The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Geography HAZARDS, LANDSCAPE, AND PLACE: STATEN ISLAND AND HURRICANE SANDY A Dissertation in Geography by Nathan Frey 2016 Nathan Frey Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 The dissertation of Nathan Frey was reviewed and approved* by the following: Brent Yarnal Professor of Geography Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Deryck Holdsworth Professor of Geography Christopher Fowler Assistant Professor of Geography and Demography Barrett Lee Professor of Sociology and Demography Cynthia Brewer Professor of Geography Head of the Department of Geography *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Hurricane Sandy, like most costly U.S. hurricane disasters, was fundamentally urban in character. Staten Island, New York, one of the five boroughs of New York City, received disproportionate damages in the storm, and recovery has been slow. The borough receives limited attention in academic and popular literature relative to the other four boroughs, despite a large population and a rich history dating to the colonial era. This study extends the idea that places are historically contingent and constantly evolving to place-based hazards research. It focuses on the historical development of places across Staten Island landscapes, on the ways in which those developments created and failed to mitigate coastal flood risk, and on the role of residents’ attachment to places in influencing their recovery from Sandy. It employs a mixed methods approach, relying on tools and concepts from the urban geography, urban sociology, historical geography, demography, and natural hazards literatures. The dissertation first explores the historical development of landscapes across Staten Island from the colonial era to the present day, noting the ways in which modern landscapes bear the traces of their historical antecedents. It next investigates the growth of flood risk over the course of the twentieth century in the island’s East Shore neighborhoods, pointing to prior storm events that foreshadowed Sandy. Post-Sandy policy initiatives are then examined in the light of these prior events. This study finds that many lessons have been learned from the failures of prior proposals, and that these lessons are reflected in the present-day proposals. The evolution of the study area’s demographic composition over the past 50 years is then examined within the broader context of other Sandy-affected areas to determine similarities and differences. Finally, the study examines the relationship between place attachment and recovery from Sandy, finding that one measure of place attachment, neighborhood satisfaction, is linked with recovery, but that another measure, duration of residence, is less clearly linked with recovery. Overall, this dissertation enhances the integration of place and history in geographic hazard risk research and reiterates the critical role that understandings of both place and history must play in establishing effective hazard mitigation, recovery, and resilience policies. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Sandy as Urban Hazard Event .......................................................................................... 2 Vulnerability and Risk ..................................................................................................... 3 Places-as-Becoming, Hazards-as-Becoming .................................................................... 5 Objectives, Structure, and Contributions ......................................................................... 12 Chapter 2 Forgotten Landscapes in New York City’s Forgotten Borough: Staten Island Past and Present .............................................................................................................................. 18 Landscape and Place ........................................................................................................ 19 Understanding Staten Island ............................................................................................ 20 The Pre-Colonial Landscape ............................................................................................ 23 The Colonial Period and the American Revolution (1639 to 1783) ................................. 25 Rural Staten Island: Farms and Towns (1783 to 1866) .................................................... 28 Industrial, Commercial, and Recreational Landscapes (1867 to 1929) ........................... 34 Institutions ................................................................................................................ 36 Industry .................................................................................................................... 37 Recreation and Tourism ........................................................................................... 39 Landscapes Converge: St. George............................................................................ 41 The Fifth Borough (1930 to the present) .......................................................................... 43 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 3 Landscapes of Risk on Staten Island’s East Shore .................................................. 50 Hazard Risks as Historically Contingent Process ............................................................ 52 The East Shore ................................................................................................................. 53 Early Warning Signs ........................................................................................................ 54 The Boom Years: 1900 to 1930 ....................................................................................... 57 Decline, Reconstruction, and Mitigation: 1931 to 1959 .................................................. 62 A Critical Juncture for Mitigation .................................................................................... 66 The 1992 Nor’easter and Hurricane Sandy ...................................................................... 71 Hurricane Sandy ............................................................................................................... 73 Assessing Policy Responses to Hurricane Sandy in Historical Context .......................... 74 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 4 Population Change on the East Shore and in the New York Metro Region ............ 84 Data and Method .............................................................................................................. 85 v Results .............................................................................................................................. 87 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 97 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 98 Chapter 5 Place Attachment and Recovery after Sandy on Staten Island’s East Shore ........... 100 Place, Community, Resilience, and Recovery ................................................................. 102 Study Area ........................................................................................................................ 105 Data .................................................................................................................................. 106 Methods ............................................................................................................................ 109 Results .............................................................................................................................. 112 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 117 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 120 Chapter 6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 122 Summary of Main Findings ............................................................................................. 122 Synthesis .......................................................................................................................... 126 Becoming of Hazardous Places ................................................................................ 126 History Must Inform Policy ..................................................................................... 128 Hazard Risks Cannot Be Oversimplified ................................................................. 130 Limitations and