The problem in large part is Coastal erosion which can be fixed. Also there are plans to develop areas that are flood prone in NOla into Green place. As a former resident of there the "its below sealevel argument lets not rebuild" is a little simplistic
I disagree that coastal erosion should be fixed for the same reason I do not feel building should be done below sea level. It may be simplistic but building against nature is not smart and it is simple don't do it or expect to every couple of generations to spend billions and billions of dollars to keep the residents (and former residents) satisfied. Green space, have at it, I do not consider that to be building.
Mother Nature will always win. Mother Nature has always won. Man can either "mitigate", "delay" or "adapt" -- but man cannot stop geological change.
Those who feel man can control nature are also the same group who blame mankind for "environmental change". Left to it's own devices, completely absent the effects of man, the earth will still transform and change. Humans, by nature, are very conceited and shortsighted. Man only looks at things in terms of 100's of years. The earth, on the other hand, operates on timescales of 1000's, 10,000's and 1,000,000's of years and has no capacity for conceit. Any impact man creates on his small slice of the environment today is meaningless to the earth's timeless cycle of change. New Orleans is only a minuscule speck in the earth's history.