Governance and planning as boundary conditions for flood risk reduction in Texas: Galveston Island’s flood risk challenge

Galveston Island is a barrier island with a population of approximately 60,000, located between Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on the Texas coast. Due to its location, Galveston is not only on the front line of hurricane-induced storm surges coming from the Gulf, it is also a key site for any flood defense aiming to protect the entire Houston- Galveston Bay region. The island and its namesake city’s history have been marked by devastating storm surges, most notably the 1900 Great Galveston Hurricane, and Hurricane Ike in 2008. The 1900 hurricane left an estimated 6-8000 dead and prompted the elevation of the entire city by approximately 10 feet, plus the construction of the Galves ton Sea Wall on the Gulf-side (Bellis Bixel & Hayes Turner, 2000; Wright-Gidley & Marines, 2008). The back and west end of the island remain unprotected, and as a result were flooded during Hurricane Ike in 2008.Spatial Planning and Strateg