JOSEPH HENRY PRESS
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418
The Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academy Press, was created with the goal of making books on science, technology, and health more widely available to professionals and the public. Joseph Henry was one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences and a leader of early American science.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cooperating with nature : confronting natural hazards with land use planning for sustainable communities / editor, Raymond J. Burby : authors, Timothy Beatley . . . [et al.].
p. cm. — (Natural hazards and disasters)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-309-06362-0 (alk. paper)
1. Natural disasters—United States—Evaluation. 2. Land use—United States—Management. 3. Community development—United States. 4. Sustainable development—United States. I. Burby, Raymond J., 1942– . II. Beatley, Timothy, 1957– . III. Series.
GB5010.C67 1998
363.346—dc21 98-12415
CIP
Copyright 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Foreword
THE NATION'S FIRST NATURAL hazards assessment got under way in 1972 at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado. Funded by the National Science Foundation and led by geographer Gilbert White and sociologist J. Eugene Haas, it was an interdisciplinary effort involving scores of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars from across the nation. Its purpose was to assess our knowledge about natural hazards and disasters, to identify major needed policy directions, and to inventory future research needs. The volume summarizing this endeavor, Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards in the United States, published in 1975, was a landmark in what was then a new field of study.
A quarter of a century later we find ourselves in a national conversation about how natural hazards mitigation can result in disaster-resilient communities. This conversation began in the early 1990s among a few individuals working in federal agencies and academia, and was articulated at a workshop in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1992, which was attended by many of the nation's leading natural hazards experts. They concluded that a second assessment of hazards in the
United States was needed, and that its unifying theme should be sustainable development, or development that enhances the capacity of the planet to provide a high quality of life now and in the future. A subsequent workshop in 1994 brought many of the same experts together to discuss and formulate an agenda for this second hazards assessment.
This book, which ensues from the second natural hazards assessment, is one of a series of works on natural hazards and disasters published by the Joseph Henry Press. A select group of experts were invited to expand upon their necessarily condensed contributions to the second assessment by developing individual works on major themes in the natural hazards and disasters field, including insurance, risk assessment, disaster preparedness and response, and mapping. This volume on land use management and natural hazards was written by a group headed by Raymond Burby of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans. Cooperating with Nature focuses on the breakdown in sustainability that is signaled by natural disaster. The authors chronicle the long evolution of land use planning and identify key components of sustainable planning for hazards. The book describes the promise of land use management for achieving sustainability, explores reasons why this promise is not being realized uniformly by government at various levels, and proposes ways to foster sound land use decision making. The authors explain why sustainability and land use have not been taken into account in the formulation of public policy. They articulate a vision of sustainability, giving concrete suggestions for policy reform, and calling for a new National Hazardous Area Management Act and program to foster improved planning and management at state and local levels.
The second national natural hazards assessment was funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 93-12647, with supporting contributions from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The support of these agencies is greatly appreciated. However, only the authors are responsible for the information, analyses, and recommendations contained in this book. Very special thanks are extended to J. Eleonora Sabadell and William A. Anderson of the National Science Foundation for placing their confidence in us to carry out this mission.
DENNIS S. MILETI, Director
Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
Contributors
RAYMOND J. BURBY, Editor, is DeBlois Chair of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of New Orleans. Former co-editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association, he is the author and editor of 14 books and numerous articles dealing with environmental management and planning. His research focuses on environmental hazards, regulatory systems, and local planning and land use management.
Contributing Authors
Timothy Beatley, University of Virginia
Philip R. Berke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Raymond J. Burby, University of New Orleans
Robert E. Deyle, Florida State University
Steven P. French, Georgia Institute of Technology
David R. Godschalk, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Edward J. Kaiser, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jack D. Kartez, University of Southern Maine
Peter J. May, University of Washington
Robert B. Olshansky, University of Illinois
Robert G. Paterson, University of Texas
Rutherford H. Platt, University of Massachusetts
Contents
Natural Hazards and Land Use: An Introduction |
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Planning and Land Use Adjustments in Historical Perspective |
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Governing Land Use in Hazardous Areas with a Patchwork System |
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Integrating Hazard Mitigation and Local Land Use Planning |
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Hazard Assessment: The Factual Basis for Planning and Mitigation |
Managing Land Use to Build Resilience |
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The Third Sector: Evolving Partnerships in Hazard Mitigation |
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The Vision of Sustainable Communities |
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Policies for Sustainable Land Use |
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