This project will investigate factors facilitating or impeding post-earthquake redevelopment following the Northridge (Los Angeles) earthquake of January 17, 1994, and the Great Hanshin (Kobe, Japan) earthquake of January 17, 1995. Data will be collected from study sites in Los Angeles and Kobe over a two-year period. The research team will assemble a record of planning documents, publications, and land parcel maps on pre-disaster and post-disaster economic, physical, institutional, and planning circumstances in each city; use field observations, interviews, analysis of land parcel data, and collected documents to investigate the influence of such factors as financing and institutional arrangements on redevelopment outcomes.