "We have the opportunity to create better, more modern linkages and connections between the communities that are poised to take advantage of the energy reality of today's world."

In other words, Howorth expects plans for light-rail transit between the Coast's numerous cities to be a large topic of discussion this week.

Henry Turley on steroids'

New urbanists will also get their shot to carve idyllic communities from the devastated landscape. They are part of a growing movement that believes in revitalizing downtowns with a mixture of residential, commercial and retail development.

Their goal would be to shape the Coast into a cluster of cities similar to Tupelo's Fairpark District, designed in part by Memphis new urbanist Henry Turley.

These people, according to Howorth, have the governor's ear.

"They're like Henry Turleys on steroids," he said. "I think these peoples' ideas are on the right track in terms of urban planning and design, but we don't want to throw modernism out the window."

That isn't likely to happen, said JBHM's Currie, who said his No. 2 concern is to preserve the area's original culture - a mix of stately homes, flashy casinos, souvenir shops and apartment buildings.

A Gulf Coast native, Currie said he believes outside participants will be sensitive to what each community cherishes and try to rebuild that and ameliorate that.

At the same time, they'll need to analyze code structures and rebuild better infrastructure to withstand future hurricanes.

But before doing that, Currie said, "we need to get it up and running again."

After forum participants deal with the first two priorities, he said, they can focus on the future's endless possibilities.

"It's a down and dirty thing," he said. "There is a lot of talent here and we want to focus real hard on something credible."

Unprecedented event

The hastily arranged event has been called "unprecedented" by organizers who have recruited nationally known architect-planner Andres Duany to lead a visiting team of 100 volunteer design specialists.

So quickly had it been assembled that it caught many of those invited off guard.

"I have no idea what to expect," said Morrow. "My agenda just said, be there.'"

Also expected to be there are "experts in road and transit planning, social issues, economic development, and the design of residences, neighborhoods, and town centers. The group also will include urban designers and town planners who have devoted years to studying the architecture and layout of traditional Southern towns," the press release said.

The forum's work will be included in the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal's final report to Barbour and will be the focus of several public meetings to follow this week's event.