News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- A book featuring case studies collected in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, offers insights into the resiliency of cities once devastated by natural and man-made disasters.

"The Resilient City: How Modern Cities Recover from Disaster" (Oxford University Press) is co-edited by Dr. Thomas J. Campanella, assistant professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill department of city and regional planning, and Dr. Lawrence J. Vale, professor of urban studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"For as long as cities have existed, they have been sacked, shaken, burnt, bombed, flooded, starved, irradiated and pillaged," said Campanella, an expert on the history and development of the urban built environment.

"Yet, in almost every case, cities that have been destroyed have risen again. After September 11, we thought we might help others learn important lessons from these cases. Those lessons continue to resonate now in the aftermath of the recent destructive tsunamis."

In "The Resilient City," historians, architects and urban studies experts recount the stories of cities throughout the world that have recovered from major disasters. The anthology examines why cities are rebuilt, how a vision for the future is incorporated into a new urban landscape and how disasters have been interpreted and commemorated in newly built structures.

Case studies featured in the book include:

· The Oklahoma City bombing;

· Chicago’s great fire of 1871;

· San Francisco’s earthquake and fires of 1906;

· The British invasion of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812;

· The destruction of Berlin and Warsaw in World War II;

· Gernika’s bombardment during the Spanish Civil War;

· Jerusalem’s centuries of destruction;

· Mexico City’s 1985 earthquake;

· China’s Tangshan earthquake;

· Tokyo’s earthquake, fires and World War II bombardment;

· Beirut in the 1990s wars; and

· South Central Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict.

"The book brings to light the experiences these resilient cities share, while underscoring that no two cities have recovered in the precisely the same way," said Campanella.

Newsweek called the collection "breathtakingly global in scope." PLANetizen, an online public interest information exchange for the urban planning, design and development community, included the book in its top 10 of 2004.

Campanella has been a UNC faculty member since 2002. He also wrote "Republic of Shade: New England and the American Elm" and "Cities of the Sky: An Aerial Portrait of America."

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Note: Contact Campanella at (919) 962-4776 or tomcamp@unc.edu. For more information on him, visit www.planning.unc.eeu/facstaff/faculty/campanella.htm.

UNC College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339 or deereid@unc.edu
News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu