Growth Machine Up-links and the Manufacture of Flood Risk in Mid-twentieth Century New Orleans

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 446-464
Author(s):  
Nicole Youngman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Shipping Industry ◽  
Growth Machine ◽  
Proximate Cause ◽  
Drainage Canals ◽  
Hurricane Storm Surge ◽  
And Control

Environmentally destructive megaprojects, which substantially shift the topography and hydrology of the ecosystems in which they are embedded in ways that potentially exacerbate preexisting disaster risks, are created through a combination of lobbying by municipal growth machines and applications of higher level state authority, resources, and control. New Orleans’ manufactured hurricane storm surge risk provides a crucial case study of this dynamic. After Hurricane Katrina, forensic engineers found that the proximate cause of the New Orleans flood was the levee and floodwall failures along the city’s shipping and drainage canals, but this disaster cannot be fully understood without an examination of the city’s mid-twentieth century political economy, particular regarding the power of the local shipping industry and its up-links to entities in the federal government. During this time period, local New Orleans elites were able to take advantage of the two world wars and postwar economic expansion to dramatically enlarge the city’s shipping canal system with massive funding and expertise from the Maritime Commission and the Corps of Engineers, massively amplifying the city’s flood risk in ways that ultimately led to the Katrina catastrophe.

scholarly journals Blight Abatement of Vacant Land and Crime in New Orleans

2018 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 650-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle C. Kondo ◽  
Christopher Morrison ◽  
Sara F. Jacoby ◽  
Liana Elliott ◽  
Albert Poche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Vacant Land ◽  
Vacant Lots ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
And Control

Objectives: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused damage in New Orleans, Louisiana, and much of the land in low-resource neighborhoods became vacant and blighted. In 2014, New Orleans launched a program, Fight the Blight, which remediated properties in 6 neighborhoods. Our objective was to examine changes in crime rates near lots that were remediated (ie, debris removed and vegetation mowed). Methods: We used a quasi-experimental design to test whether crime rates changed from preremediation (January 2013–October 2014) to postremediation (July 2016–March 2017) near 204 vacant lots that were remediated compared with 560 control vacant lots that were not remediated between October 2014 and July 2016. We also examined differences between remediated lots that received 1 treatment (n = 64) and those that received ≥2 treatments (n = 140). Results: We found no significant differences between remediated and control lots in levels of violent, property, and domestic crimes from preremediation to postremediation. However, the number of drug crimes per square mile decreased significantly near all remediated lots (5.7% lower; P < .001) compared with control lots, largely driven by the significant decrease (6.4% lower; P < .001) in drug crimes found near lots that received ≥2 treatments. Conclusions: Investing in programs that improve neighborhood environments affected by high rates of physical disorder and vacancy may be a way to decrease violence. However, routine remediation may be needed to increase the public health impact of blight abatement programs in warmer climates, where weeds and vegetation grow rapidly.

scholarly journals Risk to life due to flooding in post-Katrina New Orleans

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Miller ◽  
S. N. Jonkman ◽  
M. Van Ledden
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Flood Risk ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
The Individual

Abstract. Since the catastrophic flooding of New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city's hurricane protection system has been improved to provide protection against a hurricane load with a 1/100 per year exceedance frequency. This paper investigates the risk to life in post-Katrina New Orleans. In a flood risk analysis the probabilities and consequences of various flood scenarios have been analyzed for the central area of the city (the metro bowl) to give a preliminary estimate of the risk to life in the post-Katrina situation. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model has been used to simulate flood characteristics of various breaches. The model for estimation of fatality rates is based on the loss of life data for Hurricane Katrina. Results indicate that – depending on the flood scenario – the estimated loss of life in case of flooding ranges from about 100 to nearly 500, with the highest life loss due to breaching of the river levees leading to large flood depths. The probability and consequence estimates are combined to determine the individual risk and societal risk for New Orleans. When compared to risks of other large-scale engineering systems (e.g., other flood prone areas, dams and the nuclear sector) and acceptable risk criteria found in literature, the risks for the metro bowl are found to be relatively high. Thus, despite major improvements to the flood protection system, the flood risk to life of post-Katrina New Orleans is still expected to be significant. Indicative effects of reduction strategies on the risk level are discussed as a basis for further evaluation and discussion.

Rebirth

Jockomo ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Shane Lief ◽  
John McCusker
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Mardi Gras ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Future ◽  
Major Disruption ◽  
The City

This final chapter describes how Mardi Gras Indians became more prominent in the public eye during the twentieth century. While they were often associated with violent street clashes during the early decades, by the last quarter of the century, a deliberate move towards harmony and growing cooperation led to more peaceful encounters among Mardi Gras Indians. This development paralleled the city’s growing acceptance and ultimate embrace of the Mardi Gras Indian as a cultural icon of the city. Just a few years into the twentieth century, Hurricane Katrina caused a major disruption in the cultural life of New Orleans, impacting the lives of Mardi Gras Indians and throwing the future of their tradition into doubt. Featured in this chapter is another series of interviews in which Mardi Gras Indians describe their struggles to return to New Orleans and their role in leading the city back to recovery and renewal.

Investigation of Levee Performance in Hurricane Katrina: The New Orleans Drainage Canals

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Seed ◽  
R. G. Bea ◽  
A. G. Athanasopoulos ◽  
G. P. Boutwell ◽  
J. D. Bray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Drainage Canals

Human-Environment Interactions: A Plea for the Humanities

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Tuana
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Human Environment

Research on human-environment interactions often neglects the resources of the humanities. Hurricane Katrina and the resulting levee breaches in New Orleans offer a case study on the need for inclusion of the humanities in the study of human-environment interactions, particularly the resources they provide in examining ethics and value concerns. Methods from the humanities, when developed in partnership with those from the sciences and social sciences, can provide a more accurate, effective, and just response to the scientific and technological challenges we face as a global community.

Emotional Public: Treme as Post-Katrina Trauma Narrative

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-49
Author(s):  
Outi J. Hakola
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Mediation Process ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
Trauma Narrative

Cultural traumas are social, discursive and narrative processes where traumatic events, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and their memories are described and interpreted. In fiction, in this case in HBO’s drama series Treme (2010-2013), trauma-related experiences are given meaning through narration, and in this mediation process collective memories are constructed. In this article, I analyze the ways in which the narration of Treme represents loss and remembering. I argue that by emphasizing sentimental nostalgia and the emotional reactions of the characters, the narration aims to create sympathy and empathy in the viewers, and in this way the drama series creates an emotional public sphere for the discussions over the rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans.

GOVERNMENT/BUSINESS SYNERGY: EARLY AMERICAN INNOVATIONS IN BUDGETING AND COST ACCOUNTING

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Penny Marquette ◽  
Richard K. Fleischman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Cost Accounting ◽  
American Government ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
Industrial Environment ◽  
Early American ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
Governmental Budgeting

This paper examines certain interactions between American government and business which resulted in important innovations in the areas of budgeting and cost accounting early in the twentieth century. The evidence suggests that budgeting methods were initially developed by municipal reformers of the Progressive era and were subsequently adapted by business for planning and control purposes. In like fashion, standard costing and variance analysis were significant cost accounting techniques born to an industrial environment which came to contribute markedly to a continuing improvement of governmental budgeting procedures.

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