"There's No Place Like New Orleans"

This paper investigates the political economy of FEMA’s post-9/11 merger with the Department of Homeland Security.This study contributes to the literature on the strength of place attachment, identity and dependence in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. It also engages the literature concerning the role of sense of place in community engagement and the disruption in place attachment, identity and dependence that natural disasters can cause. Drawing on interview data collected from residents who returned to New Orleans after the storm, this paper investigates the “sense of place” that residents in Ninth Ward New Orleans neighborhoods identify in their narratives about their pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina experiences. The data considered here suggests that returning residents believe that New Orleans in general (and their Ninth Ward neighborhoods in particular) possess a unique bundle of characteristics that, when taken together, cannot be found or replicated elsewhere. Sense of place proved to be an important motivator for returning residents. 

Read the full article at SSRN.com.

Citation (Chicago Style)

Chamlee-Wright, Emily and Virgil Storr. ""There's No Place Like New Orleans": Sense of Place and Community Recovery in the Ninth Ward After Hurricane Katrina." Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 31, no. 5, 615-634.