Sustainability, Survivability, and the Paradox of New Orleans

Some precepts of the urban sustainability movement derive from the premise that economic expansion, population growth, and physical sprawl lead to a decline in quality of life, ecological damage, and eventual unsustainability. But what about cities that are failing-losing population, losing investment, losing infrastructure, even losing land? This article challenges conventional sustainability concepts, usually derived from the experiences of ascending cities, with the notion of survivability that confronts declining cities. Should troubled cities, such as New Orleans, located on the eroding Gulf of Mexico coastal region of the state of Louisiana, be held to different sustainability standards? Could urban expansion, in some cases, actually stem environmental degradation and enhance survivability?