Date of Award

Summer 8-2020

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.U.R.P.

Degree Program

Urban and Regional Planning

Department

Planning and Urban Studies

Major Professor

Marla Nelson

Second Advisor

Traci Birch

Third Advisor

Renia Ehrenfeucht

Abstract

The bayou communities situated at the southern ends of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana possess a rich and uniquely diverse cultural heritage. However, economic factors, combined with environmental issues such as land loss from oil and gas dredging, subsidence, and rising seas, have spurred significant migration “up the bayou” in recent decades, threatening the loss of these cultures and leaving behind a population that is growing increasingly more vulnerable. This study investigates the current and anticipated social, physical and fiscal impacts of persistent land loss and population decline on lower Terrebonne Parish, as well as planning strategies for maintaining existing infrastructure and services with a decreasing tax base. This research also examines the paradoxical role that high-end recreational fishing camps play in both contributing the tax revenues needed for infrastructure maintenance and service provision for residents wishing to adapt in place, while both responding and contributing to local socioeconomic shifts.

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.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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