Resilient

New Orleans
Strategic actions to shape our future city
City of New Orleans
Mitchell J. Landrieu, Mayor
Jeffrey P. Hebert, Chief Resilience Officer
We are shaping
the future
New Orleans.
LETTER FROM THE MAYOR

August 25, 2015

Dear Friends,

Nearly 10 years ago, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast,
becoming the costliest disaster in United States history. As that fateful storm shrouded
our city in darkness, the federal levee system protecting New Orleans failed, flooding 80
percent of our city and the homes and businesses of 1 million people in the region.
In total, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath claimed over 1,800 lives.

After the last decade of Katrina, Rita, Ike, Gustav, Isaac, the BP oil spill, and the Great
Recession, it is safe to say that New Orleans has faced the biggest challenges any
American city has ever faced. But New Orleans is a resilient place with resilient people.
With resolve, determination, and commitment from the entire nation across public,
private, and philanthropic sectors, we not only came back, but we are rebuilding
New Orleans better and stronger than before.

Even as some continue to deal with the effects of Katrina and the federal levee
failure, there are new challenges that confront us—climate change and rising sea
levels, land subsidence and coastal erosion, and lack of equity and opportunity for all
New Orleanians to grow and thrive. For our city, being resilient means more than levees
holding back water and wetlands protecting us from storms. It means striking a balance
between human needs and the environment that surrounds us while also combating the
chronic stresses of violence, poverty, and inequality.

As we look to our future challenges and opportunities, our innovative spirit will help us
find creative solutions that protect the city’s people, culture, and infrastructure. Our
commitment to action will define the next chapter of the city’s history. We must seize
the moment. We not only have an opportunity to continue in the positive direction of the
past several years, we have a responsibility to get it right and set the city on a more just
and sustainable path for generations to come. We cannot afford to fail.

As we move beyond the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina toward our city’s 300th
anniversary in 2018, I am calling on each of you to join in our shared vision of becoming
a global leader in urban resilience.

Sincerely,

Mitchell J. Landrieu
Mayor

2 City of New Orleans

Resilient New Orleans 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE ADAPT TO THRIVE

We are a city that embraces our
SUMMARY changing environment.
Three years from now, New Orleans will By adapting our city to our natural
enter its fourth century. When it is home environment and the risks of climate
to the next generation of New Orleanians, change, we can create opportunities
what sort of place will it be? for all New Orleanians to thrive. We
must align our infrastructure and
The actions we take today will shape our urban environment with the realities
future city for the coming generation. of our delta soils and geography. Our
What must we do now to make the adaptation must be both physical and
next generation more equitable, more behavioral. Rather than resist water, we
adaptable, and more prosperous? must learn to embrace it, building on
How can we make their New Orleans a the confluence of Louisiana’s culture,
dynamic urban landscape—aligned with history, and natural systems. As we look
its natural environment? What leadership to the wisdom of the past, we must also
is needed—from individuals, communities, prepare for the risks of the future.
and the public and private sectors—to
realize the city we envision? We will adapt to thrive by advancing the
restoration of our coastal wetlands, which
Resilient New Orleans addresses these protect our communities and support our
questions and sets forth aspirations to economy. We will implement our regional
guide our work and specific actions to Urban Water Plan to reduce flood risk,
tackle these challenges. We are building mitigate soil subsidence, and beautify our
upon the existing visions and plans communities. We will provide incentives
developed over the past decade. Guided to property owners to retrofit their
by 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by homes to be more resilient to storms. We
The Rockefeller Foundation, Resilient will further environmental stewardship
New Orleans combines local expertise programs to create a culture of
with global best practices to confront environmental awareness at every stage
our most urgent threats and seek ways of life. Just as we adapt to our changing
to redress our legacy of inequity and risk. climate, we will also commit to mitigating
We propose bold yet pragmatic actions our own contribution to climate change.
to adapt our city to our changing natural
environment, invest in equity, create
flexible and reliable systems, and prepare CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY
for future shocks. We are an equitable city.

Our approach is organized into three By investing in equity, we are investing

sections, each with a vision for our in resilience. Equity will be the driving
future city. force behind our economy’s growth and
innovation, our communities’ safety and
stability, and our families’ health and
prosperity. While New Orleans’ economic
recovery and growth in recent years has
been remarkable, it has not been enjoyed
equitably. We will grow our economy by
investing in stable, healthy communities
where individuals have the training,
access, and support needed to connect
to opportunity.

4 City of New Orleans

To build equity, we will invest in the emerge stronger. Through a small
financial stability of our low-income business resilience initiative, we will
households. We will work to narrow develop the preparedness of our
the digital divide to lower the barrier business owners and entrepreneurs.
to workforce participation. We will
continue to invest in homicide reduction,
public safety, and social cohesion. We
will continue to improve the health
of our communities and expand For centuries, we have demonstrated our
access to affordable housing through ability to innovate and adapt in the face
integrated policy and investment. of major challenges. While New Orleans
has recovered from many shocks in
TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS the past, our future is threatened by
rising seas and coastal erosion, crime
We are a dynamic and prepared city.
and a lack of economic opportunity,
We are building a New Orleans for the income inequality and disparate health
future—one that embraces change, outcomes. We now stand before a
prepares for the risks of the future, and critical threshold. We must move beyond
honors our traditions. To achieve this the devastation of the past and cross
vision, we must not only adapt, we must into the possibilities of the future.
transform. Through better management,
coordination, and service delivery, we New Orleans will continue to lead, serving
can unlock value by improving daily life as an urban laboratory for innovation
while also preparing the city as a whole and change, working to recognize and
for future shocks. By modernizing our adapt to an unpredictable future, and
operational systems, we will better equip remaining committed to the equitable
residents and businesses to evolve from adaptation and transformation of coastal
consumers of public services to partners cities worldwide. As a global leader, we
in addressing shared challenges. have a responsibility to seek wisdom and
guidance from around the world, to listen
We propose to achieve this by to the stories of our peers, and to share
redesigning our regional transit systems our progress toward shaping the future
to connect people, employment, and city—a Resilient New Orleans.
essential services. We will promote
sustainability as a growth strategy,
seeking ways to increase energy
efficiency and renewable energy sources.
This strategy calls for investment to
increase the redundancy and reliability
of our energy infrastructure with
microgrids. The City of New Orleans
will establish the Mayor’s Office
of Resilience and Sustainability to
integrate resilience‑driven decision
making across public agencies and
the Center for Resilience to deliver the
outreach and education components
of building community resilience. We
will develop a pre-disaster plan for
post‑disaster recovery that prepares
the city to rebound quickly and

Resilient New Orleans 5

6 City of New Orleans
Resilient New Orleans
Strategic actions to shape our future city

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SHAPING THE FUTURE CITY8

NEW ORLEANS IN CONTEXT12

FROM STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENTATION 20

VISIONS AND ACTIONS28

ADAPT TO THRIVE
We are a city that embraces our changing environment.30

CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY
We are an equitable city.50

TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

We are a dynamic and prepared city.64

SUMMARY OF FEATURED ACTIONS81

REFERENCES82

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS84

Resilient New Orleans 7

SHAPING THE FUTURE CITY

8 City of New Orleans

Shaping the Future City
New Orleans is becoming a global leader in resilience thinking
and action. We are moving beyond our recovery to focus on our
future, and this strategy outlines many deliberate steps forward.
We are now stronger, more knowledgeable, and more innovative
than ever before. We are positioned to build the future city: one
that is responsive to our delta and coastal geography, locally
forged and globally connected, and founded on the equity of
opportunity and social mobility. While our challenges are many,
our will and capacity to act have never been greater.
The children born in 2015 will be 35 years old in 2050. What
we do today will help determine their future and the future of
their city. The next generation will be more equitable, more
adaptable, and more prosperous. As children, they will have
better educational opportunities; as young adults, they will have
better mobility throughout the region; and as adults, they will
have better career opportunities and a safer city in which to raise
their own families.
When we imagine the future New Orleans, we see a dynamic
urban landscape that is aligned with its natural environment—
we embrace living with water. We envision strong leadership
from individuals, businesses, and public agencies that prioritize
building city resilience. We see a city where every individual
has access to the education, services, and resources needed
to succeed; safe and affordable housing; employment; and the
transportation to get there.
We are building the future New Orleans today.

Resilient New Orleans 9

SHAPING THE FUTURE CITY

OUR RESILIENCE protections from storms and storm surge

and creating landscapes for economic
CHALLENGE
development.
Many of the threats to New Orleans are
not surprises to residents or visitors. Shocks like hurricanes are compounded
The most prominent environmental by daily stresses on the city’s natural
shocks come in the form of severe and built environment. The rapid loss
storms or hurricanes and flooding of coastal wetlands puts extra stress
events. The impacts from these events on the city’s flood protection system,
are only exacerbated by the presence while hard surfaces that do not absorb
of cumulative physical stresses, like land water and sinking urban soils exacerbate
subsidence and coastal wetland loss, flood risk from regular rainfall. Sea
and social stresses, like poor economic, level rise and a projected increase in
educational, and health outcomes among frequency and intensity of storm events
vulnerable populations. are expected to accelerate coastal land
loss, adding greater stresses to our
levee and flood protection system, while
more extreme heat will directly threaten
City resilience is the capacity of other infrastructure systems and the
individuals, communities, institutions, health of our residents. We are already
businesses, and systems within a city facing many climate change–related
to survive, adapt, and grow no matter challenges in advance of other cities
and regions around the world due to our
what kinds of chronic stresses and unique geography.
acute shocks they experience.
City resilience is about more than
building stronger infrastructure to hold
Our environment is changing. back the water and withstand the wind.
Climate change is accelerating it. Our capacity to adapt is founded on
New Orleans was founded in the 18th our knowledge and learning from past
century due to its strategic location for experiences with shocks and stresses.
commerce in the Mississippi River Delta However, some fundamental aspects of
and on the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the our existence as a coastal city have been
natural systems upon which the city was hidden behind walls and under asphalt,
built continue to sustain the city, but also including our slowly sinking deltaic
threaten it. The deltaic soils underfoot soils and our disappearing wetlands.
and the wetlands that largely surround While we now may recognize the risks
the city are part of a shifting coastal that a hurricane presents, we still lack
landscape that offers unique challenges a widespread public awareness of how
for the built environment. The natural and climate change increases the future risks
coastal systems of Southeast Louisiana to our city.
are directly connected to the urbanized
area of New Orleans, providing natural

10 City of New Orleans

We will continue to adapt to our semi- The future is uncertain.
aquatic home. With a comprehensive As we seek to make resilience thinking a
coastal master plan and implementation part of our daily practice, we must plan
strategy, Louisiana is already taking and prepare for a future that remains
action on coastal protection and uncertain. Even in our recent history, new
restoration efforts. Today, New Orleans challenges have emerged. For example,
is ready to be an urban model for living following the levee failures and floods of
with water and adapting to the rapid 2005, New Orleans spent years preparing
environmental changes that will only for another major storm event, only to
accelerate with climate change. be shocked in 2010 by BP’s drilling rig
explosion and oil spill—considered the
Equity is critical to our resilience. largest environmental disaster in US
Many New Orleanians suffer the chronic history—which sent over 210 million
social stresses of poverty, unemployment, gallons (780,000 cubic meters) of oil
and violence. Wide disparities exist in flowing across our coast.
employment and wages, educational
attainment, and health outcomes. These While not common to our city, other
social stresses are correlated with a potential threats could include terrorist
greater vulnerability to physical shocks: attacks, infectious disease epidemics,
low-income households in New Orleans drought, and civil unrest. We might not
are more likely to be located in areas know what shocks we will face, but we
at greater risk of flooding and land do know our future will be dynamic
subsidence. These chronic stresses and complex. We need transportation
compound the risks of intermittent systems that can get us to work every
shocks, leaving our communities that morning, but also move us to safety
already experience inequity further during a crisis. We need electricity and
exposed to risk, and weakening our water systems that we can count on to
resilience as a city. keep us productive and that we know
will perform under stress. We need a
Even as we look to the future, we cannot government that is agile enough to
ignore past injustices. Racial inequity is deliver critical services to all people in
present in every facet of our society— all conditions. By creating systems that
employment and income, education and are flexible enough to address multiple
health, violence and justice, housing challenges and reliable enough to
and social mobility. To advance as continue to support us, we can shape
a city, we must confront this reality a city that can thrive no matter what
collectively and seek meaningful ways may happen.
to address its effects in our institutions,
our communities, and our families. With
a strategy that prioritizes racial equity,
we will be stronger as a society and more
capable of responding to adversity.

Resilient New Orleans 11

NEW ORLEANS IN CONTEXT

New Orleans
is a coastal city.

12 City of New Orleans

New Orleans’ location, where the Mississippi
River Delta becomes the Gulf of Mexico, is
strategic for commerce, but also defines our
most existential threat.

Resilient New Orleans 13

NEW ORLEANS IN CONTEXT

GEOGRAPHY
New Orleans and the World
Global learning through the 100 Resilient Cities Network

New Orleans and the Nation

The Mississippi River drains 40%
of the continental US.
25% of US waterborne
exports are shipped through
Louisiana’s five major ports.

14 City of New Orleans

New Orleans and the Region
  Metro area population: 1,251,849
  City of New Orleans population: 384,320

Nature and the City

Land area: 169 mi2 (438 km2)
Over 1/3 of that land is wetlands.

