A qualitative comparative analysis of neighborhood recovery following Hurricane Katrina
International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment
ISSN: 1759-5908
Article publication date: 4 November 2014
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine why communities facing the same disaster recover differentially and determine pathways to successful disaster recovery in the research setting of New Orleans neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Katrina. While previous studies suggest that there are a variety of pathways to recovery, a broader cross-case comparison is necessary to generalize these pathways into a recovery framework. Specifically, this study seeks to determine what pre-disaster and post-disaster causal factors, alone or in combination, were important to recovery following Hurricane Katrina.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a cross-case comparative study of neighborhood-level recovery. Based on prior work, which used the Delphi method to determine hypothesized causal factors and indicators of recovery, data was collected through publically available sources, including the US Census, the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and previously completed studies for 18 damaged neighborhoods. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used due to its ability to analyze both quantitative and qualitative data for smaller case studies.
Findings
The results show that there are multiple pathways combining pre-disaster community factors and post-disaster actions that led to recovery, as measured by population return. For example, economic capacity is nearly sufficient for recovery, but a combination of low social vulnerability, post-disaster community participation, a high proportion of pre-World War II housing stock and high amounts of post-disaster funds also led to recovery.
Originality/value
This research uses a novel method to link pre-disaster measures of resilience and vulnerability to recovery outcomes and, through cross-case comparison, generates results that will enable researchers to develop a theory of sustainable community recovery.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
© Elizabeth Jordan, Amy Javernick-Will and Bernard Amadei
This material is based in part on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1200422. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The work was also funded in part by the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities. This article has been previously published in the working paper proceedings of the 2012 Engineering Project Organizations Conference, Rheden, The Netherlands, July 10-12, 2012.
Citation
Jordan, E., Javernick-Will, A. and Amadei, B. (2014), "A qualitative comparative analysis of neighborhood recovery following Hurricane Katrina", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 391-412. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-03-2013-0006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Authors