Having to start over from scratch is never something you’d wish on a city.  But, as they say, it’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you handle it (or something to that effect).  In the aftermath of Katrina, brave, dedicated people saw major opportunities for reform - the New Orleans public school system, for example, is undergoing one of the most sweeping, and necessary, revamping in the history of our country’s public schools.  New homes in the Lower 9th Ward are being built not only to better withstand the storms that sweep in off the Gulf, but to save energy and tread more lightly on the planet.

Greensburg, Kansas, is in the same ambiguous position of having lost more than one would think possible, but with the opportunity to rebuild their town from the ground up.  Although 95% of Greensburg was destroyed in a May 2007 tornado, Greensburg’s citizens are handling the tragedy that left 2/3 of them homeless with an eye to the future.  Enlisting the creativity and vision of the University of Kansas’ architectural design studio, citizens of Greensburg have committed to rebuilding their home as a (according to the project website) “progressive, 21st-century sustainable town”; Greensburg Cubed is the result of this collaboration.

photo by Greensburg Cubed

Greensburg Cubed is a collection of 10′x10′x10′ modular buildings designed both to showcase green building and technology, and to meet the immediate needs of the community.  The completed ones include a Green Haus, which is just what it sounds like; the Ice Cube, a water collection/supply/conservation/cooling module; and the Recycling Bin, an interactive recycling center.  If all goes as planned, Greensburg will be on its way to becoming one of the most sustainable towns in the country.

If you like what they’re doing in Kansas, visit their website and consider contributing.  You’ll be helping a town get back on its feet, and saving the planet, all at the same time.

Filed under: I'On Group, Mixson, Urban Sustainability on September 15th, 2008