Resilient New Orleans 15

NEW ORLEANS IN CONTEXT

DEMOGRAPHICS

New Orleans
Median by Household
Household Income Income
by Census Block Group

< $20,000 Below

Citywide MHI
$20,000 - $37,000

$37,000 - $50,000
Above
$50,000 - $100,000
Citywide MHI
> $100,000

Citywide median household income (MHI) is $37,000.

16 City of New Orleans

New Orleans by Race/Ethnicity
Total Population: 384,320
1 dot = 10 people
2.9% 1.9%
Other
Asian
5.3%
Hispanic 30.5%
White

59.4%
Black or
African American

Total population: 384,320

Resilient New Orleans 17

NEW ORLEANS IN CONTEXT

REGIONAL TRENDS

We have abandoned our long history of living

with water. For the first two centuries of the
city’s existence, we occupied the high ground
nearest the Mississippi River and the natural
ridges throughout the region. With the advent
of highly efficient pumping technology in the
early 20th century, the draining of swampland
in low‑lying parts of the city and region
incentivized new development to spread
into previously uninhabitable locations. With
this development came suburbanization
and regional sprawl, setting the stage for
challenges to our water management and
flood protection systems, as well as to our
ability to connect residents to regional
job opportunities.

Henry L. Abbot’s Civil War map, “Approaches to

New Orleans,” 1863

Population Density: 1940 - 2010

The population of New Orleans

in 2000 was almost exactly the
1940 1960
population of the city in 1940.
However, the city occupied
approximately twice the land area,
spreading away from the high
ground near the river toward
lower-lying areas.

PEOPLE PER SQUARE MILE     0 - 1,000    1,001 - 5,000  5,001 - 10,000

18 City of New Orleans

Population Change:
1940 - 2014

Hurricane Betsy Hurricane Katrina

September 1965 August 2005
1,600,000

1,251,849

1,200,000

631,869
Peak Population
800,000 627,525

494,537 484,674 384,320

343,829

400,000

230,172

0
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2006 2010 2014

New Orleans Population Total Metropolitan Area Population

1980 2000
2000 2010

    10,001 - 20,000    20,001 - 30,000    > 30,000   New Orleans city boundary

Resilient New Orleans 19

FROM STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENTATION

From Strategy
to Implementation
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
We developed this strategy by a summit of neighborhood leaders to
researching the challenges facing solicit perspectives on city resilience.
New Orleans, gathering input from
stakeholders with relevant knowledge This research was then compiled in
and expertise, and sourcing best the Preliminary Resilience Assessment
practices from around the world. and grouped into focus areas. Working
We investigated the city’s shocks, groups, composed of local and outside
stresses, and assets. We met with local experts, met to further explore each
organizations and stakeholders to focus area and propose potential
understand how the city’s resilience is approaches and solutions. This, in turn,
perceived today, to gather local best led to a more detailed analysis of the
practices, and to devise new approaches. opportunities within each focus area and
resulted in more specific workshops on
Over 350 individuals participated issues such as financing, risk modeling,
throughout the process and provided and design. The proposals developed
valuable insight into what contributes to through this process directly inspired the
and detracts from the city’s resilience, actions set forth in this document.
what local expertise and knowledge
exist, and what specific needs are not
being met. In addition, the Office of
Neighborhood Engagement convened

20 City of New Orleans

PHASE I
JANUARY 2015 JUNE 2015

Preliminary
Strategy Stakeholder Focus Areas
Resilience
Launch Consultation Identified
Assessment

PHASE II AUGUST 2015

Resilience
Focus Areas Opportunity Resilience
Priorities &
Diagnostic Assessment Strategy
Initiatives

The creation of this strategy followed a two-phase process developed

by 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation. In
Phase I, research was conducted and focus areas were identified to guide
Phase II goal and strategy development.

The Preliminary Resilience Assessment details

the Phase I strategy development process,
including early stakeholder engagement. It can be
downloaded at www.nola.gov/resilience/pra.

Over 350 individuals contributed to the

strategy development process.

Resilient New Orleans 21

Great
Recession
Hurricane Hurricanes Ike BP Oil
Katrina & Gustav Spill

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Bring Neighborhoods New Orleans Schools

New Orleans Rebuilding Plan Facilities Master Plan
Back
Commission
FEMA
ESF-14 Plan for
the 21st Century
New Orleans 2030
N E W O R L EA N S 2 0 3 0

AUGUST 2010 [AS AMENDED THROUGH 2012]

Orleans Parish
2010 Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
City of New Orleans
logo #2

Plan for the 21st Century

Office of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness

hc henryconsulting

The Master Plan for the city of

New Orleans

Defining resilience: The Master

Plan dedicates a chapter to
resilience, which it defines as
“living with water and natural
hazards.”

Hazard Mitigation Plan

Provides a detailed evaluation
of city risks and outlines
Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP) a strategy to reduce hazard
A comprehensive recovery plan to guide the impacts on people and
deployment of disaster recovery funding property

Unprecedented resident engagement: UNOP Defining hazards: The plan’s

hosted three Community Congresses, the largest primary focus is on acute
of which took place simultaneously in 21 cities, shocks (e.g., hurricanes and
convening 2,500 displaced New Orleanians. lightning). However, it also
addresses some long-term
stresses, such as coastal
erosion, subsidence, and
drought.

FROM RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

Over the past decade, we have undertaken extensive planning efforts to guide
the recovery and rebuilding of our city and to envision the long-term future of
New Orleans. We are moving beyond what was damaged in the past to look
forward to the possibilities of the future.

These planning processes have included broad and intensive outreach and
engagement of residents, civic leaders, and experts across the city and beyond.
This document does not represent another planning process—we do not seek
to replicate the vast work that has been done over the past decade, or to
create another plan. This strategy builds upon the existing visions by creating
a series of short-term actions with long-term goals that provide a road map for
implementation. In order to achieve this, we have reviewed previous work to
understand the evolution of resilience planning that leads us to this integrated
strategy today.

22 City of New Orleans

Hurricane
Isaac

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

New
State of Louisiana
Comprehensive
The Honorable Bobby Jindal, Governor

Zoning Ordinance
adopted
Louisiana’s Comprehensive
Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast
committed to our coast New Capital
Improvements
Plan adopted

Louisiana Coastal Master Plan Greater New Orleans

Proposes a series of projects that will sustain Urban Water Plan
ecosystems, safeguard coastal populations, Provides a road map for
Resilient
and protect vital economic and cultural innovative regional water New Orleans
resources by reducing flood risks and management for New Orleans
Strategic actions to shape our future city

rebuilding wetlands and neighboring parishes

50-year planning: The plan accounts for Living with water: The Urban
acute shocks and long-term risks associated Water Plan pioneered the vision
with coastal erosion, as well as the inherent for embracing water for the
uncertainty in the coast’s future. future of our region.
New Capital
Improvements
Plan adopted

935 Gravier Street, Suite 2020

New Orleans, Louisiana 70112

504-934-4500

www.nolaba.org

JUNE 2013

funded by:

COMPREHENSIVE MURDER REDUCTION STRATEGY

ProsperityNOLA NOLA FOR LIFE

A citywide economic New Orleans’ Comprehensive
development strategy Murder Reduction Strategy

Planning for equity: This plan Focus on our youth: NOLA

highlights equity as a growth FOR LIFE prioritizes youth
strategy for our economic engagement and education to
development. build a safer and healthier society.

Resilient New Orleans 23

FROM STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENTATION

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OUR APPROACH
Working to build resilience is different support from The Rockefeller Foundation,
than conducting business as usual. It is made up of four dimensions—Health
means breaking down traditional divisions & Well-being, Economy & Society,
between agencies and organizations Infrastructure & Environment, and
to find common purposes. It means Leadership & Strategy—and is further
designing to deal with the next event defined by 12 drivers of resilience. We
rather than just assessing the last one. It used the framework throughout the
means improving our cities today in ways process to assess the connections
that also make them better prepared for between our challenges, identify critical
the risks of tomorrow. areas of weakness, and develop actions
that build upon our strengths. We
Our guidepost for designing a strategy also used the framework to facilitate a
that achieves these outcomes has been comprehensive discussion of resilience
the City Resilience Framework. The with our stakeholders.
framework, developed by Arup with

24 City of New Orleans

At each stage of the process, we The Resilience Dividend
also relied on the qualities of resilient By using this approach to evaluate and
systems as a touchstone to guide set priorities, New Orleans will achieve
the development of our actions. We the Resilience Dividend: Instead of
continually sought strategies that were: investing to reduce impacts from a single
hazard or improve a single metric, the
• Reflective: informed by our past
city will make strategic decisions to
experiences improve its overall strength and endure
• Resourceful: made efficient use of our multiple shocks and stresses. Investing
limited resources and attracted new in resilience can save money, save
resources lives, and build a more equitable and
prosperous city.
• Robust: were designed to be strong
but also could fail safely
• Redundant: had backup or spare
capacity when needed
• Flexible: had alternative paths to
achieve the same outcome
• Inclusive: involved those who bear risk
and responsibility
• Integrated: coordinated across public
and private organizations to achieve
common purposes

An example of the Resilience Dividend in action

Developing a reliable and comprehensive multimodal

transit network will help New Orleans be more
resilient whether the challenge is to be efficient
and coordinated in times of emergency response,
to enable low-income families to connect to
opportunity, or to improve safety and connectivity.
The point of entry might seem like a single
infrastructure project, but it has the potential to
create benefits across sectors, scales, and potential
shocks. This is the Resilience Dividend in action.

REDUCES HARMFUL EMISSIONS

CONNECTS PEOPLE TO JOBS

PROVIDES EMERGENCY CAPACITY

Resilient New Orleans 25

FROM STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENTATION

be able to effectively engage these

challenges.

The principles and actions outlined in

this strategy are designed for results and
immediate benefits, but with long-term
aspirations founded on the concept of
generational change.

The City will develop indicators and

targets to track the progress of this
strategy. The Office of Performance and
Accountability (OPA), which promotes
better city services through data-driven
management, decisionmaking, and
accountability, will support the Mayor’s
Office of Resilience and Sustainability to
develop and track these measures. The
City will make the data available publicly
through ResultsNOLA, its quarterly
IMPLEMENTATION & reporting program for performance
MONITORING management.
Our strategies will only be as effective
as our ability to act. This document
serves as a focal point and initial work
DEMONSTRATING
plan for taking action to build resilience. GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
The newly formed Mayor’s Office of For centuries, we have demonstrated our
Resilience and Sustainability and the chief ability to innovate and adapt in the face
resilience officer will have responsibility of major challenges, making New Orleans
for implementing the strategy by well known as a model of community-
coordinating with partners and agencies. based recovery and resilience. Today,
The office will advise the mayor on policy, New Orleans is continuing to lead, serving
guide prioritization, and provide regional as an urban laboratory for innovation
leadership on resilience. To further and change, working to prepare for an
integrate resilience into our regulations, unpredictable future, and remaining
policies, and practices, the office will committed to the equitable adaptation
work closely with the City Planning and transformation of coastal cities
Commission and Hazard Mitigation Office worldwide.
to ensure consistency with the City’s
Master Plan and Hazard Mitigation Plan. As part of the growing 100 Resilient
Cities Network, we have been able to
By coordinating regionally, we can solve connect with resilience leaders around
immediate and long-term problems the world to learn from their wisdom
that no single municipality or parish and experience, while also sharing our
can address. Single jurisdictions cannot own. New Orleans was the site of the
effectively build better levee systems, inaugural Chief Resilience Officer Summit
restore the coast, create stronger in November 2014, where we had the
economies, ensure safe and affordable opportunity to showcase our progress
housing for our workforce, or build a along with the challenges that remain.
transportation systems that will serve The summit reminded us that resilience as
us into the future. It is only through a practice should always be grounded in
cooperation among cities and towns our everyday lives and that ideas for our
acting together as a region that we will collective future might not always come

26 City of New Orleans

from the places we expect. As a global build resilience, like RESTORE Act funds,
leader, we have a responsibility to seek the BP Settlement, Federal Emergency
wisdom and guidance from all continents, Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard
to listen to the stories of our peers, and Mitigation Grant program, and the US
to share our progress toward shaping the Department of Housing and Urban
future city. Development (HUD) National Disaster
Resilience Competition, will provide a
down payment on our future.
FUNDING
Funding for the actions and initiatives Beyond locally controlled funds, the
outlined in this strategy will be derived City of New Orleans will continue to
from various sources, including existing partner with federal and state agencies
government budgets, new grants and on their projects that have a direct
revenues, philanthropic funds, and private impact on the future of the city. An
partnerships. example is strengthening the partnership
between the City and the Louisiana
Leveraging and maximizing existing Coastal Protection and Restoration
sources of funding is a top priority. Authority (CPRA) on projects both
Aligning the City’s budgetary priorities inside the city and outside the city that
with the resilience strategy, by utilizing have a direct impact on our resilience.
the resources we already have to achieve In addition, where the actions in this
multiple benefits, is the first step to resilience strategy are aligned with the
investing in a resilient future. Strategically investments and missions of our private
programming new sources of funds, sector partners, we will seek to expand
particularly those that can be targeted to the partnerships to support these
initiatives.

Leveraging one-time funding sources

In 2010, the Gulf Coast experienced the

worst environmental disaster in US history
after the BP oil rig explosion and spill. In
July 2015, BP agreed to pay $18.7 billion in
fines—the largest corporate settlement in
US history. It is anticipated that $6.8 billion
will be made available to the State of
Louisiana, and $45 million to the City of
New Orleans, to further a variety of coastal
protection, remediation, and adaptation
projects moving forward. This presents a
prime opportunity for the state and city
to operationalize resilience planning in
coastal protection.

