Summary and Final Tasks

Summary

In Module 9, you learned how smart building can help reduce the vulnerability of coastal populations exposed to increasing threats due to growth and global climate change. In case studies, the smart building of early settlers, cities, and communities was shown, where smart building methods including settling on natural levees, artificial mounds, and building floating cities. In recent times, the increasing coastal populations and economies have required more extensive protection works. The "Deltaworks" in the Netherlands protect the mostly-below-sea-level country from floods with massive engineering structures; however, later designs were altered to protect the vital estuarine habitat. Settlement in New Orleans was originally concentrated along the relative high-ground of natural levees; with advances in pumping technology, former backswamp areas could be settled, setting the stage for the Hurricane Katrina levee failures and flooding disaster. "Building with Nature" is a culmination of smart building principles, utilizing natural coastal processes and soft stabilization principles to reduce flooding risk, while enhancing recreation and ecology. As made clear in the assessments, smart building is often characterized by thoughtful development as much as construction of protection works. If development doesn't create new risks, new risk mitigation measures are not required.

Reminder - Complete all of the Module 9 tasks!

You have reached the end of Module 9! Double-check the Module 9 Roadmap to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before you begin Module 10.

References and Further Reading

Campanella, R. (2006). Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm (p. 433). University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=m9kDAQAAIAAJ&pgis=1

Campanella, R. (2007). Above-Sea-Level New Orleans: The Residential Capacity of Orleans Parish's Higher Ground. CBR Whitepaper Funded by Coypu Foundation, http://richcampanella.com/assets/pdf/study_Campanella%20analysis%20on%20Above-Sea-Level%20New%20Orleans.pdf

Campanella, R. (2010). Mapping and Interpreting the Human Geography of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Le Monde Des Cartes, (204), 29–41.

Few, R. (2003). Flooding, vulnerability and coping strategies: local responses to a global threat. Progress in Development Studies, 3(1), 43–58.

Hoep, F. S. (2002). Holland Compass: 2000 Years History of Water (p. 152). Communicatie Bureau Hoep & Partners. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=hE7XPAAACAAJ&pgis=1

IPCC. (2007a). Climate Change 2007 - The Physical Science Basis: Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. (M. Tignor & H. L. Miller, Eds.)Science (p. 1009). Cambridge University Press.

IPCC. (2007b). Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. (M. L. Parry, O. F. Canziani, J. P. Palutikof, P. J. Van Der Linden, & C. E. Hanson, Eds.)The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Vol. 114, p. 976). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20181016232524/http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar4/wg2/

United Nations Environment Programme. (2002). Assessing Human Vulnerability due to Environmental Change: Concepts, Issues, Methods and Case Studies