Can art solve the problems of cities? It may sound farfetched, but developers know that artists and galleries cause real estate values in marginal neighborhoods to go up, sometimes dramatically. But can art save local housing projects slated for demolition, allegedly because of hurricane damage? Last October, New York Times photographer Frederick Conrad toured several of those projects and found that many were sound and had survived the storms better than most private homes, as we see in these photographs. When new, they were praised for their human scale and solid construction, qualities now cited by architecture critics such as Nicolai Ouroussoff, who support their preservation. Most appear undamaged, often looking just as they did when their occupants suddenly left, expecting to be gone briefly, never dreaming that they would be forbidden from ever coming home again. -- D. Eric Bookhardt

Through April 15

Ogden Museum of Southern Art, 925 Camp St., 539-9600;www.ogdenmuseum.com