Hurricane Sandy & urban planning in New York City's minority neighborhoods: An unanticipated outcome

The damage and devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy was by far one of the most destructive acts of nature to ever impact New York City. Hundreds of buildings were damaged, thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes, and billions of dollars were spent on responding to and recovering from Sandy. The people who received the majority of Sandy's rage were the low-income minority population who lived in and near the coastal neighborhoods of New York City. However, their problems did not begin with Hurricane Sandy; it began with decades of structural racism being practiced through the disguise of urban planning.;This study investigates how urban planning did not adequately prepare minority neighborhoods in the event of Hurricane Sandy by focusing on the development of modern-day New York City, hurricane preparedness, and structural racism.;The result of this study revealed that structural racism in government policy has done more damage to the coastal minority neighborhoods of New York City than Hurricane Sandy. To address the problem, this study proposes that resilient and sustainable urban planning practices be used to help mitigate the coastal neighborhoods and correct the wrongs of past policies.