Will the City Rise Again? The Contested Geography of Housing Reconstruction in Post-Disaster Haiti

This paper examines the contested geography of post-disaster housing reconstruction in Haiti. Drawing on interviews with representatives of 48 organizations, it identifies three spatial preferences regarding reconstruction: urban, non-urban, and mixed. Organizations favoring urban versus non-urban rebuilding differed markedly in their financial resources and voice. Many intergovernmental organizations and large international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—the organizations that most favored non-urban rebuilding—held relatively anti-urban perspectives. Small international and Haitian NGOs were more likely to see Port-au-Prince as a suitable site for reconstruction and express positive opinions about urban conditions more generally. The findings indicate that much of the formal housing reconstruction effort, particularly as led by large, well-funded and politically powerful organizations, will be directed to the urban periphery and countryside. This suggests Port-au-Prince may continue to face the same challenges of unplanned growth that have led some organizations to find it an undesirable setting for reconstruction in the first place.