Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
eve of Hurricane Katrina. The HPS was still incomplete, especially in the West
Bank, when Katrina seriously damaged the system and breached the floodwalls. The
investigation that followed showed that the HPS had serious design flaws and
alarming reports had been deliberately ignored. Local governments were complicit
in pressuring the Army Corps of Engineers to build to minimal standards (and cost)
to ensure that protected areas would qualify for National Flood Insurance coverage
under the National Flood Insurance Plan (NFIP). After a first reconstruction in 2006,
a strengthening of HPS is underway so that by 2011 the protection system should be
able to withstand a Saphir Simpson scale category 4 hurricane.
Hub
: A connecting airport where carriers concentrate passenger traffic in order
to maximize passenger loads, enabling passengers to travel from point-to-point on
the same carrier.
I
“I have a dream”
: The first sentence of Martin Luther King's speech on August
28, 1963, which is regarded as the emblem of America's struggle for racial
integration.
Incorporated area
: A bounded territory incorporated as a town. Nearly 36,000
communities occupy approximately 5% of the US territory. The rest of the area
(unincorporated areas) is directly administered at the county level.
Inner city
: Refers to the older, center city. In the United States, the term often
has a negative connotation and refers to a ghetto area.
Interstate freeways
: The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, passed under the
Eisenhower administration, inaugurated the policy of federally subsidized
motorways (freeways) to connect the many regions of the US. This policy, widely
supported by the automotive industry lobby, has been accused of encouraging urban
sprawl as the building of this network went hand-in-hand with the policy of “slum
clearance” to promote direct linkages between Central Business Districts. The
proliferation of highways have encouraged mobility and led to the formation of
“edge cities”. The network of interstate freeways now extends over 75,000 km.
