Think Tank
Metropolis Magazine|November/December 2018

Starting With People

Deane Madsen
Think Tank

It has been more than a year since Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged Puerto Rico. Even now, accurate estimates of the actual death toll—in excess of 3,000, according to the latest available report—remain elusive. The commonwealth’s power grid still lies in ruins.

Simply put, “the island stopped working after the hurricane,” said Armando Nazario, a senior project designer at Perkins+Will, at a recent Metropolis Think Tank panel convened at the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. The discussion, moderated by Metropolis director of design innovation Susan S. Szenasy, dwelled on the challenges of delivering aid to Puerto Rico’s unevenly developed and funded urban and rural communities, each with its own pressing needs. “We also don’t have the census data that helps support this [to make] each community self-sufficient,” Nazario explained.

This story is from the November/December 2018 edition of Metropolis Magazine.

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This story is from the November/December 2018 edition of Metropolis Magazine.

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