Credit: United States Navy

Resilient New Orleans 27

VISIONS AND ACTIONS

Visions and Actions

The following sections outline our many interconnected challenges and
lay out strategic approaches and goals for each challenge. In order to
achieve each goal, a series of strategic actions will be implemented,
focused both on immediate results and generational change. The
initiatives within these sections are both ambitious and pragmatic,
both short term and long term. Most are new, while others are already
succeeding, and we will seek ways to amplify their impact. Some will be
implemented immediately, while others will need more study. However,
they all have committed organizations and agencies, City support, and
potential resources to pursue implementation.

• Featured Actions are key initiatives for immediate implementation.

• Supporting Actions are projects to be developed in the near future.
• Ongoing Actions are examples of initiatives currently underway that
demonstrate how New Orleans is already working to build resilience.
• Aspirations are the visions we hold for 2050 to guide our actions.
• Resilience Values are the multiple benefits, both direct and indirect,
that we stand to gain by taking these actions.

We recognize that becoming a truly resilient city will require significant

investment in both time and resources. It will require the hard work of
our public and private leaders, and each and every person who lives
and works in our city. This document is a call to action—a statement
of values that will evolve and focus our activities to build resilience for
decades to come.

28 City of New Orleans

The following pages outline the goals we will pursue and the actions we will
take to build our city’s resilience. They are organized by three visions for our
future city:

ADAPT TO THRIVE
We are a city that embraces our changing environment.
We will:
• Advance coastal protection and restoration
• Invest in comprehensive and innovative urban water management
• Incentivize property owners to invest in risk reduction
• Create a culture of environmental awareness at every stage of life
• Commit to mitigating our climate impact

CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY
We are an equitable city.
We will:
• Invest in household financial stability
• Lower barriers to workforce participation
• Continue to promote equitable public health outcomes
• Continue to build social cohesion
• Expand access to safe and affordable housing

TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

We are a dynamic and prepared city.
We will:
• Redesign our regional transit systems to connect people, employment,
and essential services
• Promote sustainability as a growth strategy
• Improve the redundancy and reliability of our energy infrastructure
• Integrate resilience-driven decision making across public agencies
• Invest in pre-disaster planning for post-disaster recovery
• Develop the preparedness of our businesses and neighborhoods

Resilient New Orleans 29

VISIONS AND ACTIONS

ADAPT TO THRIVE

We are
a city that
embraces
our changing
environment.

30 City of New Orleans

We will:
Advance coastal protection and restoration

Invest in comprehensive and innovative urban water

management

Incentivize property owners to invest in risk reduction

Create a culture of environmental awareness at every

stage of life

Commit to mitigating our climate impact

Resilient New Orleans 31

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Largely due to our own influence, we

have been losing the coastal wetlands
Introduction that sustain us both physically and
economically at a rate of more than
By adapting our city to our natural environment 16 square miles (41 square kilometers)
and the increasing risks of climate change, we per year. River levees deprive the delta
of the necessary sediment to build new
can create opportunities for all New Orleanians to
wetlands; canals and pipelines destabilize
thrive. Successful adaptation will mean creating marshes, allowing exposure to damaging
resilient systems and a culture of environmental saltwater. Even in the city, the soft soils
awareness among all New Orleanians. beneath us are not static. The ground
in New Orleans is sinking—as much as
10 feet over the past 100 years in some
Throughout our city’s history, water has parts of the city. Known as subsidence,
been essential to New Orleans’ existence this process is partially a result of our
but has also threatened it. The only practice of pumping water out of the
constant in our natural environment city as quickly as possible, which dries
since the city’s founding in 1718 has and compacts the typically moist soil—
been change. New Orleans is built upon buckling streets, bursting pipes, and
some of the newest land in the world— destabilizing utility poles.
the shifting soils of the Mississippi River
Delta. Prior to the construction of major Sea level rise and the increased frequency
levees and flood control structures in the and intensity of extreme storm events
20th century, the Mississippi River spent are projected to accelerate coastal land
more than 7,000 years changing course loss, adding greater stresses to our levee
and depositing sand, clay, and silt along and flood protection system, while more
its banks to build the land around us. In extreme heat will directly threaten other
the past 100 years, we have channelized infrastructure systems, such as electricity
the river, dug canals, laid pipelines, distribution, and the health of our
drained wetlands, and introduced invasive residents. New Orleans is arguably more
species—all to establish conventional threatened by global climate change
settlement and commercial patterns on a than almost any other US city, but we are
challenging environment. also more capable than ever to address
its effects.

New Orleans is ready to become a global

leader in addressing environmental

Hurricane Isaac approaches

Louisiana, 2012
Credit: NASA

Our climate is changing.

Louisiana is experiencing By 2050,
the highest rate of Louisiana will
relative sea level rise likely experience
in the world: temperatures
4.3 ft (1.3 m) above 95˚F (35˚C)
by 2100. on 80+ days per year.

32 City of New Orleans

“This is a floating city,
A resilient approach to infrastructure designs for multiple
benefits, including spaces for recreation, sites for floating below the surface
environmental engagement, and opportunities for commerce.
Credit: Ripple Effect of the water.”
— Benjamin Latrobe,
describing New Orleans, 1819
and climate change. We must align our
infrastructure and urban environment
to the realities of our delta soils and
geography. Rather than resist water,
we must embrace it, building on the
confluence of Louisiana’s culture, history,
and natural systems. As we look to the
wisdom of the past, we must also prepare
Our adaptation must be both physical
for the risks of the future.
and behavioral. Our historical experience
The infrastructure of the future city will of living with water in Southeast
look different than it does today. Our Louisiana has been largely forgotten.
parks and schoolyards will be designed Much of our water flows behind walls and
with native plants and trees to soak up through culverts, where we rarely see it.
water; our canals and streets will provide Despite being a place that is so defined
greenways for recreation and water by hydrology, we have systematically
management. The infrastructure of the hidden water from our daily experience.
future New Orleans will work with natural We need spaces where we can regularly
systems, be redundant and reliable, encounter the water that surrounds us,
provide multiple benefits to residents, learn about how it shapes our city, and
and even beautify the city. explore ways to manage its presence.

Resilient New Orleans 33

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Generational change starts at a young threatens us in Southeast Louisiana, and

age, with children being exposed to our understanding and stewardship of it
water during swimming lessons, in will only become more critical.
parks, and on neighborhood streets.
For our students, incorporating our local A resilient approach examines the
geography and hydrology into formal relationship among critical systems
education is essential to begin lifelong and commits to collaboration between
learning and engagement with the risks private, public, local, regional, and
and opportunities of our collective future. national actors. We have already
With a new generation of emerging begun to work together to protect and
environmental stewards, we are poised restore our coast. We are committed to
to become a global leader in sustainable comprehensive urban water management
environmental management. that will help us live with our abundance
of water.
Being ready for a dynamic future
economy will be an important outcome We are building the future delta city.
of our successful adaptation. Building We have a responsibility to the next
new types of infrastructure and generation of New Orleanians to be
retrofitting conventional systems reflective of our past and flexible in
is already growing our local water adapting our city and our lives to a new
economy. More than 14,000 new water reality. We have a responsibility to the
management jobs have been added to world to share our progress.
our region since 2010, with more growth
projected.

Our future in the Mississippi River Delta

will inevitably be wet—with less land
around us and more intense storms
projected—and in order to thrive and
prosper we need to accept water and
transform how we manage it. Our
dynamic environment both sustains and

Water Boulevards
Today’s conventionally
paved streets are full
of potholes and require
frequent and expensive
repairs, due in part to
soil subsidence. Innovative street and
public realm designs can slow and store
rainwater, reducing flooding and slowing
subsidence.

Credit: Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan

34 City of New Orleans

Multiple Lines of Defense
Greater New Orleans is surrounded
by 133 miles (214 kilometers) of newly
strengthened levees, floodwalls, and pump
stations—the largest coastal flood control
system in the nation. This recent $14.5 billion
investment in hard infrastructure is critical
to our future, but coastal restoration and
comprehensive urban water management must
complement and support that investment to
ensure maximum flood protection capacity.

Credit: Greg Guillot/NWF

Resilient New Orleans 35

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Advance coastal protection

and restoration

FEATURED ACTION

Leverage critical
resources for
coastal projects

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: Louisiana Coastal Protection
and Restoration Authority; Greater
New Orleans, Inc

Credit: CPRA
ASPIRATION
The coast is healthy, functioning,
and sustains industries, communities, To improve the flood protection provided by coastal wetlands,
and ecosystems. New Orleans will support the efforts of the Louisiana Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) by leveraging financial
RESILIENCE VALUE resources available through the BP settlement, the National Disaster
Resilience Competition, and the RESTORE Act. In partnership with the
By protecting and restoring our coast,
CPRA, the City will help advance coastal restoration and protection
New Orleans can reduce flood risk,
projects in Orleans Parish that benefit the city of New Orleans and
protect critical economic assets,
the region, providing flood protection, habitat restoration, and
and safeguard indispensable wildlife
workforce opportunities.
habitat and recreational areas.
The Coastal Master Plan’s risk reduction targets of “500-year”
storm protection can only be achieved through a combination of
“structural” flood protection, such as levees and coastal restoration,
and “nonstructural” approaches, including home elevations and flood-
proofing measures. New Orleans will be the model for combining
these approaches through the development of coastal projects and
complementary urban water management strategies and the reduction
of risk by adapting the urban environment.

36 City of New Orleans

CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

Our Disappearing
Coast
Coastal land lost since 1932:
1,900 mi2 (4,920 km2)
Projected land loss by 2060,
without action:
1,806 mi2 (4,677 km2)

The channelization of the Mississippi River

deprives Southeast Louisiana of the sediment
that builds coastal wetlands, while the oil
and gas, shipping, and logging industries
have caused severe damage to make way
for pipelines and canals. This damage causes
saltwater intrusion that further degrades our
natural ecosystem and exacerbates the effects of
storms. Because coastal wetlands reduce storm
surge and tropical storm intensity, their loss puts
the city’s flood protection system and national
economic assets at risk. The coast also supports
numerous communities, wildlife and recreational
areas, and industries that depend on its health
for their survival.

Data Source: MAP

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority,
2012 Coastal Master Plan
Future without action scenario
 Land projected to be lost by 2060

ONGOING ACTION

Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast

State of Louisiana
The Honorable Bobby Jindal, Governor

Lead: Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA)

Louisiana’s Comprehensive
Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast
committed to our coast
Launched: 2007, updated 2012, next update 2017

The 50-year, $50 billion Coastal Master Plan combines hard structures, such
as levees and floodwalls with restored wetlands and barrier islands to build
multiple lines of flood protection. This plan uses advanced scientific modeling
and projections and strategically aligns local, state, and federal resources to
achieve comprehensive coastal protection.

Resilient New Orleans 37

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Invest in comprehensive and

innovative urban water management

FEATURED ACTION

Implement Urban
Water Plan projects

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: Sewerage & Water Board of
New Orleans; Trust for Public Land; Deltares;
Greater New Orleans Foundation; Trimble;
New Orleans Redevelopment Authority;
GNO, Inc

ASPIRATION
New Orleans embodies the principle Credit: Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan
of living with water, managing urban
stormwater and groundwater carefully to
align with natural processes and support The City of New Orleans will implement comprehensive stormwater
economic growth. management to complement the traditional drainage system of
pipes and pumps with green infrastructure that delays and detains
stormwater in landscaped spaces. The City is partnering with national
RESILIENCE VALUE
and international experts to prioritize projects through a detailed
Through comprehensive urban water analysis focused on hydrology, economy, and social equity. The City
management, New Orleans can lower is actively pursuing funding for the first round of projects through
infrastructure costs, reduce flood risk FEMA Hazard Mitigation funds and the National Disaster Resilience
to people and property, temper soil Competition, among others. Through the incorporation of resilient
subsidence, and transform unsightly design and construction standards, we intend to serve as a model for
infrastructure into attractive amenities transforming our urban environment to live with water.
that enhance neighborhoods and
improve quality of life.

38 City of New Orleans

ONGOING ACTION

Greater New Orleans The transformative vision for living with water in Greater
Urban Water Plan New Orleans directly addresses groundwater and
stormwater as critical factors in shaping a safer, more livable,
Lead: GNO, Inc and more economically vibrant region. The vision addresses
Partner: Louisiana State Office three basic issues in Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard
of Community Development Parishes: flooding caused by heavy rainfall, subsidence
Launched: 2013 caused by the pumping of stormwater, and wasted
water assets.

ONGOING ACTION ONGOING ACTION

New Stormwater
Regulations in
Comprehensive Zoning
Ordinance
Lead: City of New Orleans
Launched: 2015 NORA rain garden in Filmore

Revisions to the Comprehensive

Zoning Ordinance now require the Green Infrastructure Demonstration Projects
mitigation of runoff associated with
Lead: New Orleans Redevelopment Authority,
new development or reconstruction,
Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans
using on-site water catchment
Partner: Louisiana State Office of Community Development
techniques to slow surface flow
Launched: 2014
and, in turn, reduce subsidence
rates throughout the city. These The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) and Sewerage
new regulations are an important & Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) are building a series of
step in affecting change in land use green infrastructure demonstration projects to show the public
development throughout our city. how underutilized spaces can be developed to detain stormwater
and designed to make neighborhoods more attractive. NORA is
transforming vacant lots into rain gardens that draw runoff from
the street, store it temporarily, and capture many of the pollutants it
carries. SWBNO is funding innovative green infrastructure solutions
such as green roofs, bioswales, and pervious pavement. These projects
show us what is possible and how infrastructure can not only protect us
but also beautify our communities.

