Adaptive strategies of urban disaster recovery planning

Nearly 20 years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Ten years later, I had been researching the outcomes for some time and published "Adaptive strategies of urban disaster recovery planning" as a book chapter in a volume titled "Cities at Risk", edited by G. Sands, P. Filion, and M. Skidmore. Around the same time, I was interviewed by a committee of very high-ranking German academics on the topic and one of them suggested that there had been no planning at all in New Orleans. Based on my research I was necessitated to politely disagree, and explained why – which actually caused agitation in my interviewer. The book chapter shows that the problem wasn't the absence of planning, but instead, its ad-hoc character and the circumstance that it neglected the situation in the city before Katrina – shrinkage, inequality, uneven development, and vulnerability.

So, what does the book chapter say? When disaster impacts cities, planners are required to address two central aims: on the one hand, cities need to recover after disaster, and on the other, urban development that existed before disaster is supposed to continue afterwards. For both aims, forms of planning exist: recovery planning and urban planning. Questions arise on how similar and how different they are, how they complement or contradict each other, or whether it is possible to plan for the rebuilding of existing structures and necessary improvements at the same time. Lack of coordination between the two can lead to uneven, fragmented, ad-hoc recovery that neglects the needs of vulnerable populations. As result, opportunities for beneficial change that could increase the resilience of communities remain under-utilized. The research results show how vulnerability and lacking capacity to rebuild are related to the city's recovery plan and urban master plan. The conclusion points out the relevance of contradictory planning aims for the problems of repopulation and rebuilding in the city. 

I'm featuring the first four pages here and the link to the full paper at Academia and Researchgate. If necessary, contact me for a pdf version. 

Adaptive strategies of urban disaster recovery planning Academia Researchgate