Highlights:

In this article, I synthesize insights from urban growth machine and risk society theories to advance scholarship that furthers an understanding of why and how environmental racism, in this case rebuilding a school on toxic land in a Black community, is produced during prolonged recovery to disaster. Using a single, embedded historical case, I focus on the redevelopment of the Booker T.

This study advances scholarly debate on the impact of confidence and trust on flood risk perceptions using data from a random sample of 403 residents in New Orleans, a U.S. coastal city with hundreds of miles of levees to protect the city from flooding. The research focuses on several predictors including specific trust measures of local, state, and federal authorities, sociodemographic characteristics, and experience with flood damage.