During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, waterfront cities expanded over wetlands and shallow water by building land on which to build the city. Today, this artificial land is threatened by a range of environmental hazards. This increases the risk of natural disaster for people occupying the area. A framework for risk analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create maps based on the formula: ‘Risk = Hazard + Vulnerability’ is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated in four case study cities - Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay (Port Lands), Boston’s Back Bay, New Orleans’ Lakefront and Montreal’s Point St. Charles (Technoparc) – to show that census tracts that are both socially and environmentally vulnerable ought to take precedence in disaster prevention and relief efforts. Created land is inherently more hazardous than the adjacent natural land and requires planning focused on targeting and responding to the documented hazards.

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, waterfront cities expanded over wetlands and shallow water by building land on which to build the city. Today, this artificial land is threatened by a range of environmental hazards. This increases the risk of natural disaster for people occupying the area. A framework for risk analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create maps based on the formula: ‘Risk = Hazard + Vulnerability’ is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated in four case study cities - Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay (Port Lands), Boston’s Back Bay, New Orleans’ Lakefront and Montreal’s Point St. Charles (Technoparc) – to show that census tracts that are both socially and environmentally vulnerable ought to take precedence in disaster prevention and relief efforts. Created land is inherently more hazardous than the adjacent natural land and requires planning focused on targeting and responding to the documented hazards.