Resilient New Orleans 39

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Incentivize property owners

to invest in risk reduction

FEATURED ACTION

Establish resilience
retrofit program

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partner: Deutsche Bank—AllianceNRG

ASPIRATION
Households and business owners have
access to the resources, capacity, and
expertise required to adapt to their
changing environment and future Rain gardens and home elevations, seen here in the Lower Ninth Ward, are examples of ways
threats. homeowners can invest in risk reduction.

RESILIENCE VALUE New Orleans will develop a resilience retrofit program to provide
By investing in their own resilience, incentives for property owners to reduce their own risk. The City is
households and business owners will exploring the use of innovative financial instruments to launch the
create readiness at the community program, including the Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)
level that will spur economic program. PACE is a voluntary program in which property owners can
development, lower individual liability, make energy efficiency improvements at little or no upfront cost, with
and reduce the burden on public funds loans repaid through property tax bills for up to 20 years. Low‑interest
for disaster recovery. capital and a potential reduction in insurance premiums will serve
as incentives to property owners to invest in storm resilience
improvements such as elevation, floodproofing, storm shutters, and
stormwater management features.

40 City of New Orleans

SUPPORTING ACTION ONGOING ACTION

Develop standards for Community-based

resilient design Green Infrastructure
and Capacity
Lead: City of New Orleans
Building
Partners: American Institute of Architects,
US Green Building Council Lead: Water Wise NOLA
Launched: 2014 Credit: Water Wise NOLA
Clear guidance on risk reduction
measures in the urban development
Water Wise NOLA is a group of community and professional
of New Orleans is critical. Specific
partners working to advance green infrastructure in Greater
design and performance standards
New Orleans and strengthen public awareness of water‑related
will be developed for residential and
issues. Water Wise NOLA promotes simple solutions to the
commercial structures, as well as the
problem of localized flooding, organizing workshops for
public realm.
homeowners, neighborhood organizations, and key professionals.

CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

MAP
Disproportionate risk Living with flood risk
As wetlands were drained
 Areas at greater r isk
of flooding in the 20th century to make
way for urban development
 >75% persons of color
and federal flood insurance
became widely available, more
households and businesses
were constructed in flood-
prone areas. Due to real estate
policies that reinforced racial
segregation and historic
settlement patterns tied to
topography, people of color
and lower-income residents
are today more likely to live
in low-elevation areas at
greater risk of flooding and
subsidence.

Data Sources: U.S. Census, 2010;

FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map,
Revised Preliminary 2014

Resilient New Orleans 41

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Critical infrastructure in New Orleans is more than just levees, bridges, and canals. It is a complex series
of interdependent built and natural systems that keep our coastal city safe, productive, and healthy.
Part of a resilient approach to infrastructure is an accurate understanding of the full geographic and
functional breadth of these systems and the connection between our built urban environment and the
managed landscapes that surround us.

Shocks like hurricanes have cascading effects on the city’s critical infrastructure systems. When one
system is compromised, it negatively impacts the function of other critical systems. For example, a
power outage during a storm may compromise the function of the energy-intensive pumping stations,
resulting in severe street flooding. We recognize the interdependence of these systems and are
committed to their comprehensive management and adaptation to future conditions.

Infrastructure—such as reliable and affordable transportation and communication networks—is not just
critical for protection against shocks, but also for supporting economic growth and stability, providing
reliable service delivery, and enabling equitable access to opportunity for all New Orleanians.

Inhabitation
and Land Cover

Infrastructure
Networks

Soils, Water,
and Biodiversity

The Layers
of Critical Infrastructure Credit: Greater
New Orleans Urban
Water Plan

42 City of New Orleans

INSPIRATION

100 RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK HIGHLIGHT

Inspiration from Rotterdam

Living and designing with water

The Netherlands, a country situated primarily below sea level, has

always been at the forefront of innovation in water management, with a
thousand‑year history of building dikes and other control structures to
protect against flooding. But with climate change, the country is seeing
rising seas and heavier storms further challenge its ability to live with water.
The city of Rotterdam has chosen to tackle the threats associated with
impending climate change and flooding risks by embracing it as a chance to
strengthen the main ambitions of the city. Surrounded on all sides by water,
the Dutch delta city is looking to design innovations that turn the city into
a sponge, creating countless spaces for absorbing and storing rainwater,
including water plazas, green roofs, and even a water storage facility in an
underground parking garage. These spaces not only reduce flooding in the
city, but also connect water to opportunity, recreation, and beautification.
As global leaders in living with water, the Dutch are exporting their
expertise to other cities facing threats from climate change and sea level
rise, creating jobs and growing their economy as a result.

For the Dutch, learning to live with water and adapting to a changing delta
environment start at a young age. Children’s books depict lessons about
Credit: Ossip van Duivenbode

canals, and students compete in state-sanctioned sand castle building

competitions coached by expert engineers to see whose structures
can withstand the tide the longest. Water is ubiquitous in the lives of
Rotterdammers, who every day cross scenic canals that flow through their
city. Environmental awareness and education are deep and ongoing—as
critical to the city’s future as floodwalls and water plazas.

Resilient New Orleans 43

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Create a culture of environmental

awareness at every stage of life

FEATURED ACTION

Develop knowledge
and capacity
of emerging
environmental
stewards

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: Louisiana Children’s Museum,
Ripple Effect, Evacuteer

Credit: LCM, Mithun

The future Louisiana Children’s Museum campus in City Park, focused on water education.
ASPIRATION
The next generation of New Orleanians We will actively facilitate connections that prioritize the development
has an accurate understanding of our of environmental stewardship and disaster readiness in our region’s
physical environment and the risks we students. The City will partner with organizations already serving
face, and has developed the capacity to as hubs for experiential learning about the environment and
prepare for and adapt to those risks. preparedness and support content development with the best
information available about our changing environment. Going beyond
RESILIENCE VALUE the inclusion of geography as a curriculum element, we seek expand to
opportunities to experience the power of water and our environment
By equipping our youth with the
across in-classroom subjects and in the wider city‑as‑laboratory.
knowledge and understanding of local
For example, Ripple Effect partners with teachers, designers, and
hydrologic and geographic conditions
water experts to rethink in-school science education. Around the city,
and processes, we develop leaders for
students engage in site-specific design challenges that also meet
today and tomorrow for adapting to our
national science standards.
changing natural environment.
We recognize the need for physical sites outside of schools for students
and educators alike to interact and learn about how we live with water.
As an example, the Louisiana Children’s Museum is committed to being
a space for environmental education and experiences for children
and adults—with a focus on all the ways we live with water in coastal
Louisiana.

44 City of New Orleans

Ripple Effect is a collaboration
of local designers, teachers, and
water experts that promotes
“water literacy” through design-
based in-school instruction.
This topographic model helps
educators at KIPP Central City
Primary teach students about
relationships among water, land,
and people in New Orleans.
Credit: Ripple Effect
Resilient New Orleans 45
VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Create a culture of environmental

awareness at every stage of life

FEATURED ACTION

Establish resilience
center

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: Rockefeller Foundation;
Tulane University; GNO, Inc;
100 Resilient Cities

ASPIRATION
New Orleans is a global leader in Credit: La Citta Vita
urban resilience, with the facilities and
The Building Centre in London
resources to share our experiences
while continuing to learn from the daily
The City and its partners will establish the Center for Resilience to
realities of a complex urban condition.
support the outreach and capacity building functions of the Office of
Resilience and Sustainability. Since many of the steps that are required
RESILIENCE VALUE to make our city more resilient require the action of individuals,
By fortifying our neighborhoods community-based organizations, and business owners, the Center for
and practitioners with leadership Resilience will provide a space and programming to build awareness
in resilience thinking and practice, and expertise, to develop projects and partnerships, and to exchange
we can empower New Orleanians ideas and practices both locally and globally.
to recognize complexity and make
well‑informed decisions. Community outreach programming will offer an opportunity for global
theories to meet local realities, advancing the public’s understanding
of New Orleans’ challenges and connecting resilience concepts to
our everyday lives. Leadership development programs will integrate
resilience-driven thinking into the curricula of local leadership
programs. Training and professional education will enable public
and private sector practitioners to improve their technical skills and
gain knowledge in best practices. The Center for Resilience will also
host visitors, showcase the work New Orleans is conducting to build
resilience, and export throughout the world the knowledge and
expertise our city has developed.

46 City of New Orleans

SUPPORTING ACTION

Create leadership development

program for city resilience
Lead: City of New Orleans
Partners: Neighborhood Partnership Network of New Orleans;
GNO, Inc; New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute; CBNO/
MAC Bryan Bell Leadership Forum; Tulane University Disaster
Resilience Leadership Academy

In order to prepare for and respond to future shocks and

stresses, we must create and foster leadership within our
communities and public agencies to spur, inspire, and
encourage concepts of resilience on a daily basis among
friends, family, and neighbors. In collaboration with
community partners, the City will coordinate a resilience
Credit: Andrea Mabry
leadership curriculum, customized to local New Orleans
organizations, culture, and challenges. This leadership
program will empower local networks of community and
civic leaders to effectively prepare for and respond to
future disasters in their neighborhoods.

SUPPORTING ACTION

Launch Coastal New Orleans

public awareness campaign
Lead: City of New Orleans

Before we can be prepared to incorporate resilience

practices into our communities and businesses, we
must first understand the urgency of environmental
issues and why it is important to act today. The City
will partner with other public and private organizations
to develop a multimedia campaign to highlight the
coastal conditions and processes that created our
city, sustain it today, and threaten its existence. We
will focus on our geography as a coastal delta city, the
unique natural challenges that we face, and how we
can all be environmental stewards.

Resilient New Orleans 47

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  ADAPT TO THRIVE

Commit to mitigating
our climate impact

FEATURED ACTION

Design and
implement climate
action plan

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: C40, Urban Sustainability
Directors Network

ASPIRATION
As a global community, we are New Orleans is arguably more affected by climate change than any
slowing the pace of human-generated other US city, and while we are committed to adapting to our changing
climate change. environment, we also share a responsibility to mitigate our impacts
on climate change. New Orleans will join the growing international
movement that seeks to limit our collective contribution to global
RESILIENCE VALUE
climate change. We will set aggressive greenhouse gas reduction
By joining the international community targets for 2050 and implement a plan to achieve them.
of cities committed to reducing
their contribution to global climate We will begin by determining our baseline emission levels, and then we
change, we are also benefiting our will identify specific strategies to reduce them. The plan will set forth
local community through improved multiple strategies for reducing our climate impact, including transit
air quality and increased resource improvements, land use policy changes, investments in alternative
efficiency. energy and energy efficiency, and greening and conservation projects.
We will then monitor our progress against measureable goals. The
climate action plan will augment our climate adaptation measures
already underway. Many of our climate adaptation strategies, such
as wetland restoration, green infrastructure, and transportation
improvements, will also have mitigation benefits.

48 City of New Orleans

Louisiana is the
third‑largest producer
of petroleum and the
second‑largest producer
CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT of natural gas in the US.

Dependence on Fossil Fuels
Every year Louisiana provides the US with more oil and gas than we import from Saudi Arabia.
The extraction of fossil fuels has been critical to our region’s economy for the past century.
Thousands of Louisiana families rely on jobs in the oil and gas industry. But the blessing of
abundant natural resources can also be a curse. Tens of thousands of miles of pipelines cut
through our marshes, exacerbating coastal land loss, and fossil fuels are the primary producers
of climate change–inducing greenhouse gases. As a region, we have been slow to shift our
consumption and our economic drivers away from traditional energy sources like oil and gas
and toward adopting large‑scale renewable energy.

MAP
Offshore oil and gas
infrastructure
pipeline
platform

Data Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Resilient New Orleans 49

VISIONS AND ACTIONS

CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

We are
an equitable
city.

50 City of New Orleans

We will:
Invest in household financial stability

Lower barriers to workforce participation

Continue to promote equitable public health outcomes

Continue to build social cohesion

Expand access to safe and affordable housing

Resilient New Orleans 51

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Introduction exceeds 50 percent among African-

American men. Minority-owned
By investing in equity, we are investing in businesses compose 27 percent of
total firms in metro New Orleans but
resilience. Equity will be the driving force receive just 2 percent of total business
behind our economy’s growth and innovation, receipts. The effects of workforce
our communities’ safety and stability, and our inequality extend beyond the worker
families’ health and prosperity. or job seeker. Today in New Orleans,
39 percent of children and 27 percent of
all New Orleanians are living below the
New Orleans’ economic recovery poverty line. Wide disparities in public
and growth in recent years has been health outcomes exist, including higher
remarkable. Despite the enormous rates of heart disease, diabetes, and
impacts from the floods of 2005, the cancer, and lower life expectancies for
global financial crisis, and the BP oil spill, African‑American residents compared to
New Orleans has continued to recover white residents.
its population, add jobs, and keep
overall unemployment lower than most We are actively working to address
cities around the country. Furthermore, these inequities with a comprehensive
new businesses are forming at a rate set of projects and initiatives that
well above the national average, and reduce violence, build healthy and
New Orleans has been recognized stable communities, connect workers
nationally as a top location to start and to opportunities, and increase wages
grow a business. But this revitalization and improve livelihoods. However, even
has not benefited everyone and in many as we look to build equity in the future,
cases has even furthered inequity. we cannot ignore past injustices and
our city’s legacy of inequity. Racial and
While the majority of New Orleanians economic inequity is present in every
are African American, most low-income facet of our society and threatens our
households and people of color have not resilience as a city. We must meaningfully
shared in the recent economic growth address this challenging reality and its
and prosperity. Wages have declined effects in our systems, our institutions,
when adjusted for inflation. Income and our communities.
inequality has grown. Joblessness

The Opportunity of Growing Industries

Southeast Louisiana is fast emerging as a leader in the environmental
services sector, but sustained growth and benefits to our local
workforce and economy are not inevitable. We need to continue
to foster local business growth and local hiring practices to create
more local job opportunities and keep wealth in our communities.
Greater New Orleans, Inc, the regional economic development
alliance, is committed to further developing the emerging water and
environmental services sector, with a goal of Southeast Louisiana
Credit: CPRA
becoming a global hub of businesses that profitably manage
Coastal restoration projects will provide more local environmental issues and challenges. At the same time, the City
job opportunities as the water sector grows. of New Orleans is working to prepare the local workforce for the
dynamic industries of the future city, especially as we embrace living
with water.

