Global Green - Brad Pitt’s Right way of Making It
Last updated 12/30/2008 11:02:25 AM
Global Green - Brad Pitt’s Right way of Making It
Brad Pitt says: "I do find this about America when we understand a situation we rally ... what we've done is called on the good people of the old US of A to come in and lend a hand, that's what's happening and that why it's getting done".
The American actor is one of these of good people who personally has made it one of his missions to making the situation of New Orleans right, something he and the others he has gathered to understand.
Pitt helped to set-up ‘Make it Right' to redevelop an area of the city with safe and healthy homes based on sustainable design while "preserving the spirit of the community's culture".
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans with it being 80% flooded, a confirmed death toll of over 1800 (more than 700 missing) and leaving thousands of residents displaced. Visiting the birthplace of jazz for the first time after the storm Pitt was shocked by the state of the Lower 9th Ward – an entire neighbourhood torn apart and turned upside-down. He was more taken-back by "the lack of a clear plan" to re-build the neighbourhood, which for most of its residents seemed a far-off possibility.
In a series of community meetings, residents of the Lower 9th Ward told Pitt about the challenges their community faced, both before and after the storm.
From community meetings after Pitt's first visit, he learnt residents' concerns on the challenges they faced: rising costs of energy adding pressure on the low-income households of the neighbourhood, and worsening environmental conditions.
Lower 9th Ward residents also told Pitt Katrina had also given them an opportunity to "building something better than what had existed before" – re-building a neighbourhood with homes affordable, sustainable and true to the culture of New Orleans.
Pitt made a pledge to help this community rebuild what was lost by recreating and nurturing what this neighbourhood represented: the soul of New Orleans.
The actor began by working with Global Green to sponsor an architecture competition aimed at generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably. Pitt worked with local community leaders as well as experts from around the world to develop viable ideas for the Lower 9th Ward with the goal to residents returning to their new homes quickly.
The Make it Right core team (including environment architecture company William McDonough + Partners and advisors to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation) is working in tandem with leaders of a local, neighbourhood led coalition of not-for-profits, and has expanded to include renowned local, national and international architecture firms.