Incorporating Natural Hazard Risk into Preservation Prioritization for Immovable Cultural Heritage in Louisiana
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Authors
Sullivan, Cara
Issue Date
2024
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Cultural heritage , GIS , Natural hazard risk
Alternative Title
Abstract
Cultural heritage possesses great value by connecting past, present, and future generations due to its historical, aesthetic, social, scientific, and spiritual significance. The state of Louisiana is rich in cultural heritage, containing 789 cultural resources documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey, Historic American Landscape Survey, and Historic American Engineering Record. While heritage is at risk of damage from several sources (e.g., human threat and degradation), natural hazards are a consistent and damaging risk to heritage. These natural hazards (e.g., hurricanes, flooding, etc.) are projected to increase in frequency and intensity with climate change, significantly impacting coastal areas. This study produces a spatial database and integrates a natural hazard risk component in order to inform the creation of priority categories for focused preservation efforts. Hotspot analysis is used to identify areas with clustering of very high-priority resources in order to target preservation efforts in areas where many highly at-risk cultural resources are located. This thesis revealed that Louisiana’s cultural resources are at most risk of future loss from hurricanes, riverine and coastal flooding, tornadoes, and strong wind. Overall, 26 resources are of ‘Very High’ priority for preservation and hotspot clusters emerge in the state’s southern portion. Including natural hazard risk in preservation decisions can be an important addition to cultural resource management strategy. This thesis advocates for continued inventorying and spatial location of cultural resources combined with risk mapping to enhance future preservation efforts.