New Orleans, its Ninth Ward, and Katrina

Discussing urban vulnerability and resilience

The Ninth Ward through the eyes of Jewell Parker Rhodes

Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, leaving behind more than a thousand deaths, over a million people displaced, and countless economic and social damages. The tragedy unfolded gradually over the ten days described by the multi-award-winning novelist Jewell Parker Rhodes in her book Ninth Ward (2010).

Through the eyes of Lanesha, a 12-year-old resident of the Ninth Ward, the reader witnesses the approach of the hurricane. Katrina takes away her reference points, represented by her school’s mathematical signs and her tutor Mama Ya-Ya’s magical ones, which are necessary for her to recognize her neighborhood and her city.

The young girl manages to seek refuge in the attic of her house to escape the rising water and eventually finds a way out. The protagonist’s disorientation embeds the tragedy of an entire community. The natural catastrophe is made worse by the collapse of levees designed to protect the city from the flooding of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain; because of this infrastructural breach, water in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans reached up to 15 feet in height.

Vulnerable cities, resilient cities

The natural hazard in urban areas is traditionally defined as the product of a geophysical or hydro meteorological contingency and the territorial vulnerability.

First of all, a city’s vulnerability depends on its geographic and structural characteristics, including building functionality and its demographic distribution. Located on the Mississippi Delta, largely at or below sea level and facing the Gulf of Mexico, the city of New Orleans is strategic for trading, but is extremely vulnerable to flooding and hurricanes. Geographer Peirce Lewis called it “the impossible but inevitable city.”

Urban vulnerability also has other implications, such as cultural, cognitive, political-administrative, institutional, and socio-economic ones: in the latter regards, even before the 2005 hurricane, the city ranked second among major U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest poverty rate, corresponding to 18.4 percent of residents.

Therefore, to calculate the risk, i.e., the potential damage, to which a city is exposed, it is necessary to consider all of these factors together. Estimating the extent of the consequences of a disaster is key to strengthening urban resilience, which is the ability of a community to readapt and return to a condition equal to or better than it was before the occurrence of a natural disaster.

Vulnerability and resilience in the Ninth Ward

The Ninth Ward – the setting of the entire Rhodes novel – was one of the areas most damaged by Katrina and was marked by a particularly slow and gradual recovery. In fact, by 2015, only 37 percent of the pre-Katrina population had returned there, and compared to other districts, only a few homes and businesses had been rebuilt.

Although notably vulnerable economically and geographically, the Ninth Ward benefits from a great amount of social capital, that is, a rich network of resources in terms of knowledge, skills, mutual relationships, and sharing of material goods. A survey conducted in 2010 revealed that, in most cases, the residents of this district know their neighbors personally and have been living in the area longer than residents of other wealthier and more ethnically homogeneous areas.

Rhodes’ novel highlights the interplay of these relationships, which turn out to be an important solidarity network especially in the preparation for the hurricane’s arrival, with those who can and choose to evacuate and those who remain, storing up any necessary basic goods and offering shelter to their neighbors.

Citizen solidarity to (r)innovate the city: lowernine.org

Ninth Ward ends by reassuring the reader that the young protagonist is safe. However, what happened to the Ninth Ward after the hurricane? Projects and funding aimed at rebuilding the entire city are countless. Some specific initiatives for the Ninth Ward have been prompted by a strong sense of collective solidarity and resilience. Among them is lowernine.org.

Founded by craftsman and entrepreneur Rick Prose, this nonprofit organization provided immediate assistance to Katrina survivors and since 2020 has established a food collection and redistribution service that is still open to the public every Saturday. With financial support from various institutional and private supporters and thanks to a team consisting of professionals and non-specialized volunteers, lowernine.org has renewed several damaged buildings in the Ninth Ward: ninety homes have been rebuilt and more than 300 have undergone various renovations.

The motivation for lowernine.org volunteers was to encourage former residents to return to inhabit the ward and rebuild the social network in danger of being lost, encouraging a solid, long-term recovery. Their efforts towards rebuilding the ward embody the urban resilience that aims to bring the city back not only to a pre-disaster condition, but to a far more stable and lasting one. For example, most of the new homes are supported by elevated, more wind-resistant structures that provide buildings with greater stability in the event of floods and hurricanes.

Lowernine.org and the other countless initiatives working to make New Orleans and its most critical districts less vulnerable and more resilient – both structurally and socially – will write the sequel for all of the Laneshas living in the inevitable and likely less impossible city.

To sum up

The renewal of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina was a complicated and challenging process. Hurricane Katrina caused severe damage and devastation, especially in the most vulnerable and disadvantaged neighborhoods, including the Ninth Ward.

After the hurricane, the renovation of the Ninth Ward was guided by a multidimensional approach involving several strategies:

Infrastructure reconstruction: essential infrastructure, such as roads, water supply and the drainage system, were repaired and upgraded to ensure greater resilience against future extreme climatic events.
Homes and Community: the renovation involved the repair and reconstruction of damaged houses and the building of new safe and sustainable homes. In addition, initiatives were launched to encourage the participation and collaboration of the local community in the reconstruction process.
Urban planning: urban planning was given greater boost, making sure that the new buildings and the developments complied with safety and sustainability standards and that a more equal distribution of resources and opportunities among the districts was ensured.
Economic development initiatives: initiatives have been promoted to support economic development in the district by encouraging the establishment of new businesses, the rehabilitation of disused areas and the promotion of tourism.
Flood prevention: as the Ninth Ward was highly vulnerable to flooding, actions were taken to increase protection and prevention from future flooding events, including the construction of coastal defense systems and the elevation of roads and soils.
Environmental sustainability: the renewal of the Ninth Ward has included efforts to promote environmental sustainability, such as the creation of green areas, the planting of trees, and the adoption of urban agricultural practices.

The renewal process has been led by a coordination between the local government, nongovernmental organizations, the residents and urban planning experts. However, despite the progress, there are still significant challenges to be faced, such as dealing with gentrification and ensuring that existing residents can benefit from the improvements without suffering social and economic exclusion. The revitalisation of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward is an evolving process and requires an ongoing effort to improve the quality of life for residents and make the neighborhood more resilient and sustainable over time.

Elisa Dalmo

Student of Environmental Humanities, she is interested in the intersections between culture and ecology. Participate enthusiastically in Atmospheralab.