New Orleans Climate Adaptation

The city of New Orleans currently experiences the worst urban heat island effect and has some of the lowest elevation levels (which were further lowered by Hurricane Katrina) in the entire country. Some neighborhoods consist almost entirely of impermeable surfaces which means they are even more susceptible to flood events resulting from sea level rise. This, combined with the high poverty rate and over half of its residents being BIPOC, means the city has very little power and access to resources to build climate resilience at all levels of government.

The research objective was to identify which areas of the subject area are most susceptible to climate change-influenced weather events like extreme heat, flooding, and hurricanes. I conducted a susceptibility analysis using elevation, evening temperature, SVI, and impervious surface data to deduce areas most at-risk to sea level rise and extreme heat events in New Orleans. I then used this analysis to create a set of policy and design recommendations for my chosen neighborhood.

Maps were made in ArcGIS Pro.