Metropolitics

Planning for the Unimaginable: Puerto Rico and Strategies for Climate-Change Adaptation

Cecelia Walsh-Russo — 2018-05-01T05:00:00Z

The damage from the two hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico was multiplied by US austerity plans that deprived the island of resources to implement its carefully crafted climate plans. Public debt and calls for privatization are further hampering Puerto Rico's recovery. Repairing damaged housing, utilities, and creating greater resilience requires major investment and community-based adaptation initiatives.
---- Series: Climate Change and Social Change During late September 2017, the island of

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, inequalities, United States, hurricane, climate change, climate action plans, austerity, environmental justice, climate justice, storm recovery, social change, Puerto Rico, weather

Storm Recovery: Local Efforts, Municipal Constraints, and New Ways Forward

Michael P. McCabe — 2017-11-28T06:00:00Z

Climate change-induced storm surges and rising sea levels will steadily cause more damage to homes in low-lying urban and metropolitan regions, in turn creating profound new challenges for local governments. In this paper, Michael McCabe reflects on the lessons to be learned from a housing recovery program aimed at assisting owners in one- to four-family residential buildings in New York City.
Rising waters and more frequent and ferocious storms propelled by climate change make it imperative

- Debates / catastrophe, housing, disaster, recovery, New York, resilience, hurricane, climate change, sea-level rise, Community Development Block Grants, Department of Housing and Urban Development, storm recovery, Federal Emergency Management Agency, capacity building, program design and implementation

New York's Two Sandys

Daniel Aldana Cohen & Max Liboiron — 2014-10-30T06:00:00Z

According to New Yorkers, two different Hurricane Sandys hit their city in 2012. The first was a one-time indiscriminate exceptional catastrophe. The second was an extraordinary acceleration of inequalities affecting the poorest New Yorkers. Daniel A. Cohen and Max Liboiron promote the second perspective as a systemic approach susceptible of helping New York City face the challenges of environmental distress both locally and globally.
On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded New York

- From the Field / catastrophe, disaster, environment, New York, resilience, hurricane, Sandy

Fighting for Retreat after Sandy: The Ocean Breeze Buyout Tent on Staten Island

Liz Koslov — 2014-04-23T04:50:00Z

On October 29, 2012, Staten Island, a borough of New York City, was on the front line when Hurricane Sandy ravaged the coast. Today, residents of the East Shore, directly exposed to the ocean, show how inhabitants can mobilize to transform vulnerable parts of coastal cities into a natural protection for the rest.
It's a warm and sunny morning in early October 2013, almost a year after Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast of the United States. As I walk down Seaview Avenue, navigating

- From the Field / catastrophe, public space, disaster, United States, New York, resilience, hurricane, Sandy

New Orleans Post-Katrina: the Uses of the Web in Times of Crisis

Jean Samuel Bordreuil & translated by Oliver Waine — 2011-06-24T05:53:00Z

What is the role of the internet media, particularly blogs, in mobilizing action in the aftermath of a major disaster? Jean Samuel Bordreuil examines the case of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and demonstrates the importance of these resources not just in organizing initial aid, but also in sustaining momentum for the mobilization of civic action.
---- Series: New Orleans: The Post-Katrina Years How does a population hit by a disaster mobilize the digital resources it possesses in

- From the Field / catastrophe, communication technology, New Orleans, Katrina, disaster, collective action, hurricane

Making sustainability public: the bayou observation deck in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans

Stéphane Tonnelat & translated by Eric Rosencrantz — 2011-06-20T05:30:00Z

How can the residents of a flooded neighborhood in New Orleans, torn between reconstruction imperatives and environmental exigencies, prove its viability? Stéphane Tonnelat looks at a solution people from the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans came up with: a platform providing access to the bayou as well as a forum for debate about the future of the neighborhood. This public space seems to have bolstered the sustainability of a neighborhood in a risky location.
---- Series: New Orleans: The

- From the Field / catastrophe, public space, sustainable development, New Orleans, disaster, environment, collective action, hurricane

Who cares about care? Health care rationalization and the demise of a public hospital after Katrina

Anne M. Lovell — 2011-06-08T05:04:00Z

Charity Hospital served the poor and uninsured in one of the US's unhealthiest cities. Though repaired after Katrina, this gigantic New Orleans hospital was permanently shut down to make way for an ambitious recovery plan. Anne M. Lovell explains the mechanisms that are depriving patients of adequate care and demolishing historic neighborhoods.
---- Series: New Orleans: The Post-Katrina Years Analyses of health and disaster usually concern disaster assistance. More recently, they have focused

- Debates / catastrophe, health, New Orleans, Katrina, disaster, recovery, hurricane

The Build/No-Build Line

Richard Campanella — 2011-06-01T05:20:00Z

The Katrina flooding of 2005 ignited a debate between abandonists and maintainers. Should the city move to higher grounds or should it be rebuilt as before? Should concessions be made? If so, where should we draw the line? Richard Campanella explains the arguments behind these positions and why laisser-faire was the ultimate policy, until the next catastrophe.
---- Series: New Orleans: The Post-Katrina Years This text is the second of two excerpts from Richard Campanella, Bienville's Dilemma:

- From the Field / catastrophe, New Orleans, Katrina, disaster, reconstruction, risk, environment, hurricane

Bienville's Dilemma: New Orleans Between Site and Situation

Richard Campanella — 2011-05-25T05:30:00Z

Ever since its founding at the mouth of the Mississippi river, New Orleans is the result of a delicate compromise between site and situation, a fragile balance of environmental risk and commercial and military advantage. Richard Campanella shows that it is this exceptional location which allowed New Orleans to develop as one of the most important American cities despite recurring flooding.
---- Series: New Orleans: The Post-Katrina Years This text is the first of two excerpts from Richard

- Debates / catastrophe, New Orleans, Katrina, disaster, delta, hurricane