Whose city? Whose schools? : a case study of civic engagement and planning "from below" to promote education equity in New Orleans public schools

How and why have ordinary citizens claimed their stake in the process of rebuilding public education in post-Katrina New Orleans, and what are the lessons for planning in post-disaster contexts? This paper investigates civic engagement that emerged "from below" in post-Katrina New Orleans through a case study of the Downtown Neighborhoods Improvement Association (DNIA) Education Committee. Civic engagement from below promotes the powerful idea that citizens can and should be agents of change within public decision-making, and not merely recipients of public services or providers of input in top-down approaches to reform. The case of the DNIA Education Committee reveals three key lessons relevant to civic engagement after a disaster. First, opportunities for collaboration between government and community groups can be easily missed, especially when dynamics of mistrust and unequal power are unaddressed, unless each party believes it is possible and knows how to invent options for collaboration that address their different needs while meeting their shared goals. Second, after a disaster residents may find their very survival intrinsically connected to, and indeed dependent on, how public institutions and infrastructure are rebuilt.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Tahbildar, Dulari

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Xavier de Souza Briggs.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39939