Learning From Disasters

AuthorRutherford H. Platt
PositionProfessor of Geography, Emeritus, at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Cities, City University of New York, and Director of the Ecological Cities Project
Pages40-49
Page 40 THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2008, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.
Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, July/August 2008
eli Pr e s s
Rutherford. H. Plat t is Professor of
Geogr aphy, Em eritus, at U niversity of
Massachuset ts, Amherst, Senior Fellow
at the Instit ute for Sustainable Cities,
City Universit y of New York, and Director
of the Ecologica l Cities Project.
e Great Fire of London
In the year 1666, London, England — the
primary city of the western world — was a
medieval labyrinth of some 400,000 souls
packed into wood structures overhanging
twisting, narrow streets within and just be-
yond the city’s ancient Roman walls. e
previous year, 56,000 Londoners had suc-
cumbed to the plague, a testament to the over-
crowded and unsanitary condition of the city. On
the evening of September 1, after a long summer
drought, the Great Fire of London began. Fanned
by high winds over the next f‌ive days, the f‌ire de-
stroyed most of the old city within the walls, includ-
ing St. Paul’s Cathedral, some 80 churches, many
guildhalls and warehouses, and countless dwellings.
London’s population f‌led to open f‌ields beyond the
walls in unspeakable misery and fear.1
e Great Fire of London was possibly the f‌irst
modern disaster to be fully described by literate
eyewitnesses. According to Samuel Pepys’s Diary: “I
saw a f‌ire as one entire arch of f‌ire above a mile long:
it made me weep to see it. e churches, houses are
all on f‌ire and f‌laming at once, and a horrid noise
the f‌lames made and the cracking of the houses.”2
e f‌ire epitomized Garrett Hardins famous and
gloomy adage, “Freedom in a commons brings ruin
to all.”3 e growth of London over the previous four
centuries had f‌lourished in a permissive legal envi-
ronment where common-law property rights were
increasingly recognized and protected, but the public
had virtually no voice in how those property rights
were exercised — a morality tale of laissez-faire run
amok. Even as the f‌ire raged, the usual last resort of
pulling down houses in its path was delayed as King
Charles II, the newly restored and nervous monarch
(after all, his father had been beheaded), dithered
about the costs of compensation to the owners.
A city thriving f‌inancially, London was nonethe-
less a geographic disaster waiting to happen: private
structures clogged the narrow lanes and passage-
ways, encroached on market spaces, and blocked
access to the ames River. With no regulation of
building size, location, and construction materials,
the f‌ire was inevitable. And without access to water,
it could not be halted.
But there is a happier aftermath to this dreary ac-
count. At the urging of the architect Christopher Wren
and other leading citizens, King Charles II issued an
astounding proclamation a week after the disaster call-
ing for restraint and foresight in the rebuilding pro-
Learning From
Disasters
In land use and urban design, humans
ignore nature at their peril. e dynamic
interaction of physical geography, legal
institutions, and other factors — as
described by the author’s Land Use and
Society Model — shapes the evolution
of urban communities, sometimes with
disastrous outcomes. But the model may
operate benef‌icially, as when new insights
lead to revision of outdated land use
policies and practices. e new Ecological
Cities perspective ref‌lects such a desirable
adjustment in thinking about how
communities may become safer and more
sustainable
by Rutherford H. Platt

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