52 City of New Orleans

Our dynamic economy requires an We are working to increase household and
adaptable workforce with the skills family stability since it directly influences
and training needed to pivot to new our ability to succeed. Trauma and severe
industries. We witnessed the impacts of stress interfere with learning. Housing
economic shifts when modernization in instability and poor health threaten careers
the shipping industry and an economic and frequently result in debt. Incarceration
downturn in the petroleum industry often leads to further crime rather than to
left generations of workers behind. rehabilitation. Hopelessness can be more
We have to prepare today’s workforce harmful than a hurricane.
for emerging industries and connect
New Orleanians to the opportunities of By investing in the safety, stability,
the 21st century. health, and housing of our communities,
New Orleans can create connections to
Access to opportunity comes in many opportunity that did not exist previously.
different forms. It means providing The economic growth that can be realized
sector-specific technical training and from investing in our people is an example
“soft skills” development. It also means of the Resilience Dividend. Just as we
partnering with our anchor institutions must adapt our city to align with the
and emerging industries to change hiring environment, so too must we shift the
practices and strengthen employment landscape of opportunity toward equity.
opportunities for local job seekers and
small businesses. Reliable and affordable
childcare, physical and behavioral
health care, and transportation are also
fundamental to connecting potential
workers to employment. “There can be no renewal
of our relationship with
nature without a renewal
of humanity itself.”
– Pope Francis
Encyclical Letter, Laudato si’,
On Care for Our Common Home, 2015

Resilient New Orleans 53

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Invest in household
financial stability

FEATURED ACTION

Create emergency
savings account
program

Lead: Foundation for Louisiana

Partners: City of New Orleans,
Micro Finance Opportunities

ASPIRATION
Households and business owners have
Building on the model of the Individual Development Account, a
the resources, capacity, and expertise
savings-matching program for low- and moderate-income earners to
required to adapt and respond to future
set aside funds for emergency uses will be launched. A lack of access
shocks and threats.
to savings poses a threat to many New Orleanians in times of crisis.
By building savings for emergency purposes, New Orleanians will be
RESILIENCE VALUE
better prepared to handle unexpected costs. The program will provide
By increasing savings, households will an entry point to banking for the many unbanked and under-banked
have greater financial stability and be individuals in New Orleans, making them less susceptible to predatory
better prepared to respond to shocks lending and costly financial products. The emergency accounts will
while growing our overall economy in be complemented by an effort to empower individuals and families to
an equitable way. become more financially literate. Financial education efforts will focus
on understanding credit, banking, and investment strategies.

54 City of New Orleans

CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

Income inequality
New Orleans’ median
household income
12.5% of New Orleans 32.5% of
residents are unbanked African-American
of $36,631 is (without a bank account) households in
30% lower than compared to 5.1% in the New Orleans are
the US median household metropolitan area. unbanked.
income of $52,250.

Median Household Income by Race and Ethnicity

$65,000

People of color in $60,070

$60,070 Metro New Orleans
New Orleans are more likely $57,684
$57,684 United States
to bear the burden of poverty.
The unequal distribution $55,000

of wealth that has plagued

New Orleans for decades
has produced communities $46,146
$46,146
with high concentrations of $45,000
$41,508
$41,508
poverty and little access to
avenues of economic and
social mobility.
$34,815
$34,815
$35,000

$27,812
$27,812

$25,000

$15,000
White Black/ Hispanic/Latino
(Non-Hispanic) African American (any race)

Source: The Data Center, New Orleans Index at Ten

ONGOING ACTION

Incorporate living wage provision into

public contracts
Lead: City of New Orleans
Launch: 2015
After raising the minimum wage for public employees in 2014, the City
will continue to lead by example, extending living wage requirements
to publicly issued contracts with private companies. By expanding the
number of people in New Orleans and its region who are able to earn a
wage that can support a family’s needs, we succeed in creating a more
resilient economy and population.

Resilient New Orleans 55

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Lower barriers
to workforce participation
We are building and connecting the future workforce to emerging
economic opportunities and social growth by preparing local residents
with skills, education, support, and greater access to resources.

FEATURED ACTION

Launch digital
divide innovation
challenge

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partner: CityMart

ASPIRATION
All New Orleanians have the
opportunity to gain the skills, training, Rosa F. Keller Library in Broadmoor
education, and support needed to
fully participate in our economy, The City will launch a challenge to call for creative approaches to
prosper, and reach their full potential. increasing digital access, literacy, and participation throughout
New Orleans. This initiative will investigate who is lacking access
RESILIENCE VALUE and literacy and the best approaches to these challenges. The
City and its partner will help define the problem, carry out market
By increasing digital participation,
research to understand what solutions exist, and engage a wide
New Orleans will be more
range of experts and entrepreneurs who have developed successful
economically competitive, better
strategies elsewhere to craft strategies for New Orleans. Through the
prepared to respond to shocks,
challenge, New Orleans will seek to increase digital participation in
and more likely to reduce disparate
order to enhance residents’ connection to educational and workforce
outcomes in income, employment,
opportunities, heighten awareness of emergencies, and make the city
education, and health.
more economically competitive.

56 City of New Orleans

ONGOING ACTION

The water management sector in

Greater New Orleans is one of our
The Network for Economic Opportunity fastest‑growing fields. With over 14,000
new water jobs added since 2010, the
Lead: City of New Orleans
region is now beginning to face a skilled
Launched: 2014
labor shortage, particularly among the
Partners: Ford Foundation, The Network for Economic Opportunity local workforce. The Network has forged
WK Kellogg Foundation, (the Network) focuses on connecting
Living Cities, a partnership with Delgado Community
disadvantaged job seekers and College’s Water and Wastewater
Foundation for Louisiana,
Greater New Orleans businesses to opportunities. Since Treatment Program and the Sewerage
Foundation launching in 2014, the Network’s key & Water Board to train certified water
initiatives have included: infrastructure personnel, creating direct
local career pathways in advanced
• Policy improvements, such as
manufacturing. We will continue to
strengthening enforcement and
increase the impact of these specialized
compliance with the disadvantaged training programs to connect our local
business enterprise (DBE) program workforce to the growing opportunities
and executing a local hiring initiative of the future economy.
to employ residents
Anchor industries in our region offer
• Opportunity centers, where workforce
quality jobs with career potential. The
development organizations provide
Network is engaging the leadership
foundational skill development of these industries to strengthen
• Case management and supportive employment and procurement
services opportunities for area job seekers and
small businesses. The Network is also
• Sector-specific job training to increase
exploring models for worker-owned
opportunities through partnerships
cooperatives that could provide anchor
with large employers and projects
institutions large-scale, locally procured
including the new airport terminal, new services and enterprises that produce
hospitals, and the Sewerage & Water and keep wealth within our communities.
Board of New Orleans Local hiring and purchasing commitments
are not the only ways in which anchor
institutions can maximize their positive
impact on the local community, but they
are essential to increasing equitable
access to livable wages and careers.

Strive New Orleans is a

program of the Network for
Economic Opportunity that
provides "soft skills" training
and coaching for people
struggling to find work.

Resilient New Orleans 57

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Continue to promote equitable

health outcomes
We are working together to address the many complex health challenges
and inequities that face our city. New Orleans Health Department is
leading efforts with a resilience lens—working to incorporate “health in all
policies”—through which our land use, economic development, nutrition,
and transportation are also considered fundamental to our health.

ONGOING ACTION ONGOING ACTION

New Orleans Community
Health Improvement Plan
Lead: City of New Orleans
Partner: Louisiana Public Health Institute

The New Orleans Health Department

has joined with a community partner
to implement a community health
improvement plan to promote these
basic tenets: access to physical and behavioral health care, violence
Fresh Food Retailer prevention, healthy lifestyles, and family health. In addition, it addresses
Initiative social determinants of health disparities. This plan will result in a growing
number of affordable health clinics, an increase in outpatient mental
Lead: City of New Orleans health services, renewal of the Greater New Orleans Community Health
Partners: The Food Trust, Connection (GNOCHC) waiver through 2016, and outreach efforts to
HOPE Enterprise Corporation increase enrollment in health insurance programs, working toward
The City of New Orleans Fresh making health care accessible to all New Orleans residents.
Food Retailer Initiative continues
to increase access to fresh foods
in traditionally underserved CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT
neighborhoods by providing
forgivable and/or low-interest
loans to supermarkets, grocery 17% of adults 12% - 15%
stores, and other fresh food in the city were uninsured of New Orleans
retailers. in 2013, and from children
2009 to 2013, African suffer from asthma—
Americans ages 18 - 64 a leading cause of
were nearly twice as likely school absenteeism.
to be uninsured than
white adults.

58 City of New Orleans

INSPIRATION

100 RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK HIGHLIGHT

Inspiration from Mexico City

Comprehensive solutions for improving health

In 1992, the U.N. called Mexico City the “most polluted city on the planet.” Poor air quality
had catastrophic effects on the health and opportunity of its residents—leading to tens of
thousands of hospitalizations each year and causing schools and offices to close on unsafe air
days. Since then, the city has become a leader in environmentalism with bold and innovative
approaches to regulation, smart design, and building awareness.

Mexico City closed down or moved high-polluting industries, required gasoline to be

reformulated, and introduced a program called “Hoy No Circula,” which requires commuters
in private cars to stay off the road one day per week. These regulations have been supported
by smart design and resource-efficient systems, including expanded subway networks, bicycle
sharing, zero-emission bus corridors, and a design for the city’s new airport that includes park
spaces called “lungs” that reduce and absorb air pollutants. Recognizing a need for cultural
changes, the city developed various outreach programs to inform people about the problem
and invite them to act. The city’s air quality home page, which receives upward of 50,000
visitors a day, shares real-time data and resources with residents.

While Mexico City can still further reduce harmful air pollutants, many have recognized the
great strides the city has taken over the past two decades toward improving health and quality
of life for residents. In 1992, Mexico City had only eight days with air quality considered “good.”
In 2012, that number had improved to 248.
Credit: City Clock

Resilient New Orleans 59

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Continue to build social cohesion

New Orleans continues to build social cohesion by directly confronting the persistent
challenges of violence and racism. By intervening at every level of society—from the
individual to the institutional—New Orleans is seeking ways to reduce gun violence
and incarceration, develop opportunities for our young men, and open new forums for
dialogue on racial reconciliation.

ONGOING ACTION CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

NOLA FOR LIFE

Despite major reductions
Lead: City of New Orleans
since 2004 due in
Launched: 2012
part to policy reforms
and outreach efforts,
The City of New Orleans
incarceration rates
launched a comprehensive
murder reduction strategy
that exceed three
in 2012 called NOLA FOR times the national rate
LIFE, which uses prevention, Midnight Basketball is one of many NOLA FOR LIFE further strain social
intervention, enforcement, programs connecting young New Orleanians with cohesion in New Orleans
and rehabilitation strategies positive role models, community resources, jobs, and
educational opportunities.
neighborhoods and
to help young people and continue to act as barriers
families succeed. NOLA FOR
to workforce participation.
LIFE, along with partner organizations and volunteers, has developed
initiatives to reduce violence and shootings, promote jobs and
opportunity, revitalize neighborhoods, and strengthen the New Orleans
Police Department.

ONGOING ACTION

Welcome Table New Orleans

Lead: City of New Orleans
Partners: William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation,
WK Kellogg Foundation
Launched: 2014

Launched in 2014, the Welcome Table brings together diverse groups

of New Orleanians to work toward racial reconciliation. They share
experiences and stories, build relationships, listen and learn from one
another, and finally, create and execute projects that will build a better,
The first New Orleans Welcome Table participants
stronger city. Welcome Table groups come together to work through share their stories in 2014.
a facilitated process of discussion, relationship building, and action.
By meeting in safe, civil, and facilitated spaces, the groups are able to
work through each phase to build greater understanding of each other
and critical issues facing our city.

60 City of New Orleans

INSPIRATION

100 RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK HIGHLIGHT

Inspiration from Medellín

Integrated infrastructure for opportunity
and hope

In recent years, Medellín, Colombia, has become known as a

global model for confronting city violence, polarization, and
social inequity. For a place that was once known around the
world for its drug cartels and incredible rates of violence—
in excess of 5,500 murders per year in the early 1990s—
Medellín’s success is truly remarkable. By investing in its most
disadvantaged neighborhoods and directly connecting them by
transit to new opportunities, Medellín has transformed itself and
the lives of countless residents.

