15 Cities Destroyed and Rebuilt: How Catastrophe Reshaped Urban History
A recent survey investigates the reconstruction of 15 cities across five continents and four centuries that faced destruction. Highlights include London, which rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, leading to modern building regulations; Lisbon, which innovated earthquake-resistant designs following the 1755 quake; and Chicago, where the 1871 fire spurred the development of steel-frame skyscrapers. Other notable examples are San Francisco after the 1906 quake and fire, Tokyo post-1923 Kanto earthquake and 1945 firebombing, and Rotterdam following the 1940 bombing. The study also covers Coventry, Warsaw, Dresden, Berlin, Hiroshima, Tangshan, Kobe, New Orleans, and Christchurch, each detailing the causes of destruction, their rebuilding efforts, and the enduring impacts.
Key facts
- London's 1666 fire led to the Rebuilding Act of 1667, one of the first comprehensive building codes.
- Lisbon's 1755 earthquake produced the gaiola pombalina, the first earthquake-resistant building system.
- Chicago's 1871 fire spurred the invention of the steel-frame skyscraper in 1885.
- San Francisco's 1906 disaster advanced the elastic rebound theory of earthquakes.
- Tokyo institutionalized Disaster Prevention Day after the 1923 Kanto earthquake.
- Rotterdam chose modernist rebuilding over historical reconstruction after 1940 bombing.
- Warsaw's Old Town reconstruction was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.
- Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park was designed by Kenzo Tange and the Genbaku Dome is a UNESCO site.
- Tangshan's 1976 earthquake killed over 242,000 people and forced revision of Chinese seismic codes.
- Kobe's 1995 earthquake led to Japan's volunteer era and seismic retrofitting policies.
- New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery included a $14 billion levee system and charter school transformation.
- Christchurch's 2011 earthquake led to a red zone buyout of 8,000 properties and a redesigned downtown.
Entities
Artists
- Christopher Wren
- John Evelyn
- Daniel Burnham
- Louis Sullivan
- John Root
- William Le Baron Jenney
- Kenzo Tange
- Shigeru Ban
- Basil Spence
- Benjamin Britten
- Bernardo Bellotto
- Piet Blom
- Renzo Piano
- Helmut Jahn
- Norman Foster
- Le Corbusier
- Walter Gropius
- Alvar Aalto
- Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo
- Voltaire
- Mao Zedong
Institutions
- UNESCO
- FEMA
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Mayors for Peace
- Hanshin Expressway
- Canterbury Television
- Road Home
- World's Columbian Exposition
- Panama-Pacific International Exposition
- Interbau
- City Beautiful movement
- Chicago School
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Lisbon
- Portugal
- Chicago
- United States
- San Francisco
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Yokohama
- Rotterdam
- Netherlands
- Coventry
- Warsaw
- Poland
- Dresden
- Germany
- Berlin
- Hiroshima
- Tangshan
- China
- Kobe
- New Orleans
- Christchurch
- New Zealand
- Osaka
- Beijing
- Tianjin
- Shanghai
- New York
- Amsterdam
- Delft
- Volgograd
- Russia
- Stalingrad
Sources
- Quartz —