Craig E. Colten
Louisiana State University, USA
Title: New orleans: Historic city with a poor memory
Biography
Biography: Craig E. Colten
Abstract
New Orleans is a city with a rich history that provides the foundation for its tourist attractions and its economy. It is also a city that has endured repeated destruction due to river floods and hurricanes and rebounded after each. One of the core principles of urban resilience is preserving the memory of lessons learned in the course of past events. This paper traces the erosion of social memory of key elements of urban development in the wake of a series of dramatic hurricanes. The purpose is to draw attention on the loss of urgency between tragic events and to foster more deliberate attempts to bolster the retention of lessons learned and to perpetuate social memory.