Sowder, Anne Marie (2023) Framework for recovery: The 1935 hurricane houses of islamorada as a case of successful post-disaster rebuilding. PhD thesis, University of Florida, USA.
Abstract
Pressure to rebuild quickly may be the "greatest obstacle" to delivery of permanent housing in the aftermath of a disaster. This pressure dooms many postdisaster rebuilding (PDR) projects to failure, although there is little agreement on what defines project success. This research draws upon previous research in multiple disciplines to present a theory of rebuilding for permanence that encompasses key indicators of project success from sustainable construction, resilience, and PDR. The selected case, the Hurricane Houses of Islamorada are a unique example of postdisaster housing that was both rapidly deployed and permanent. In 1935-36 in response to the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, three small clusters of single-family homes were rebuilt from the ground up in the Florida Keys, an archipelago at the extreme southeastern end of the United States. Raised in under a year, the concrete Hurricane House project was built through a public-private partnership with the American Red Cross using federal and private funding. Using the Hurricane House case, this research linked construction outputs to project outcomes by examining the contributing project characteristics (CPCs) leading to the achievement of goals established for PDR projects. This research validated the causal mechanisms established through the review of literature and by expanding the use of Historical Building Information Modeling (HBIM) through the overlay of historical and analytical data. Based on these discoveries and the strong support of contemporary documentation, it is likely that between 20-28 concrete Hurricane Houses were built in the year following the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. Although research suggest that the Hurricane Houses performed well against PDR project goals and were deemed successful, the program of restoring and rebuilding private homes was not continued after subsequent hurricane destruction in the New Deal era, suggesting that there is a disconnect between project success and repeatability, likely due to cost, public opinion, and lack of project postmortem. This research established a paradigm of PDR project success that emphasized human actions and organizational traits as contributing factors for project success.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Issa, R Raymond |
| Index terms: | key indicator, funding, paradigm, partnership, project outcome, information modelling, Red Cross, recovery, project success, construction output, housing, historical building, program, rebuilding, documentation, United States, sustainable construction |
| Subjects: | operations management, economic analysis, project completion, construction type, building construction, communities and social development, digital design, sustainable construction, Geography, project delivery, partnership management, software systems, education and knowledge transfer, professional development, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Digital Applications, Sustainability, Project Management, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here