Abstract
Every city has a disaster at some time in its history. A few may have been mild, as in Perth, which has experienced only mild earthquakes and flooding, but urban history is dotted with disasters. The ancient city of Megiddo in the Middle East—after which the word “armageddon” was derived to mean “a dramatic and catastrophic conflict, especially one seen as likely to destroy the world or the human race”—is now just a large archaeological mound. Those working on the site have found twenty-two cities buried beneath the surface that were built and destroyed at some point in history. Megiddo’s problem was that it lay in the path of invading armies from the east and west.
I’ve always said that if we just rebuild the city we’ve achieved nothing. If you just put back what you had before then you have all the same problems: aging population, centers of the city no longer functioning as they once did, the suburban centers sucking life out of the city. We have a chance to do something different.
—Bob Parker, mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand, on recovery after the 2011 earthquake
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Notes
- 1.
Arthur T. Bradley, The Disaster Preparedness Handbook: A Guide for Families, 2nd ed. (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2012).
- 2.
Doug Peeples, “Want a Truly Resilient Smart City? Then Let’s Talk Microgrids,” Smart Cities Council, November 17, 2016, http://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/want-truly-resilient-smart-city-then-lets-talk-microgrids.
- 3.
See John L. Renne, “Evacuation Planning for Vulnerable Populations: Lessons from the New Orleans City Assisted Evacuation Plan,” chap. 8 in Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita, ed. Amy Liu et al. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011).
- 4.
John L. Renne and Billy Fields, “Introduction: Moving from Disaster to Opportunity: Transitioning the Transportation Sector from Oil Dependence,” in Transport Beyond Oil: Policy Choices for a Multimodal Future, ed. John L. Renne and Billy Fields, 1–8 (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2013).
- 5.
Peter Newman, Tim Beatley, and Linda Blagg, Christchurch: Resilient City, a Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute video, posted March 30, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otv4JwjrznI.
- 6.
Barnaby Bennett et al., eds., Once in a Lifetime: City-Building after Disaster in Christchurch (Christchurch, New Zealand: Freerange Press, 2014).
- 7.
See Gap Filler’s Web site, http://www.gapfiller.org.nz/.
- 8.
Peter Newman, “How Christchurch Can Build Light Rail—and Create the Centres It Needs in the Process,” in Bennett et al., Once in a Lifetime, 401–405.
- 9.
See the Lyttelton Harbour TimeBank’s Web site, http://www.lyttelton.net.nz/timebank.
- 10.
See American Rivers, “The Impacts of Climate Change on Rivers,” http://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/clean-water/impacts-rivers/.
- 11.
David Brown, “Saving the Mekong Delta,” Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue, ABC Radio National, November 19, 2016, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/mekong/8038260.
- 12.
Tim Flannery, The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change (Melbourne: Text Publishing Company, 2005); Tim Flannery: One Man and a Vision, video posted October 9, 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2008/10/09/2384652.htm.
- 13.
Don McFarlane, quoted in Peter Newman, “The Story of Perth’s Water Resilience Turnaround,” Water: Journal of the Australian Water Association 41, no. 7 (November 2014): 24, http://digitaledition.awa.asn.au/default.aspx?iid=105088&startpage=page0000026#folio=26.
- 14.
Water Corporation of Western Australia, “Water Forever: Towards Climate Resilience” (Perth: Water Corporation of Western Australia, October 2009), https://www.watercorporation.com.au/-/media/files/about-us/planning-for-the-future/water-forever-50-year-plan.pdf.
- 15.
LandCorp, Innovation WGV, https://www.landcorp.com.au/Residential/White-Gum-Valley/; Josh Byrne & Associates, Josh’s House, http://.joshshouse.com.au.
- 16.
Karissa Rosenfeld, “Animated Film Envisions BIG’s Manhattan ‘Dry Line,’” ArchDaily, February 17, 2015, http://www.archdaily.com/599775/animated-film-envisions-big-s-manhattan-dry-line/.
- 17.
Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre, “A Stakeholder Engagement Approach to Enhancing Transport Network Resilience in Australia: A Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) Transport Resilience Industry Report,” Report 1.35 (Brisbane: Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre, 2016).
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© 2017 Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley, and Heather Boyer
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Newman, P., Beatley, T., Boyer, H. (2017). Shape Disaster Recovery for the Future. In: Resilient Cities. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-686-8_5
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