Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans: An Urban Planner’s Guide to the City
One of the nation’s oldest cities and a coastal architectural gem with a storied past, New Orleans must contend with its precarious location at the mouth of the Mississippi Delta and the constant threat of flooding.
New Orleans Faces $1 Billion Shortfall for FEMA-Funded Roadwork
After years of delays, cost overruns, and deadline extensions on a FEMA-funded street repair program, New Orleans officials face a massive funding shortfall and accusations of mismanagement.
Louisiana Coastal Protection Agency Under Threat
The state’s new governor wants to shrink the power of the agency, which has spearheaded essential flood protection and mitigation efforts since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Biden Orders Release from Strategic Petroleum Reserve: What's the Emergency?
The purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to maintain oil flow to refineries during national emergencies when oil supplies are disrupted. What national emergency prompted President Biden to order the release of 50 million barrels?
Post-Katrina Programs a Blueprint for Housing the Working Class
The housing initiatives developed after Hurricane Katrina teach valuable lessons for post-pandemic affordable housing production.
New Orleans Convent to Become Large Urban Wetland
Hurricane Katrina damaged a Catholic convent in New Orleans. Then the nuns spearheaded a project to transform the land into a wetland area that will protect the city from flooding in the future.
Report: $14 Billion New Orleans Flood System, Completed Less Than a Year Ago, Already Obsolete
The Army Corps of Engineers is already assessing the needs of repair work on a project it completed in May 2018 at the cost of $14 billion.
Gentrification in Post-Katrina New Orleans
An analysis of New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina shows that the neighborhoods most damaged were also the most likely to gentrify.
Hurricane Nate to Test New Orlean's Drainage System
Nate will make landfall southeast of New Orleans on Saturday night as possibly a category 2 hurricane after leaving at least 22 dead in Central America. It's not so much the levees but the pumps and generators that have city officials worried.
A Hurricane Response Lesson: Disrupt the Cycle of Futility
How do we disrupt the cycle of rebuilding things exactly as they were before—if slightly hardened—after increasingly powerful weather events?
Louisiana Dials Back Requirements for Elevating Homes in Flood Areas
Housing market pressures, flood insurance costs, changing FEMA maps, and improved methods of flood control are giving victims of flood damage in Louisiana mixed signals on how high they should rebuild their homes.
Unexpected Good News for Children Arises from an Environmental Devastation
Hurricane Katrina may have devastated much of New Orleans, but in its wake, literally, unexpected good work was done. Clean sediment was deposited over lead-contaminated soil, one reason why lead levels in children decreased.
New Flood Maps Downplay Risks in New Orleans
Recently released flood maps created by FEMA for the city of New Orleans are receiving criticism for being 'overly optimistic' when it comes to risks posed by hurricanes and rising sea levels.
Michigan Governor Finds Himself at Center of Flint Water Crisis
A case is made that Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan is analogous to former President George W. Bush's bungling of the crisis resulting after Hurricane Katrina touched-down on the Gulf coast in August 2005.
The Katrina Cottage Legacy
The New Urbanist Katrina Cottages initiative for the Gulf Coast appeared to be a failure but their legacy lives on in the SmartDwellings and in the Tiny House movement.
Hopes for Restoring New Orleans-Florida Amtrak Service Pinned on Transportation Bill
Included in the draft version of the DRIVE Act: funding to study the restoration of Amtrak's Sunset Limited route along the Gulf Coast until Hurricane Katrina.
'New Orleans Saved Itself': Cutting-Edge Community Planning Post-Katrina
Ten years ago, a number of architecture firms went to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for a humanitarian "experiment"—rebuilding part of the underserved Lower Ninth Ward as an innovative, LEED Platinum, affordable community.
Two Narratives Collide in Post-Katrina New Orleans
“A narrative of rebirth, reform and success that coexists with a narrative of stasis, failure and unrealized dreams.”
What We Didn't Learn From Katrina
Cities are immensely complex self-organizing systems, not mere top-down designs—but they do need top-down interventions in strategic places. Unfortunately, we still have inadequate models and tools.
Remember That Katrina Cottages Thing? Whatever Happened to That?
Katrina Cottages held such great promise 10 years ago, as an alternative to FEMA trailers. But a host of roadblocks stood in the way. After a decade, has the tiny house time arrived?
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
