Planen ohne Risiko: New Orleans und der Wiederaufbau nach Katrina

This paper deals with ‘planning’ and ‘prevention’ as two logics or rationalities of recovery planning.A brief case study on recovery planning in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina hasshown how, in a situation of destruction, disorientation and uncertainty, recovery planning was intendedto create the impression of a reliable framing for individual decision making on return andreconstruction. Here, planning appeared as pro-active design, with flood prevention as a necessaryand centrally assessable element. However, in the course of time and within a number of successiveplanning processes, it was precisely the attempt to model New Orleans’ future on a centralized, expertise-driven approach of reconstruction that provoked strong criticism. Consequently, dynamicsshifted from expertise-centered recovery planning to a more de-centralized mode that stressed citizenparticipation, ‘lay knowledge’ and inclusion, re-defined what New Orleans should look like in the future,as well as the role and the meaning of ‘(flood) prevention’.