Reshaping the Riparian: Human Mobility and Fixed Infrastructure

• Main Author: Craig E. Colten
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Confins 2015-03-01
• Series: Confins
• Subjects: Mississippi; flood; levees; hurricane; infrastructure
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/confins/10082

New Orleans, Louisiana USA is on the banks of the massive Mississippi River and its history is inextricably linked to this water that serves as a vital transportation corridor and also presents an ever-present flood hazard. This text examines the use of levees to offset the risk of flooding and how that fixed infrastructure has contributed to population dynamics in the lower river valley. Early efforts to fend off floods focused on the threat of the river, and colonial and later federal efforts led to the erection of massive earthen embankments. By the 20th century, the threat of hurricane driven storm surge prompted investments in additional levees designed to complement the river barriers and keep the sea out of the city. Levees offered a false sense of security, and failures of this protection system have contributed to population losses after major hurricanes in 1965 and 2005. These episodic demographic shifts are a harbinger of population dynamics that will accompany sea level rise in other coastal areas.