The most striking example of infrastructure improvements takes

the form of the Metrocable—a gondola system that connects
some underserved and formerly isolated hillside neighborhoods
to the commercial and industrial opportunities of the valley.
Credit: Megan Echols

The transit expansion was not completed in a vacuum, however.

Complementary investments have also been made in the form
of integrated public libraries, community centers, and parks
that improve the social and physical landscape of those areas
most affected by violence in the past. Perhaps most importantly,
meaningful attention and investment have been given to
communities that have felt overlooked in the past, improving
trust and a sense of pride.

These new additions have not only reshaped the urban

environment in a beautiful way, but can also be credited with
helping to drastically lower the city’s crime rate. By 2013, the
city reported a reduction in its murder rate by a factor of 10
compared to the 1990s.

Resilient New Orleans 61

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  CONNECT TO OPPORTUNITY

Expand access to safe and

affordable housing
SUPPORTING ACTION

Launch Integrated Housing Policy

Leads: City of New Orleans
Partners: US Department of Housing & Urban
Development, LA Office of Community Development,
LA Housing Corporation, Housing Authority of
New Orleans, NORA

The Integrated Housing Policy will establish the

framework by which the City will invest in both place
and people to expand access to a range of safe,
quality housing options that are affordable to them
and with access to jobs, services, and neighborhood
amenities that support their families and well-being.
Credit: Redmellon
This policy is based on a multilayered approach
of increasing the supply of affordable housing
through the strategic use of financial subsidies ONGOING ACTION
and development incentives while building the
skills of residents and the capacity of small and
HousingNOLA
disadvantaged business enterprises to take
advantage of the growing number of quality, Lead: Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance
high‑wage jobs and contracting opportunities Partners: Foundation for Louisiana, Greater New Orleans
in the metropolitan area. Foundation, City of New Orleans
Launched: 2015
This policy builds on the work of the past decade, in
which local, state, and federal government agencies, HousingNOLA is a community-based 10-year
through significant coordination and in partnership plan designed to meet the housing needs of all
with non-profit and for-profit housing developers, New Orleanians, focused on equity, design, and
have already made significant investments in accessibility. Public, private, and non-profit
affordable housing, developing nearly 5,000 stakeholders are working together to promote access
affordable rental units, completing 637 housing to safe and affordable housing across the city.
renovations for low-income homeowners, and
building 551 permanent supportive housing units.
Additionally, four major public housing developments ONGOING ACTION
have been completely redeveloped as mixed-income
communities, transforming those neighborhoods and Affordable Housing Requirements in
improving the surrounding area.
Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance
Lead: City of New Orleans

Revisions to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance now

require the inclusion of affordable housing. Planned
developments must now include affordable housing to
pursue density bonuses, and a new downtown riverfront
district requires affordable units in all new development.
62 City of New Orleans
CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

More than half of all New Orleans

Unaffordable Rent households rent, compared to
roughly a third of households
nationally. Over the past decade,
rents have been rising faster
than incomes, resulting in a rising
number of households paying
more than 30 percent of their
incomes in rent—considered
unaffordable by federal standards.
Lack of affordable housing forces
many households to move to more
affordable areas in the region,
where public transit options to
employment are less accessible.

MAP
Rent burden for a family of four, by neighborhood

 Affordable (0% - 30% of median income)

  Rent Burdened (31% - 50% of median income)

  Severely Rent Burdened (51% - 87% of median income)

3
Miles   insufficient data

Based on the average neighborhood listing price of a three-bedroom

Data Sources: Rent Jungle, American Community Survey 5 year, 2013 rental as a percentage of citywide median income for a household of four.

Households paying unaffordable housing costs

35% or more of pre-tax income on housing
More than half of
60% renters in New Orleans
51% are rent burdened,
New Orleans
meaning they spend more
Renters

44% 43% than 30% of their income on

35% 40%
40
United States
housing costs.
39 42
33 32
27 27
31 New Orleans
Monthly median rent for a
Homeowners

20 one‑bedroom apartment in
20 United States
19 New Orleans has increased
from $698 in 2004 to
$925 in 2014, surpassing
0
the national average.
1979 1989 1999 2004 2013

Source: The Data Center, New Orleans Index at Ten

Resilient New Orleans 63

VISIONS AND ACTIONS

TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

We are a
dynamic and
prepared 
city.

64 City of New Orleans

We will:
Redesign our regional transit system to connect people,
employment, and essential services

Promote sustainability as a growth strategy

Improve the redundancy and reliability of our energy

infrastructure

Integrate resilience-driven decision making across

public agencies

Invest in pre-disaster planning for post-disaster recovery

Develop the preparedness of our businesses and

neighborhoods

Resilient New Orleans 65

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Introduction Shocks threaten our existence and

complicate our daily lives. Sometimes
they come in the form of a hurricane,
We are building a New Orleans for the while other times an electrical surge
future—one that embraces change, prepares interrupts our access to clean water.
for the risks of the future, and honors our Our city has faced significant shocks
traditions. To achieve this vision, we must not over the past decade in the form of
only adapt, we must transform. infrastructure failures, floods, recessions,
oil spills, and storms. While we cannot
predict exactly what future challenges
Our future city will be one in which we are ahead or when they may come, we
live with water, invest in opportunities, can be certain we will face them. Planning
and prepare ourselves for whatever and preparing for future shocks is critical.
unforeseeable challenges we may face. This means making sure small businesses
In order for people to connect to the have tools to open sooner after storms. It
opportunities of the future, we need also means developing a plan in advance
modern and efficient transportation for how we will recover our critical
options to get workers to jobs and infrastructure, deliver social services,
students to school. In order to bounce and rebuild our homes after a disaster.
back from future shocks, we must By planning in advance of a major
prepare our city, neighborhoods, and shock, we can accelerate the recovery
businesses. In order to reduce our process, make more efficient use of
reliance on fossil fuels and join the scarce resources, and reduce the overall
global community in mitigating climate economic and social impact to the city.
change, we must invest in renewable
energy sources and design for greater
efficiency.

66 City of New Orleans

In order to be a city that supports delivery systems flexible to future
the health, safety, and prosperity of needs, robust and redundant in the face
its people, we need systems that are of shocks, integrated across agencies
reliable—both in times of crisis and in and departments, and responsive
our daily lives. A comprehensive and to community concerns. The public
efficient transit system is key to creating and private sectors must incorporate
opportunities for social mobility. In order resilience thinking into decision-making
to be an equitable city, it is imperative processes to ensure that investments are
that we invest in a multimodal regional strategic, create multiple benefits, and
transportation system that connects have a view to the future.
people to jobs, education, services, and
recreation. Through better management,
coordination, and service delivery, we
Part of reliability is an understanding of can unlock value by improving daily life
where redundancy is most appropriate— while also preparing the city as a whole
knowing where backups can ensure the for future shocks. By modernizing our
continuity of our most critical services. operational systems, we will better equip
By creating redundancy in the electrical residents and businesses to evolve from
grid, we can reduce downtime at consumers of public services to partners
facilities like hospitals and pumping in addressing shared challenges.
stations, thereby limiting the potentially
devastating impact of electrical outages. Our delta city is already defined by its
By reducing the rate of increasing dynamism, and our future will only be
demand through energy efficiency more complex. We need to prepare now
measures and diversifying production by building systems that are flexible
sources through renewable energy, enough to respond to changing demands
we can reduce our impact on the and conditions. Transforming city
environment. systems is about taking action today to
build the city of tomorrow.
During the past five years, the vast
majority of basic municipal services
and structures have been updated or
transformed. Our work is not done. In
order to be resilient, city government
cannot simply provide basic public
“Planning is most effective
services but must also make these
when it is practiced in
advance.”
— William McDonough

Resilient New Orleans 67

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Redesign our regional transit system

to connect people, employment,
and essential services

FEATURED ACTION

Redesign regional
transportation
systems

Lead: City of New Orleans,

Regional Transit Authority
Partners: Ride New Orleans, Bike Easy

ASPIRATION The City will hire a Transportation Coordinator to facilitate a transit

New Orleans is a car-optional city system redesign and implementation strategy to connect people,
with an integrated, efficient, and employment, and services. The City will lead by example in promoting
reliable multimodal regional transit mass transit use by providing public employees with a pre-tax
system, prioritizing connections transit pass.
to employment and focusing on
pedestrian and bicycle safety. The City of New Orleans will work with the Regional Transit Authority
(RTA), neighboring jurisdictions, local advocacy organizations, and
national experts to develop a multimodal regional transit vision. We
RESILIENCE VALUE
will work together to create a detailed road map to guide investment
By investing in a robust world‑class in service improvements and expansion today and in the future, with
transit system, we will be more a view to developing a comprehensive regional network. Establishing
equitable, be more economically critical linkages between regional economic development projects
competitive, reduce our environmental and employment centers, such as the UMC-VA Medical Center and
impact, and support growth. Louis Armstrong International Airport, identifying potential bus rapid
transit (BRT) corridors will help guide early planning efforts. Our
future multimodal transit system will integrate bicycle and pedestrian
networks, with a “Vision Zero” goal of no pedestrian or bicycle
fatalities on city streets.

68 City of New Orleans

CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

Our jobs are regional,

but our transit system is not.
New Orleans was late to create a regional transit authority, doing so only in the late
1970s and early 1980s, and the effort was curtailed from the outset by the decision by
surrounding parishes to withdraw from the Regional Transit Authority. While any efforts
at regional transit floundered, the RTA operated an efficient and widespread system—
primarily based on bus service—that served the entire city with frequent and dependable
routes until the eve of Katrina.

However, since Katrina, New Orleans’ transit system has only regained 45 percent of the
level of bus service, and the operating budget for the RTA has been reduced by almost
40 percent. Service reductions have been worst in areas where transit is most critical:
low‑income neighborhoods, communities of color, and areas where people lack access
to personal vehicles.

Today, the region is lacking a comprehensive regional vision for transit

service. Because of this, the city faces significant challenges in connecting
residents to jobs and services, attracting new residents, and remaining
competitive for scarce federal transportation funding.

Michoud
Michoud

Metairie

Airport

Elmwood
CBD
Tulane
Tulane

MAP
Sprawling jobs,
disconnected transit
Transit routes by agency and stop frequency,
in minutes

RTA <15 15 - 30 30 - 60 60+ Data Sources

RIDE New Orleans,
State of Transit 2015
JET
US Census, Longitudinal
Job Employer‑Household Dynamics
Clusters

2
Miles Resilient New Orleans 69
VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Promote sustainability as
a growth strategy

FEATURED ACTION

Launch Downtown
Energy Efficiency
Challenge

Lead: Downtown Development District

Partners: City of New Orleans, Entergy

ASPIRATION
New Orleans is a national leader
among peer cities in reducing energy
use and its related environmental The City will partner with the Downtown Development District
impact. (DDD) to launch a Downtown Energy Efficiency Challenge that
will engage property owners, businesses, and employees in a
one‑year competition to reduce overall energy consumption in
RESILIENCE VALUE
the New Orleans CBD. City Hall will lead by example by reducing
By reducing energy use, New Orleans its energy consumption, seeking renewable energy sources, and
will reduce operating costs for promoting good practices.
businesses, reduce the city’s impact
on the environment, and promote the
city as a leader in sustainability and
climate adaptation. ONGOING ACTION

City of New Orleans Energy Efficiency and

Usage Initiatives
Lead: City of New Orleans

The City has begun to reduce the energy consumption of public assets.
Fifty-five public school buildings have been built or renovated to
LEED silver standards. The city replaced 23,000 streetlights with new
energy-efficient LED fixtures, leading to a significant cost savings. The
city stands to save significantly more by increasing efficiency in other
public facilities and introducing renewable sources of energy.

70 City of New Orleans

INSPIRATION

Credit: Jaysin Trevino

100 RESILIENT CITIES NETWORK HIGHLIGHT

Inspiration from Chicago

Leading by example on efficiency and sustainability

In 2000, Chicago built the city’s first green roof garden on City Hall to signal to residents
and businesses the city’s commitment to sustainable strategies and to demonstrate
the potential of innovative retrofits to Chicago’s historic building stock. This green roof
reduces stormwater runoff, conserves energy, decreases the urban heat island effect,
and improves air quality. Over the past 15 years, hundreds of property owners across
Chicago have followed City Hall’s lead and installed green roofs of their own, supported
by incentive programs for existing buildings and encouraged by “cool roof” regulations on
new developments.

When it comes to sustainable design, the City of Chicago continually leads by example.
The City’s current Retrofit Chicago initiative is a coordinated, cross-sector plan to improve
energy efficiency in municipal, commercial, and residential buildings across the city. Through
creative financing strategies, the city is upgrading 60 municipal buildings—including libraries,
police stations, and health care facilities—to reduce energy consumption and operating
costs. In addition to public sector improvements, over 20,000 residential units have been
upgraded, creating savings for renters and homeowners. Retrofit Chicago’s voluntary
Commercial Buildings Initiative sets a goal of 20 percent energy use reductions in five years
for participating buildings. Through these programs, buildings across the city are seeing
gains in efficiency and savings on utility bills, while creating jobs and improving the city’s
impact on the environment.

