Planning for Resilience in Coastal Louisiana

Abstract

Traci Birch a managing partner with The Verdant Group – a woman-owned urban planning

firm based in New Orleans. In this position she specializes in land use and environmental

planning, and has worked extensively in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast on disaster recovery

and resiliency planning. In particular, she has worked with many at-risk communities to

develop land use plans and development codes that focus on sustainability and hazard resiliency.

In addition, Dr. Birch is an adjunct professor at the University of New Orleans, where

she teaches coastal and environmental planning. She will be joining the faculty of East Carolina

University in the fall of 2013, where she will be teaching coastal and environmental planning

in the Department of Geography.