Procedural Justice for All: Community Participation within Flood Risk Management in New Orleans, Louisiana

Abstract: Traditional grey infrastructure in New Orleans, Louisiana has become increasingly less efficient and adaptable to changing flood risks in the face of climate change and increasing development of flood-prone areas. City planners and decision-makers are beginning to use integrated flood risk management as a tool to increase community flood resiliency, however inequalities between communities’ representation still exist. The extent and methods of community participation within the decision-making of flood risk management requires more research. Thus, this study aims to examine methods of community participation within three city plans and to investigate if they are procedurally just for socially vulnerable populations. Based on existing research regarding city planning, this study will attempt to answer the following question: how are socially vulnerable populations being incorporated into the flood risk management decision-making of New Orleans’ city plans? Social vulnerability, in this context, is defined as the attributes of individuals or communities that create challenges in preparation for, protection from, and restoration from flood events.  In-depth content analyses of three New Orleans city plans involving flood risk mitigation were accomplished using coding an grouping related to the study’s research aim. This method was combined with conducting semi-structured interviews of key individuals involved in the analyzed city plans. This study shows the implications of incorporating socially vulnerable populations into community participation within flood risk planning in New Orleans. While it seems that there is an increased use and awareness of community participation methods within flood risk management planning in New Orleans, procedurally just methods and socially vulnerable populations’ engagement are lacking and left unassessed. Further research is needed to establish greater legitimacy of the importance for city government to prevent further marginalization of communities that are unequally engaging with flood risk planning.