Overview

On April 18, 1906, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the San Francisco region, igniting fires that burned half the city. The disaster in all its elements - earthquake, fires, and recovery - profoundly disrupted the urban order and challenged San Francisco's perceived permanence. The crisis temporarily broke down spatial divisions of class and race and highlighted the contested terrain of urban nature in an era of widespread class conflict, simmering ethnic tensions, and controversial reform efforts. From a proposal to expel Chinatown from the city center to a vision of San Francisco paved with concrete in the name of sanitation, the process of reconstruction involved reenvisioning the places of both people and nature. In their zeal to restore their city, San Franciscans downplayed the role of the earthquake and persisted in choosing patterns of development that exacerbated risk. In this close study of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Joanna L. Dyl examines the decades leading up to the catastrophic event and the city's recovery from it. Combining urban environmental history and disaster studies, Seismic City demonstrates how the crisis and subsequent rebuilding reflect the dynamic interplay of natural and human influences that have shaped San Francisco.

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9780295746098

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Reviews

Dyl's analysis reveals the ways in which cultural, political, and economic pressures influence the nature of the built environment, even in the context of environmental hazards. . . . These narratives of survival and resistance complicate tidy Progressive-era stories of urban reform and revitalization, revealing heterogeneous experiences of disaster and remaking within the city. . . . Dyl's work enlivens historical actors typically removed from narratives of this urban revitalization [and] asks provocative questions about how we retell narratives of past disasters, account for natural processes in our present lives, and plan for our futures in these sites. -- Shari Wilcox * Edge Effects *

"""Dyl’s analysis reveals the ways in which cultural, political, and economic pressures influence the nature of the built environment, even in the context of environmental hazards.... These narratives of survival and resistance complicate tidy Progressive-era stories of urban reform and revitalization, revealing heterogeneous experiences of disaster and remaking within the city.... Dyl’s work enlivens historical actors typically removed from narratives of this urban revitalization [and] asks provocative questions about how we retell narratives of past disasters, account for natural processes in our present lives, and plan for our futures in these sites."" -- Shari Wilcox * Edge Effects * ""Seismic City is a landmark in the relatively new field of disaster studies...It makes for a gripping read."" ""Seismic City offers an important contribution to the history of San Francisco by interweaving nature, human actions, and the built environment."" ""The strength of Dyl’s work stems from her consideration of natural disasters as something very different from exceptional or singular occurrences."" ""environmental history delivers a unique portrait of the 1906 disaster."" ""Seismic City is a superb environmental history of most well-known disasters of a popular western city."""

The strength of Dyl's work stems from her consideration of natural disasters as something very different from exceptional or singular occurrences. * Planning Perspectives * Seismic City offers an important contribution to the history of San Francisco by interweaving nature, human actions, and the built environment. * H-Environment * Dyl's analysis reveals the ways in which cultural, political, and economic pressures influence the nature of the built environment, even in the context of environmental hazards. . . . These narratives of survival and resistance complicate tidy Progressive-era stories of urban reform and revitalization, revealing heterogeneous experiences of disaster and remaking within the city. . . . Dyl's work enlivens historical actors typically removed from narratives of this urban revitalization [and] asks provocative questions about how we retell narratives of past disasters, account for natural processes in our present lives, and plan for our futures in these sites. -- Shari Wilcox * Edge Effects * Seismic City is a landmark in the relatively new field of disaster studies...It makes for a gripping read. * California History *

Seismic City is a landmark in the relatively new field of disaster studies...It makes for a gripping read. * California History * Dyl's analysis reveals the ways in which cultural, political, and economic pressures influence the nature of the built environment, even in the context of environmental hazards. . . . These narratives of survival and resistance complicate tidy Progressive-era stories of urban reform and revitalization, revealing heterogeneous experiences of disaster and remaking within the city. . . . Dyl's work enlivens historical actors typically removed from narratives of this urban revitalization [and] asks provocative questions about how we retell narratives of past disasters, account for natural processes in our present lives, and plan for our futures in these sites. -- Shari Wilcox * Edge Effects * Seismic City offers an important contribution to the history of San Francisco by interweaving nature, human actions, and the built environment. * H-Environment * The strength of Dyl's work stems from her consideration of natural disasters as something very different from exceptional or singular occurrences. * Planning Perspectives *

Author Information

Joanna L. Dyl teaches in the Environmental Analysis Program at the Claremont Colleges.

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