Issues concerning individual buildings and facilities have been one of the primary focuses of design professionals and decision makers dealing with earthquake hazard mitigation. A prevailing view has been that when seismic building provisions are taken into consideration, the effects of an earthquake on the urban fabric would be similar to the aggregate effects on individual buildings in the total urban environment. However, buildings are not located in isolation; the performance of buildings, infrastructure systems, and physical urban patterns are strongly interrelated. The complex mix of lifelines and buildings, moving in different modes, with dissimilar structural and construction systems, oriented in numerous directions, and with diverse urban functional capacities affect the performance of entire urban environments on a large scale. This project will develop a set of practical guidelines that can be effectively and smoothly integrated into existing or planned urban redevelopment programs. A range of seismic urban planning mitigation measures will be identified as a means of implementing additional urban design strategies in communities located in seismic zones of high and moderate risk around the country.
