"Natural" disasters as (neo-liberal) opportunity? Discussing post-hurricane Katrina urban regeneration in New Orleans

2016/01/11 by Cecilia Scoppetta, Scoppetta, Cecilia
Social Sciences · #Disaster Management and Resilience #Environmental Disaster #Hurricane Katrina #Neo-liberal #New Orleans #Urban Planning and Governance #Urban and Rural Development Challenges

paper · pdf · doi:10.6092/1970-9870/3725

openalex publication_date 2016/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01

Abstract

By providing a wide literature review, post-hurricane Katrina uneven urban regeneration in New Orleans is presented here by framing it within a historical perspective in order to underline how environmental threats too often seem to be not so much “natural” but rather man-made as well as to highlight both the reasons and the ways in which, in post-disaster reconstruction, competitive growth has been valued over equity, by directly benefiting those who were already the most advantaged. The aim is to highlight how environmental disasters can be considered as socially constructed phenomena, as they cannot be seen as a single event but rather as a process made by a series of progressive steps occurring within different spheres, which do not necessarily concern the environment only.

Citations

• Cosmopolitanized Nations: Re-imagining Collectivity in World Risk Society
• The Strength of Weak Ties
• Has Hope Vi Transformed Residents' Lives? New Evidence From The Hope Vi Panel Study

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