Urban Resilience and the Recovery of New Orleans

This article considers the recent catastrophe in New Orleans in terms of “urban resilience,” the capacity of a city to rebound from destruction. Based on a variety of historical examples, I argue that urban resilience is largely a function of resilient and resourceful citizens. Hurricane Katrina not only devastated the built environment of New Orleans but, by forcing a massive evacuation of residents, tore apart its social fabric as well. I maintain that plans to rebuild the physical infrastructure of the city must be accompanied by a commitment to rehabilitate its social fabric and communal networks. Only with strong citizen involvement at the grassroots level will the rebuilding of New Orleans yield a robust and inclusive metropolis, rather than a theme-park shadow of its former self.