Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
9.3. The consequences of a natural disaster
In the wake of Katrina, the question was asked: Which is more important,
strengthen the hurricane protection system or revise policies for land use methods?
Reduce flood risks or reduce flood exposure?
Established in October 2005 by Mayor Nagin, the Bring New Orleans Back
Commission (BNOBC) recruited the Philadelphia-based, renowned Urban Land
Institute and published their report in March 2006. Courageously, the BNOBC
recommended reconstruction of a more densely built city on higher ground,
abandoning the heavily flooded neighborhoods to regenerate themselves as managed
wetlands and buffers against possible future flooding. This report sparked a
controversy in the extraordinary context of municipal elections, and was finally
disavowed by Nagin himself, who promised that residents could rebuild at will.
The City Council, which is not under the authority of the mayor, appealed in turn
to a local planning firm to organize a community approach. The resulting Lambert
plans (46 neighborhood reconstruction plans) simply expressed the desire of each
neighborhood to be rebuilt identically to how each had been before the hurricane.
Unlike the BNOBC, the Lambert committees worked from the assumption that the
current form of the city is viable, provided that appropriate structural protections are
provided. The 46 individual assessments are not concerned with master-planning
issues. Federal and state officials, suspecting local corruption, refused to release the
funds earmarked for reconstruction, forcing the city to adopt the Unified New
Orleans Plan (UNOP), an alternative supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and
the State of Louisiana. A new round of consultations was organized between
October 2006 and January 2007, leading to the publication in April 2007 of a
reconstruction project. The UNOP called for strengthening of the HPS and the
construction of floodgates envisaged by the Barrier Plan in 1977, without
questioning urban infrastructure, especially in the more vulnerable neighborhoods
such as New Orleans East. Despite all these efforts, planning options are in trouble
because of the lack of money. The blueprint released late 2007 is not the radical
remaking of the city urged by some urban planners who wanted to see a New
Orleans with a much smaller footprint, and with people moved out of flood-prone
areas. Instead, the new master plan largely embraces the Lambert plan's assumption
that the current form of the city should remain unchanged.
It was only at the end of 2007 that the City of New Orleans identified and
prioritized the 17 target areas and one special development zone to use the
$216 million dollars in aid that were ultimately awarded for reconstruction. The year
2008 marked the starting point for concrete reconstruction of New Orleans. At the
