New Orleans is a city that is strategically situated at the Mississippi River gateway and stands on top of what used to be an ernomous swam. In “An Unnatural Metropolis”, the author Craig E Colten explores how the city of New Orleans came to be and how the contradictory forces of urban development and nature influenced or shaped its development. Colten traces some of the engineered modifications of the natural environment of New Orleans from the 19th to the 21 century. He illustrates that although it is natural thing for cities to contend with their immediate physical setting, the city of New Orleans is a city that excessively depends on human induced transformations, specifically when it comes to its relatively precarious site. The author uses Hurricane Katrina to show human artifice’s inability to exclude the forces of nature from big cities and he therefore urges the city’s planners and developers to keep nature and the environment in their minds as they contemplate the future of New Orleans.
Colten shows the role of social power in the development of this city especially in regards to the races in the city. Colten states that, “The two prominent social spaces for African and European American citizens exemplify the subtle topographic and racial segregation in the Crescent City” (Colten 77). According to Colten, the whites have relatively more social power and they therefore occupied sections of the city that are well drained while the black population occupies the swampy rear districts whose drainage is atrocious. The role social power in this scenario is quite clear. Inequity in social power between the races of New Orleans has significantly affected the development of the city. The city’s authorities tended to concentrate more on environmental modifications of sections of the city that are already well drained and consequently occupied by the whites. This statement can be attested by the fact that when Hurricane Katrina struck, it was majorly undeveloped blacks areas that were significantly affected due to the city’s failure to engage in the design and creation of desirable environmental conditions that favor all sections of the city (Colten 78).
The form of social power exhibited in this scenario is integrative power. This is a form of collective power enjoyed by certain individuals and in this case, it is the power enjoyed by the whites in New Orleans. Although some of this power may be seen to naturally or involuntarily granted to the white majority of New Orleans, it has however significantly shaped the development of the city. It has led to inequity in the structural modification, design and development of the city. The city’s development future has been placed in the hands of developers who to some extent tend to overlook sections of the city that are prone to natural disasters (mostly occupied by blacks) and this is obviously a recipe for disaster.
Works Cited
Colten, Craig E. An unnatural metropolis wresting New Orleans from nature. Louisiana pbk. ed. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2006. Print.
