Date of Award

Summer 8-2012

Degree Type

Thesis-Restricted

Degree Name

M.U.R.P.

Degree Program

Urban and Regional Planning

Department

Planning and Urban Studies

Major Professor

Earthea Nance

Second Advisor

Marla Nelson

Third Advisor

Kristina Peterson

Abstract

To achieve true sustainability, planners must balance the interests of environmental protection, economic development, and social equity. In a critically changing, complex ecosystem such as Louisiana’s coast, challenges to achieve the perfect equilibrium are further compounded. Following the logic of emerging adaptive co-management literature, the planning framework for Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan could be transformed into a more collaborative, democratic process. Adaptive co-management is a regime which provides power to local citizens, often in possession of invaluable traditional ecological knowledge. In general, it focuses on constant learning and collaboration. Through power-sharing and participatory action, we embrace science, but step back from technocracy. We utilize local knowledge, and combine it with expertise.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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