Resilient New Orleans 71

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Improve the redundancy and reliability

of our energy infrastructure

FEATURED ACTION

Launch microgrid
pilot project

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: US Department of Energy, Sandia
National Laboratories, Sewerage & Water
Board of New Orleans, Entergy

Credit: NASA
ASPIRATION
Greater New Orleans has a reliable The City of New Orleans is assessing the risks of energy outages
and redundant energy production to critical infrastructure systems and conducting feasibility studies
and distribution network that is able for backup generation, or microgrids. Microgrids are small backup
to meet and adapt to the increased electrical generation and distribution systems that can disconnect
demands and risks of the 21st century. from the traditional grid to operate autonomously and help mitigate
the effects of outages. Microgrids can help strengthen grid resilience
RESILIENCE VALUE and support quicker system response and recovery. Microgrids also
By providing energy backup during support a flexible and efficient electric grid by enabling the integration
shocks and outages for a variety of of renewable sources of energy. In addition, the use of local sources
co-located critical infrastructures of energy helps reduce energy losses in transmission and distribution,
(e.g., pumping stations, hospitals, further increasing efficiency of the electric delivery system.
communications), we can support
We are highly dependent on the electrical grid, and a major outage
faster disaster response and recovery,
can have severe consequences. Reliable power is especially important
and avoid losses of life and property.
for infrastructure and critical facilities that support and protect public
health and safety, including water and wastewater, police and fire,
hospitals, and communications systems. Our city has multiple critical
functions or services that are interdependent, such that a loss of power
or energy to one facility or service will adversely affect other functions
or operations. For example, loss of power to a water treatment plant for
an extended period could reduce the ability to pump water, impacting
not only public health, but also firefighting and water for industrial
uses. Therefore, extended power outages can have cascading impacts
or lead to a devastating chain of failures of critical services.

72 City of New Orleans

SUPPORTING ACTION

Partner with regional energy utility to

advance efficiency and renewable sources
Lead: City of New Orleans
Partner: Entergy

The City of New Orleans and its partners will promote creative
policies, such as decoupling, which incentivizes the utility to
reduce energy use, and of renewable portfolio standards,
which require increased percentages renewable energy
Credit: Army Corps sources. By modernizing our approach to energy use and
of Engineers generation, we can reduce our environmental impact and
lower our energy costs.

CHALLENGE IN CONTEXT

In August 2012, Hurricane Isaac

brought high coastal surges,
strong winds, and heavy rainfall,
which persisted over the city for
51 hours. Hurricane-force winds
caused widespread power outages,
leaving over
787,000
customers without power
in Louisiana.
Credit: Infrogmation

Energy Vulnerability
Reliable energy is essential for the swift response and recovery of a city. Today, New Orleans’
households, businesses, infrastructure, and public facilities sometimes suffer electrical surges and
outages. Climate change and rising temperatures are expected to increase electricity demand
among New Orleanians and physical strain on infrastructure, causing increased vulnerabilities to
the system. Likewise, warming temperatures are predicted to increase the strength and frequency
of tropical storms, creating greater risk of damage to distribution lines.

When critical services like potable water, sewer systems, or drainage pumping stations are
down due to power outages, even briefly, it can cause damage to infrastructure, economic
losses to businesses, and hazardous public health consequences. In order to adapt to the more
extreme conditions of a changing climate, greater capacity, efficiency, and redundancy must be
incorporated into how we produce and consume power.

Resilient New Orleans 73

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Integrate resilience-driven decision

making across public agencies

FEATURED ACTION

Establish Mayor’s
Office of Resilience
and Sustainability

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: 100 Resilient Cities,
Urban Sustainability Directors Network

ASPIRATION The Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, led by the chief
City government evaluates investments, resilience officer, will facilitate the adoption of best practices and
programs, and policies based on capacity building throughout city government. The office will
their ability to mitigate the impacts coordinate across the region and organize its work across the three
of future threats, to adapt the city to pillars of the city’s resilience strategy: Adapt to Thrive, Connect to
environmental change, and to take Opportunity, and Transform City Systems. The Mayor’s Office of
advantage of emerging opportunities. Resilience and Sustainability will integrate with the existing resilience
initiatives at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) and
RESILIENCE VALUE be supported by the Office of Performance and Accountability (OPA)
on metrics and monitoring.
By crafting policies and programs based
on their potential to create multiple
benefits, New Orleans can make itself
safer, healthier, and more economically
stable using existing resources.

SUPPORTING ACTION

Launch City Resilience Index The City of New Orleans will pilot the City Resilience Index (CRI)
Lead: City of New Orleans to serve as a holistic framework for monitoring across sectors and
Partner: Rockefeller Foundation
scales. The CRI will be managed by the OPA. Ongoing updating
and monitoring of CRI metrics will be part of the City’s practice of
resilience and play a critical role in measuring the ultimate impact
of New Orleans’ resilience building efforts.

74 City of New Orleans

ONGOING ACTION ONGOING ACTION

Performance Management One Stop Shop for City Permits

Programs and Licenses
Lead: City of New Orleans Lead: City of New Orleans
Launched: 2010 Launched: 2012

Since initiating its successful STAT programs

in 2010, the New Orleans OPA has led a The One Stop Shop
transformation in the improvement, tracking, provides physical and
and reporting of public service delivery. Based online locations for
on successful models piloted in Baltimore streamlined customer
and New York City, the STAT model enables service for permits,
New Orleans city departments to set goals and licenses, and enforcement
track progress, creating a culture of transparency cases. The One Stop Shop eliminated confusing
and accountability. New Orleans’ STAT models are bureaucratic processes spread out over multiple
used for an array of issues, such as blight, crime, offices and replaced them with straightforward
and quality of life, and have received recognition procedures at a customer-centered location where
both locally and nationally for their successes. wait times have been slashed from hours to less than
OPA will support the work of the Mayor’s Office of 20 minutes and construction permits are issued
Resilience and Sustainability through the collection within days rather than weeks.
and monitoring of data related to resilience-
building projects.

ONGOING ACTION

Integrated Asset Management

Leads: City of New Orleans,
Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans   
Launched: 2014
Through an agreement between the City and the
Sewerage & Water Board, public infrastructure
management projects are coordinated from planning to
design to construction. Subsurface utility maintenance
and other projects are conducted in concert to minimize
construction tasks and costs. The City is now exploring
digital asset management systems to further improve
performance, coordination, and public reporting.

Resilient New Orleans 75

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Invest in pre-disaster planning for

post-disaster recovery

FEATURED ACTION

Create pre‑disaster
plan for
post‑disaster
recovery

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: iParametrics, Swiss Re

ASPIRATION
The City of New Orleans will develop a comprehensive plan for
The City of New Orleans is prepared
post‑disaster recovery that incorporates critical infrastructure
for future disasters and ready to carry
systems, land use, housing, economic development, and public
out an efficient, comprehensive, and
health services. The plan will also set forth a sustainable recovery
equitable recovery while building
management framework to increase predictability and stability in
adaptive capacity and providing
the use of resources and ensure a resilience-driven decision-making
cross‑sectoral benefits.
process.

RESILIENCE VALUE The City of New Orleans has been a national leader in developing
By planning for comprehensive disaster innovative ways to utilize federal disaster funding, but a comprehensive
recovery in advance of a major shock, financing strategy includes public, private, and insurance funding
the city can accelerate the recovery sources. The City of New Orleans is working to identify the most
process, make more efficient use of advanced insurance coverage models to reduce exposure in the
scarce resources, and reduce the overall face of risk, including parametric policies, risk pooling, and green
economic impact of future shocks. infrastructure modeling.

76 City of New Orleans

SUPPORTING ACTION ONGOING ACTION

Implement resilient infrastructure Citywide Parcel and

recovery and risk transfer for Building Survey
critical assets
Lead: City of New Orleans
Lead: City of New Orleans Partner: Esri
Partners: Swiss Re, Veolia In order to assess risk and measure blight reduction,
The City of New Orleans will conduct a thorough the City is developing a rapid method for surveying
risk assessment of the city’s critical infrastructure to building conditions on every parcel in the city,
determine the exposures and the associated costs of capturing photography using car-mounted cameras
disasters in various scenarios. With this assessment, and engaging community members to evaluate each
the City will be able to isolate systems that are parcel. Outside of crises, the property condition data
critical to continued livability of the city and have can be used to develop strategies for risk reduction,
deployable private market assets prepared to repair code enforcement, and reuse of vacant property.
and improve the system immediately after an event. After a disaster, the imagery can be quickly collected
Through this process, New Orleans will be positioned and used to rapidly assess recovery needs and
to be the first city to pre-fund the disaster resilience support services, such as mobile first aid clinics,
of its critical infrastructure using private market food and water distribution, and temporary housing.
assets. Catastrophic losses will be pre-funded During disaster recovery, a citywide property
through the transfer of the risk to the private condition census conducted at regular intervals
market. This will decrease the chances of sustained can provide crucial progress updates and be used
impairments to basic services and save the city and to strategically deploy public services and case
its residents substantial expense in the future while management. Having comprehensive pre-storm data
improving the speed of recovery. can facilitate more efficient reimbursement from
FEMA and private insurers.

ONGOING ACTION

City-Assisted Evacuation
Lead: City of New Orleans
Partner: Evacuteer
In order to develop and implement a comprehensive citywide evacuation
strategy for all residents, the City of New Orleans partnered with the non-profit
organization Evacuteer to raise awareness and assist in New Orleans’ public
evacuation option, City-Assisted Evacuation (CAE). Evacuteer recruits, trains,
and manages volunteers to assist during evacuations.

For purposes of CAE, 17 special staging areas for evacuation pickup were
identified and marked prominently with 14-foot-tall stainless steel sculptures.
Known as Evacuspots, they serve as meeting and pickup points during
mandatory evacuations and exist as awareness-building public art. Evacuteer
also operates EvacuKids, a disaster-preparedness and hurricane education
Credit: Evacuteer
program for children, in order to build capacity and preparedness in New
Evacuspot sculpture Orleanians of all ages.

Resilient New Orleans 77

VISIONS AND ACTIONS  TRANSFORM CITY SYSTEMS

Develop the preparedness of

our businesses and neighborhoods

FEATURED ACTION

Develop small
business
resilience program

Lead: City of New Orleans

Partners: New Orleans Redevelopment
Authority, New Orleans Business Alliance,
UN-ISDR, Walmart Foundation

ASPIRATION
Barber Wilbert “Chill” Wilson was one of the first local business owners to return to
Businesses will have access to the New Orleans after Katrina and get back to work in his community.
resources, capacity, and expertise
required to prepare and respond The City and its partners will bring technical assistance to small
effectively to disasters and economic businesses and help them develop disaster preparedness strategies.
downturns. This initiative will modify the existing United Nations Disaster Resilience
Scorecard to apply to small- and medium-sized businesses on strategic
RESILIENCE VALUE corridors in New Orleans. Building off of the work of the City Planning
By investing in disaster preparedness, Commission’s Main Street Resilience Program, we will measure
business owners will lower their own resilience readiness and prioritize actions for each corridor in short-,
risk exposure, spur further economic medium-, and long-term time frames, then conduct an awareness and
development, and improve the continuity training program for each of the corridors. The initiative will enable
of critical services in times of disaster each business owner to assess his or her preparedness, identify
response and recovery. achievable improvements, and explore resources to support business
continuity, increase energy and resource efficiency, and enhance
economic stability.

78 City of New Orleans

SUPPORTING ACTION

Launch neighborhood resilience program

Lead: New Orleans Redevelopment Authority

NORA will develop a program to provide technical assistance and planning

support to neighborhoods to assess their resilience and devise strategies
and projects that address their challenges and risks. By working together to
address their common risks, neighbors can build social cohesion, develop new
solutions, and reduce their exposure to risk. The program will be piloted in
select neighborhoods building off of community development work previously
undertaken by the City and NORA.

Resilient New Orleans 79

80 City of New Orleans
SUMMARY OF FEATURED ACTIONS
We intend to begin implementation of the strategy immediately, and the Featured Actions provide
the work plan. The table below summarizes the Featured Actions described throughout the strategy,
showing the project lead, partners, potential funding sources, and status of the project.

