Learning from Lisbon: Contemporary Cities in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters

Abstract

Cities survive earthquakes and rebuild with improved urban strategies, architectural de‐ signs and building technologies. This chapter will present a detailed analysis of the re‐ sponse, recovery, planning and rebuilding processes after the Lisbon earthquake and compare them to the recent events in Christchurch, New Zealand. Archival research from libraries and museums in Portugal will inform the historical analysis, and interviews and of‐ ficial documents from New Zealand relief and reconstruction agencies will underpin the contemporary analysis. The study aims to identify opportunities and challenges in facilitat‐ ing good urban design in the process of recovering from a natural disaster, using case stud‐ ies which are separated by over 250 years, but which both attest to the centrality of urban design in the reconstruction process.