The city of New Orleans blight fight: using GIS technology to integrate local knowledge

Abstract

Planners have a unique ability to consume information and address both policy and practical issues on a variety of scales – from neighborhood to regional to international. The use of information technology, specifically geographic information systems, continues to expand the planners' toolkit. Applying these tools requires planners to go beyond synchronous inductive and deductive reasoning and move towards ‘integrated thinking’. Spatial literacy allows citizen planners to question and advocate for public policies based upon community data that has not been readily available to decision makers in municipal government. This report identifies examples of how a public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) increases engagement of stakeholders through increased access to and integration of municipal data. Post Hurricane Katrina, the Beacon of Hope – University of New Orleans Community Recovery Project (BUCRP) led to a shift in citizen participation by a community-led PPGIS. The BUCRP follows standards and replicable training methods to improve accuracy and reliability of crowd sourcing data. The development of tools and traditions where community data complements municipal resources can be used in weak market cities and those urban areas devastated as a result of natural or man-made disasters.

Keywords:

• urban planning, housing
• economic development
• data
• public participation
• geographic information systems
• volunteered geographic information
• crowd sourcing

Acknowledgements

The author's gratitude extends to Husni Qurt, PhD Student from UNO, Brian Baldwin from 3Mangos, the Data DIVAs (Data Integration & Visualization with Attitude): Lynn Dupont and Clare Brown from the Regional Planning Commission, Katherine Cargo – New Orleans 911, Dr Allison Plyer from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, Denise Ross with the City of New Orleans Department of Geographic Information Systems, Tina Marquardt and Denise Thornton from the Beacon of Hope Resource Center, Karen Gadbois and Susan Lewis of Squandered Heritage.

Notes

¹PPGIS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Participation_GIS

²Environmental Systems Research Institute: www.esri.com

³Claritas Prizm Market Segmentation: http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp

⁴ESRI Community Tapestry: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/tapestry.html

⁵State of Louisiana Office of Community Development – Disaster Recovery Unit: http://doa.louisiana.gov/cdbg/DRHousing.htm

⁶Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster: http://www.soros.org/resources/multimedia/katrina/blog/?p=115

⁷Broadmoor Neighborhood Project: http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/project/54/broadmoor_project.html

⁸Ferreira, Joseph, ‘Smart middleware for understanding neighborhood markets’, http://uis.mit.edu/

⁹Unified New Orleans Plan: http://www.unifiedneworleansplan.com/home3/

¹⁰GeoSpatial Solutions Weekly ‘Crowdsources GIS Data’. Accessed 30 July 2011. http://www.gpsworld.com/gis/gss-weekly/news/crowdsourced-gis-data-9850

¹¹City of New Orleans, City Master Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, Volume 2, Community Participation Program: https://www.communicationsmgr.com/projects/1371/docs/Vol2_Ch15_Community_Participation_Program.pdf

¹²Louisiana Land Trust: http://www.lalandtrust.org/. In Summer 2010, this became the Office of Community Development, Disaster Recovery Unit (OCD-DRU).

¹³Louisiana Recovery Authority: http://lra.louisiana.gov/splash/

¹⁴Road Home Program: http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2010/04/road_home_rebuilding_covenants.html

¹⁵Beacon of Hope Resource Center: http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/

¹⁶Beacon Neighborhood Service Areas: http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/pages/locations.html

¹⁷Department of Planning & Urban Studies, University of New Orleans: http://planning.uno.edu/

¹⁸Regional Planning Commission: http://www.norpc.org/

¹⁹Beacon M.O.D.E.L.: http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/pages/MODEL.html

²⁰ Beacon of Hope – University of New Orleans Community Recovery Project P: http://planning.uno.edu/BUCRP/

²¹ESRI ArcWatch, March 2011: http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0311/power-of-vgi.html

²²Office of the Attorney General – Louisiana. http://ag.state.la.us/Article.aspx?articleID=20&catID=10&printer=1 accessed 2 August 2011

²³Federal Geographic Data Committee: http://www.fgdc.gov/

²⁴Environmental Systems Research Institute, ArcGIS. www.esri.com

²⁵Thompson, Michelle. WhoData.org. http://planning.uno.edu/whodata/index.html accessed 2 August 2011