Featured Actions
Vision/Action Lead Partners Funding Source(s) Status

Adapt to Thrive
Leverage critical resources for Mayor’s Office of CPRA; GNO, Inc RESTORE Act, In development
coastal projects Resilience & Sustainability BP Settlement,
CPRA, NDRC
Implement Urban Water Plan City of New Orleans, SWBNO; NORA; HMGP, NDRC, Underway
projects Sewerage & Water Board GNO, Inc; GNOF; BP Settlement,
Trust for Public Land; SWBNO
Deltares; Trimble
Establish resilience retrofit Mayor’s Office of Deutsche Bank Public bond, In development
program Resilience & Sustainability private investment
Develop emerging environmental Mayor’s Office of Ripple Effect, Philanthropy, In development
stewards Resilience & Sustainability Evacuteer, Louisiana private investment
Children’s Museum
Establish resilience center Mayor’s Office of Rockefeller Philanthropy, In development
Resilience & Sustainability Foundation; Tulane private investment
University; GNO, Inc
Design and implement climate Mayor’s Office of C40, Urban CNO, philanthropy In development
action plan Resilience & Sustainability Sustainability
Director’s Network

Connect to Opportunity
Create emergency savings Foundation for Louisiana CNO, MFO Philanthropy, In development
account program private investment
Launch digital divide innovation Mayor’s Office of CityMart Philanthropy, In development
challenge Resilience & Sustainability private investment

Transform City Systems

Establish Mayor’s Office of Mayor’s Office 100 Resilient Cities, CNO, Underway
Resilience and Sustainability Urban Sustainability philanthropy,
Director’s Network private investment
Create pre-disaster plan for Mayor’s Office of iParametrics, Swiss CNO, philanthropy Proposed
post‑disaster recovery Resilience & Sustainability Re
Redesign regional transportation City of New Orleans/RTA Ride New Orleans, TBD Proposed
systems Bike Easy
Launch Downtown Energy Downtown Development CNO, Entergy private investment In development
Efficiency Challenge District
Develop small business resilience Mayor’s Office of NORA; NOLABA; Philanthropy, Underway
initiative Resilience & Sustainability UN-ISDR; Walmart private investment
Foundation
Launch microgrid pilot project Mayor’s Office of USDOE, Sandia Federal grant Underway
Resilience & Sustainability National
Laboratories,
SWBNO, Entergy

Resilient New Orleans 81

REFERENCES
New Orleans in Context
Graphics
Map: New Orleans is a Coastal City. NASA AQUA MODIS imagery 2014
Map: New Orleans and the world. 100 Resilient Cities
Map: New Orleans and the nation. Louisiana State Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, US Geological
Survey National Hydrologic data, US Department of Transportation
Map: Nature and the city. US Fish and Wildlife Services, National Wetlands Inventory
Map: Median Household Income. US Census Bureau, 2009 - 2013 5-year American Community Survey
Map: New Orleans by Race/Ethnicity. 2010 US Census
Maps, Graph: Regional Trends. 1940 - 2010 US Censuses, 2005 - 2015 American Community Surveys, David
Rumsey Map Collection

Adapt to Thrive
American Climate Prospectus: Economic Risks in the United States. (2014) Rhodium Group. rhg.com
B.H.B. Latrobe. (1819) Impressions Respecting New Orleans: Diary & Sketches 1818-1820
B. Plumer. (2013) These 20 cities have the most to lose from rising sea levels. The Washington Post
C.E. Colten. (2006) An Unnatural Metropolis: Wresting New Orleans from Nature. Louisiana State University Press
Global Warming and Hurricanes: An Overview of Current Research Results. (2015) Geophysical Fluid Dynamic
Laboratory—NOAA. NOAA.gov
Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan. (2013) Waggonner & Ball Architects. livingwithwater.com
J. Barry. (Aug 1, 2015) Is New Orleans Safe? New York Times.
J. Schwarz. (Jun 14, 2012) Vast Defenses Now Shielding New Orleans. New York Times.
Louisiana Coastal Wetlands: A Resource at Risk. US Geological Survey. usgs.gov
Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast. (2012) Louisiana State Coastal Protection and
Restoration Authority. coastal.la.gov
M. Tidwell. (2007) The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of Coastal Cities.
Free Press
N. Shrinath and A. Plyer. (Apr 20, 2015) The Coastal Index: Tracking development of the water management
cluster in Southeast Louisiana. The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org
R. Campanella. (2010) Delta Urbanism
Ranking Port Cities with High Exposure and Vulnerability to Climate Extremes: Exposure Estimates. (2007)
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. oecd.org
Rotterdam Climate Initiative. rotterdamclimateinitiative.nl
Subsidence in New Orleans. (2006) NASA Earth Observatory. nasa.gov
Underwater: Land Loss in Coastal Louisiana since 1932. (2013) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
climate.gov
V.R. Burkett, D.B. Zilkoski, and D.A. Hart. (2001) Sea-Level Rise and Subsidence: Implications for Flooding in
New Orleans, Louisiana. US Geological Survey. usgs.gov.

Graphics
Map: Future Without Action Scenario. Louisiana State Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
Map: Disproportionate Risk. US Census Bureau (2010), FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (Revised
Preliminary 2014)
Diagram: Critical Infrastructure. Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan
Map: Offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, CPRA

82 City of New Orleans

Connect to Opportunity
A. Plyer, N. Shrinath, and V. Mack. (2015). The New Orleans Index at Ten: Measuring Greater New Orleans’
Progress toward Prosperity. The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org
Ciudad de Mexico. Systema de Monitoreo Atmosferico. aire.df.gob.mx
J. Rodin. (2014) The Resilience Dividend.
M. Nelson, L. Wolf-Powers, and J. Fisch. (2015) Persistent Low Wages in New Orleans’ Economic Resurgence:
Policies for Improving Earnings for the Poor. The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org
N. Shrinath, V. Mack, and A. Plyer. (2014). Who lives in New Orleans and Metro Parishes now? The Data Center.
datacenterresearch.org
New Orleans Community Health Improvement Plan. (2015) New Orleans Health Department. nola.gov
Place Matters for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All; a Report on Health
Inequities in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. (2012) Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Pope Francis. (2015) Encyclical Letter, Laudato si’ of the Holy Father Francis, On Care for our Common Home. The
Vatican. vatican.va
R. Chetty, N. Hendren, P. Kline, and E. Saez. (2014) Where is the Land of opportunity? The Geography of
Intergenerational Mobility in the United States.
R. L. McCline, M. von Nkosi, A. Harrell-Carter, and E. Boness. (2015) Expanding Opportunity for Minority-Owned
Businesses in Metro New Orleans. The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org.
R. Shearer, A. Liu, N. Holmes, and J. Ng. (2015) Opportunity Clusters: Identifying pathways to good jobs in metro
New Orleans. Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org
The Best and Worst Places to Grow Up: How Your Area Compares. (May 4, 2015) New York Times.
V. Mack. (2015) New Orleans Kids, Working Parents, and Poverty. The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org

Graphics
Chart: New Orleans Median Household Income by Race and Ethnicity. The Data Center, New Orleans Index at Ten.
Map: Rent burden for a family of four, by neighborhood. Rent Jungle (data aggregation of rental rates,
2009 - 2015). US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009 - 2013
Chart: Households paying unaffordable housing costs. The Data Center, New Orleans Index at Ten.

Transform City Systems

City of Chicago. cityofchicago.org
Entergy New Orleans, Inc. (2012). Hurricane Isaac Report.
The State of Transit in New Orleans: The need for a more efficient, equitable and sustainable system. (2015) Ride
New Orleans. rideneworleans.org.
R. Rainey. (2014) A brief history of the Regional Transit Authority’s 1-cent sales tax. Times-Picayune.
R. Shearer, A. Liu, N. Holmes, and J. Ng. (2015) Opportunity Clusters: Identifying pathways to good jobs in metro
New Orleans. Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Data Center. datacenterresearch.org

Graphics
Map: Sprawling jobs, disconnected transit. Ride New Orleans, The State of Transit in New Orleans (2015). US
Census, Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics, adapted from R. Manduca, Employment in America, 2010.

Resilient New Orleans 83

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Resilient New Orleans is possible because of the hard work and input of
the many city staff members, community members, technical experts,
and project advisors who participated in the development of this
strategy to shape the future New Orleans.
This work would not have been possible without the tremendous
support of The Rockefeller Foundation, and in particular the leadership
and guidance of Dr. Judith Rodin, Patrick Brennan, Dr. Nancy Kete, and
Sam Carter.
Special thanks to all our friends and colleagues at 100 Resilient
Cities who made this strategy a reality, especially Michael Berkowitz,
Bryna Lipper, Andrew Salkin, Leah Flax, and Max Young.
We want to also thank the following Chief Resilience Officers who
provided inspiration for this strategy: Cezar Busatto (Porto Alegre),
Alessandro Coppola (Rome), Nicole Ferrini (El Paso), Greg Guibert
(Boulder), Toby Kent (Melbourne), Arnoldo Matus Kramer (Mexico City),
Arnoud Molenaar (Rotterdam), Christine Morris (Norfolk), Patrick Otellini
(San Francisco), and Santiago Uribe Rocha (Medellín).
Support was also provided by the Greater New Orleans Foundation;
Louisiana Office of Community Development; Tulane University; Greater
New Orleans, Inc; Iberia Bank; Jones Walker, LLP; Waggonner & Ball
Architects; Young Leadership Council; and CityMart.
We want to thank the exceptional team at HR&A Advisors, who helped
transform our collective thoughts into actionable goals and initiatives.

84 City of New Orleans

We also would also like to thank the following dedicated contributors:

Working Group Katherine Cain Alex Kaplan Brandon Roll

Chairs Rich Campanella K.C. King Lisa Romback

Aron Chang, Ripple Effect Jeff Carney Stosh Kozlowski Bill Rouselle

Ashleigh Gardere, Brad Case Shirley Laska Scott Ruff

City of New Orleans Tom Castanza Angela Lawson Jennifer Ruley
William A. Gilchrist, Andrea Chen Bryan Lee Erin Ryerson
City of New Orleans Stephen Coburn Ellen Lee Miriam Salas
David Morris, Evacuteer Mark Davis Jonathan Leit Timolynn Sams
David Muth, National Ella Delio Keith Liederman Jeff Schwartz
Wildlife Federation
Casey DeMoss John Lopez Ken Schwartz
David Waggonner,
Lucas Diaz Nick Marshall Christy Sessions Kervin
Waggonner & Ball
Architects Ramiro Diaz Richard Martinez Denese Shervington

Charles West, Nicole Dufour Aaron Miller Allen Smith

City of New Orleans Jacob Dunn Alexandra Miller Jermaine Smith
Oliver Wise, Melissa Ehlinger Flint Mitchell Thom Smith
City of New Orleans Jolene Elberth Suzanne Mobley Meredith Soniat
Ethan Ellestad Enrique Moresco Shannon Stage
Working Group
Mary Eveleigh Angela Morton Tom Stratton
Contributors
Dan Favre Elizabeth Mossop Lacy Strohschein
Danica Adams
Carie Fischer Jenga Mwendo Cynthia Sylvain Lear
Tim Adams
Dani Galloway Tuan Nguyen Boo Thomas
Gabrielle Alicino
Lamar Gardere Lex Norton Steve Tullos
Jose Alvarez
Kurt Gerwitz Sarah Olivier Keith Twitchell
Ishmael Amin
Mark Goodson Charlotte Parent Linda Usdin
Tyler Antrup
Rashida Govan Angela Patterson Mary Grace Verges
Sarah Babcock
Gregory Grandy Casius Peeler Semmes Walmsley
David Thaddeus Baker
Maggie Hansen Paula Peer Calais Waring
Robin Barnes
Monique Harden Amelia Pellegrin Tammie Washington
Isabel Barrios
Ron Harper Thom Pepper Cedric Watts
Latonia Batiste
Rafel Hart Brooke Perry Prisca Weems
Karim Belhadjali
Rachel Heiligman Zakenya Perry Megan Weyland
Maggie Berkel
Scott Hemmerling Regina Philson Kay Wilkins
Jarvain Bingmon
Bobbie Hill Serina Phoenix Tim Williamson
Julia Bland
James Husserl Erin Porter Beverly Wright
Jonathan Bolen
Carmen James Brandon Rapp Matt Zieper
Trupania Bonner
Todd James John Renne
Brenda Breaux
Lydia Jemison Lisa Richardson
Cindy Brown
Arthur Johnson Robert Rivers
Erica Buher
Tanya Jones Anne Rolfes
Liz Burpee

Resilient New Orleans 85

Resilience Steering Committee
Eric Baumgartner, Louisiana Public Ky Luu, Tulane University Disaster Resilience
Health Institute Leadership Academy
Henry Coaxum, Coaxum Enterprises William Raymond Manning,
Flozell Daniels, Foundation for Louisiana Manning Architects
Ashleigh Gardere, City of New Orleans David Morris, Evacuteer
Cedric Grant, Sewerage & Water Board of Judy Reese Morse, City of New Orleans
New Orleans David Muth, National Wildlife Federation
Andy Kopplin, City of New Orleans Allison Plyer, The Data Center
Merritt Lane, Canal Barge Charles Rice, Entergy New Orleans
Chewy Dang Le, Le & Le Consulting Charles West, City of New Orleans

Resilient New Orleans Team

Jeff Hebert, Chief Resilience Officer Bryna Lipper, VP of City Relationships,
Jared Genova, Project Manager, 100 Resilient Cities
Resilient NOLA Leah Flax, Program Manager,
David Lessinger, Director of Strategy & 100 Resilient Cities
Planning, NORA Asima Jansveld, Senior Associate,
Colleen McHugh, Resilience Planner, HR&A Advisors
NORA Candace Damon, Vice Chairman,
Mary Beth Romig, Director of HR&A Advisors
Communications, NORA Jamie Torres-Springer, Principal,
Brooke Smith, Chief of Staff, Mayor’s Office HR&A Advisors
Ryan Berni, Senior Advisor, Kaye Matheny, Principal, HR&A Advisors
Mayor’s Office Juan Felipe Visser, Associate, HR&A Advisors
Alex Lebow, Director of Strategic Craig Belden
Partnerships, Mayor’s Office Nick Rolf
Ray Bolling, Director, Mayor’s Office of
Neighborhood Engagement
NoraAnn Winbush, Senior Liaison, Mayor’s
Office of Neighborhood Engagement
Kyle Shelly, Liaison, Mayor’s Office of
Neighborhood Engagement
Laura Mellem, Liaison, Mayor’s Office of
Neighborhood Engagement
Megan Echols, Intern, Harvard University
Teddy Newmyer, Intern, Tulane University
Heather Milton, Researcher,
Tulane University

Designed by Elizabeth Wilson with support

from the SKDKnickerbocker team

86 City of New Orleans

Produced with support from:
August 2015

resilientnola.org