ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: From the time of its founding in 1718, New Orleans incorporated resiliency by building raised structures on naturally high ground, separating living space from potential floodwaters. Residents understood and respected the natural limitations of the city. However, in the late 1900s, with the introduction of drainage pumps, outfall canals and equipment stations, New Orleans envisioned a city no longer constrained by either geography or tradition. Below-sea-level areas were drained and became footprints for new neighborhoods. After 1965’s Hurricane Betsy, the Corps of Engineers undertook a series of construction projects throughout the New Orleans region to protect from future hurricanes. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina proved the city’s storm protection system unfit to handle natural disasters, when eighty percent of New Orleans flooded. Consequently, government leaders, citizens, professionals and academic advisors have worked to achieve enhanced urban resiliency through recovery projects. New Orleans has embarked on its post-disaster journey by rethinking and reimagining the city and its neighborhoods for the betterment of all its citizens in an era of strengthening hurricanes, rising sea levels and climate change.
