Climate Safe Neighborhoods

As part of the Climate Safe Neighborhoods (CSN) partnership, Groundwork New Orleans is working with residents and stakeholders to explore the relationship between the city’s history of housing segregation and the current and predicted impacts of the climate crisis.

Historical redlining maps and modern satellite imagery reveal a relationship between federal race-based housing segregation and vulnerability to extreme heat and flooding in New Orleans today. To address this relationship, Groundwork New Orleans is working closely with residents and stakeholders to build their capacity to self-advocate for climate adaptation measures.

Scroll down for a guided tour of our analysis, focus communities, and efforts to make New Orleans' neighborhoods safer from extreme heat and flooding.

Neighborhoods in New Orleans will not experience the impacts of climate change equally. Communities with fewer trees and green spaces are more vulnerable to heat and flooding, and those communities, nationwide, tend to be places where low-income residents and people of color live. It is no coincidence that these neighborhoods lack the green open spaces that mitigate heat and flooding. It’s the result of a long history of federal-instituted segregation.  

In 1933, the federal government established the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) as part of a New Deal program to stabilize and encourage homeownership during and after the Great Depression through the introduction of long-term federally backed mortgages.

The HOLC provided guidance to private lenders on which neighborhoods were considered “safe” or “risky” for receiving loans. To develop this guidance, the federal government hired private surveying companies to develop “residential security maps” like the one below.

In addition to the quality of housing stock, race and ethnicity were the primary qualifiers of that risk. The “safest,” or greenlined, neighborhoods were graded A and contained high quality homes and “white” residents. The “riskiest,” or redlined, neighborhoods were graded D and contained poorer quality homes and African American, Eastern European and Southern Italian immigrants.

Residents in redlined areas could not receive loans to purchase homes in those neighborhoods. They were also prevented from buying homes in greenlined areas by realtors, lenders, and residents fearful of plummeting housing values. Neighborhoods of color saw property values drop or stagnate, and city-led improvements to infrastructure stalled. Today, nearly 75% of the neighborhoods graded as high-risk under the HOLC are low-to-moderate income, and 64% are neighborhoods of color.[ 1 ]

How do the housing segregation practices of the past connect to the built environment of today? The bar graph below explores the relationship between modern tree canopy cover, impervious pavement, mean land surface temperature, and HOLC neighborhood grade for urban areas with redlining maps participating in the CSN partnership.

Moving from grade A to grade D, tree canopy cover (green) decreases, impervious pavement (grey) increases, and mean surface temperature (red) increases. While this graph does not directly address flooding, we do know that high amounts of pavement in a neighborhood increase the local risk of flooding.

The data suggests that there is a relationship between historical practices of redlining, community infrastructure, and exposure to heat and flood risk. Our neighborhoods do not look the way they do by accident, and we will not reduce disparities in exposure to heat and flooding by accident.

The following maps explore the relationship between federally endorsed HOLC neighborhood grades and three environmental factors associated with climate risk: tree canopy cover, impervious surfaces, and land surface temperature.

The graph below explores the relationship between tree canopy cover, impervious surface, mean surface temperature, and HOLC neighborhood grade in New Orleans. Moving from grade A to grade D, tree canopy cover (green) decreases, impervious surface (grey) increases, and mean land surface temperature (red) increases. While this graph does not directly address flooding, we do know that high percentages of impermeable pavement in a neighborhood increase the local risk of flooding.

The data suggests there is a relationship between historical practices of redlining, development of public infrastructure, and exposure to heat and flood risk in New Orleans.

But what do we know about residents’ ability to deal with or bounce back from the impacts of climate change?

As the third largest of seventeen wards in New Orleans (indigenously named, “Bulbancha”), the 7th Ward is home to over 11,000 people. It stretches from the Mississippi Riverfront to Lake Pontchartrain and rests on Native Choctaw lands. The 7th Ward is full of vibrant culture, beautiful architecture, rich history, and was once the epicenter for Black advancement in the city. 

New Orleans’ 7th Ward was one of the largest neighborhoods in New Orleans to be redlined in the 1930s and consequences of this historical practice are apparent in the climate vulnerabilities the community experiences today.

In February 2023, Groundwork New Orleans established the Climate Safe 7th Ward Committee. In partnership with 7th Ward community members and Groundwork NOLA, the Climate Safe 7th Ward Committee is addressing inequitable climate vulnerabilities, including flooding and extreme heat, in the historically redlined New Orleans neighborhood. Through the collection and analysis of local green infrastructure data and the lived experiences of the community, the Climate Safe Committee aims to create a more equitable local green infrastructure system.

Groundwork New Orleans has created the first iteration of their New Orleans Green Infrastructure Map. The interactive GIS dashboard intends to show the distribution of green infrastructure and other climate-adaptation interventions in New Orleans. The development of this map is the first of its kind and the final version will provide an understanding of the collective impact that green infrastructure providers have, allow the Climate Safe Committee to identify gaps in coverage and prioritize the most vulnerable block groups within historically redlined neighborhoods.

Growing up in a military family, Riley Essert spent her childhood moving from major city to major city. After graduating from high school in D.C., she moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, a hiker's dreamscape, to begin her undergraduate degree.  She “stumbled upon” the brilliance of the world beyond a concrete jungle and realized her deep connection to nature. This change in perspective would shift the direction of her life toward environmental stewardship. She earned a Bachelors of Science from LSU in Natural Resource Ecology & Management and is committed to preserving the incredible ecosystems that sustain us and to bringing the healing power of nature back into cities. She spent additional time studying Ethnobotany in Hawai’i, which solidified her understanding that cultural connections to the environment and land are of the utmost importance in this field of work. She went on to teach youth abroad in Taiwan and worked on an organic farm to establish green infrastructure designs and sustainable practices.

As the Youth & Environmental Programs Manager for Groundwork New Orleans and a nine-year resident of the city, she serves the community by facilitating educational workshops and engaging with high school students through internship programs. Nationally certified in Green Infrastructure, Riley provides training for youth to earn a GI-focused Clean Water Certificate. She is currently a graduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans and continues her work through the understanding that healing our environment, in turn, heals us.

Tackling climate change in a way that benefits everyone has to be a community-led effort. Join the movement to become part of the solution! Email Riley (riley@groundworknola.org) today to learn more about how you can get involved.