Millions of people in Louisiana and Mississippi were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. As of December 20, 2005, FEMA had taken 2,530,657 registrations from victims. There is much debate on where, and how, rebuilding should take place. In some areas, safe drinking water may not be available for years to come. Should we rebuild in the same places, or do we need to rethink how and where we build along the Gulf Coast? In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast devastation, Regional Plan Association partnered with the University of Texas at Austin to attempt to answer these and other questions.
They convened the National Consortium to Map Gulf Coast Ecological Constraints to advise this effort, comprised of leading architects and landscape architects, urban planners, environmental and geographic scientists and other leading professionals in related fields. The result was a series of maps, prepared by consultants EDAW, which graphically illustrate the continued vulnerability of the Gulf Coast to storms and sea level rise, including many areas that are slated to be rebuilt with billions in public funding. RPA and the University of Texas at Austin hope that the following maps and descriptions will help planners determine how to sustainably rebuild the Gulf Coast and encourage other regions to perform similar analyses so that damage can be limited should disaster strike in the future.