HobbitFoot

I’m happy I rent an apartment.

I’m assuming that the response is going to be similar to that of the NYC area’s response to Hurricane Sandy.

Building and fire codes start to get updated in the region. This likely creates a few new classes of fire resistance ratings, including ratings that assume a lack of city water to fight a fire. For the highest ratings, wood is effectively banned. Given how cheap wood is to build with compared to other materials, this will drive up rebuilding costs.

The ratings get tied to new maps developed by an entity to determine fire risk. These maps will become very politically charged and may be dependent on local firefighting capacity. A lot of libertarians are going to hate having to pay for either sky high insurance or higher property tax to fund firefighters.

Development of the codes and maps take years, with significant input from insurance companies on what they may cover. There may be state involvement in insurance, similar to how flood insurance is a government insurance given how government policy affects risk.

Eventually, cities rebuild. The cities look different, with far more use of concrete masonry units reinforced with steel or FRP wraps and covered in fire resistant stucco. It doesn’t look too different from current stucco buildings, but there is a difference.

Also, some cities likely build in natural fire breaks, like green belts or fire canals. People don’t build up into the canyons like they used to unless they have a lot of money to build their concrete bunkers.

For one year, California is no longer a donor state in order to pay for rebuilding. Current donor states talk a lot of shit about this.

A plan of action becomes available for the rest of the country to apply to their codes as a way to deal with this cost. Several states legislate to make sure they don’t update their codes.

I know of at least one golf course in Arizona that was only allowed to be built if the grass was only watered with reclaimed water. The reclaimed water plant has become a major money maker as it has been selling its non-drinkable water to farmers in exchange for a smaller amount of drinkable water

I would expect it to look a lot like fashion of the early 20th century for the working class. Clothes would naturally be baggier with greater ability to alter the clothing at certain locations to fit people wearing the clothes. The clothes would likely be made to be more durable on the understanding that undershirts and longer underwear would be worn underneath.

Since clothes would be owned and worn longer, fashion wouldn’t shift as much. You would also see more second hand stores as it was common for the rich to sell or give clothes away to staff once it dropped out of fashion.

You also have stability of government and the role of government a person’s life.

A civil dispute in a society with a strong government can be handled between two individuals and a judge. A similar dispute in a weak government usually relies more on two families negotiating.

Most wealthy nations have some form of welfare and pension system, poorer ones usually rely more on family support.

Atomization of families also occurs under communism.

Part of the reason for atomization is because the economic necessity for extended families keeping together isn’t there.

I expect that the buildings would be built about 5 stories tall with no basement. The use of wide galleries would be prevalent, providing arcaded sidewalk space to protect pedestrians from the sun and rain.

In some areas prone to flooding, the ground floor would be designed to flood. The floor would be cement or tile and the walls would be concrete or masonry. Some districts may choose to do what Morristown, TN did and have a public second floor above the worst flood elevations. Bridges would cross the streets, supported by thicker gallery columns. Parade routes may put these bridges on the third floor, providing more access and bar space.Restaurants would have the kitchen and the permanent bar on the second floor while the ground floor had more seating and removable fixtures.

The buildings would be designed to survive a hurricane far beyond current design loads to ensure the city isn’t destroyed as it was after Katrina. Solar panels on roofs would supply power while buildings would have temporary storage tanks for water and sewage until flood water receded.

A lot of the architecture from the French Quarter has some solar punk principles, like design features which cool on the summer and warm in the winter. I would expect more of the city to look like that, just at greater densities.

The city right now is sprawled out, so I would expect a solar punk version to correct this by building up instead of out. The Crescent City would retake its shape as the lower lying inlands go back to nature. Some islands of development may be maintained, possibly on roads that can become floating bridges in a storm. Likely, the foundations of buildings would be deep piles with a built-in option to jack in case of regional settlement.

The region is going to go for aquaculture over agriculture. The region is home to several brackish water species including crawdads and catfish. I expect planting of mongroves to try to expand the local fisheries and provide hurricane protection.

There are a lot of American cities who would disagree with that regarding public housing.

The initial buildings were fine enough, but they required maintenance and that maintenance would usually be the first thing cut in cases of budget issues.

They forgot making your own pavement markings to prioritize people. This has been used to great success in Jersey City.

If you didn’t comment this, I would have.

And the Marquis of Arizona sent gallons of the finest iced tea.