Table Of ContentCooperating
with Nature
Confronting Natural Hazards
with Land-Use Planning
for Sustainable Communities
Raymond J. Burby, Editor
JOSEPH HENRY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1998
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 profes-
sionals 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 Sci-
ence 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 policy-
makers, 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 re-
search 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 acad-
emia, 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
iii
iv Foreword
United States was needed, and that its unifying theme should be sustain-
able development, or development that enhances the capacity of the
planet to provide a high quality of life now and in the future. A subse-
quent 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 assess-
ment, is one of a series of works on natural hazards and disasters pub-
lished 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 natu-
ral hazards and disasters field, including insurance, risk assessment, di-
saster 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 Uni-
versity of New Orleans. Cooperating with Nature focuses on the break-
down in sustainability that is signaled by natural disaster. The authors
chronicle the long evolution of land use planning and identify key com-
ponents 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 sup-
porting 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 ap-
preciated. However, only the authors are responsible for the informa-
tion, analyses, and recommendations contained in this book. Very spe-
cial 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 Ameri-
can Planning Association, he is the author and editor
of 14 books and numerous articles dealing with envi-
ronmental management and planning. His research fo-
cuses 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
v
Contents
1 Natural Hazards and Land Use: An Introduction 1
Raymond J. Burby
Part One:
The Choices of the Past
2 Planning and Land Use Adjustments in
Historical Perspective 29
Rutherford H. Platt
3 Governing Land Use in Hazardous Areas with a
Patchwork System 57
Peter J. May and Robert E. Deyle
Part Two:
The Land Use Planning Alternative
4 Integrating Hazard Mitigation and Local
Land Use Planning 85
David R. Godschalk, Edward J. Kaiser,
and Philip R. Berke
5 Hazard Assessment: The Factual Basis for Planning
and Mitigation 119
Robert E. Deyle, Steven P. French, Robert B. Olshansky,
and Robert G. Paterson
vii
viii Contents
6 Managing Land Use to Build Resilience 167
Robert B. Olshansky and Jack D. Kartez
7 The Third Sector: Evolving Partnerships
in Hazard Mitigation 203
Robert G. Paterson
Part Three:
Looking to the Future
8 The Vision of Sustainable Communities 233
Timothy Beatley
9 Policies for Sustainable Land Use 263
Raymond J. Burby with Contributions from the
Team of Co-Authors
Appendix: Annotated Bibliography of Selected Research 293
Bibliography 307
Index 337
Cooperating
with Nature
