Miguel Coyula points at an open door in the middle of Old Havana. The mahogany door looks worn, but still handsome. The concrete facade has lost most of its paint, and time has ripped parts of it open.
"That's marble," Coyula says, pointing to the treads of the staircase. "They are the remnants of something that was very glorious."
Coyula is an architect and an economist, and as he walks through the streets of Havana, he doesn't just see breathtaking decay. He sees how economic policies and social circumstances have shaped this city.
The buildings in Havana tell the story of two intersecting problems: one that everyone talks about — housing — and one that is typically discussed with great discretion — race and inequality. Both of them have the potential to be hugely affected by a thaw in diplomatic relations with the United States.
[For more of this story, written by Robert Siegel and Eyder Peralta, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/paral...inequality-in-havana]
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