Planning Institute Australia National Speaking Tour

Bushfires and Disaster Recovery: Good Planning, Better Outcomes
with Ken Topping

Click here to learn more

The American Planning Association, in conjunction with the Planning Institute Australia, arranged for Ken Topping to tour Australia as part of an exchange program with planning organizations in other countries.

The focus of the tour was to:

• explore the partnership between public administration, planning, and communities
• investigate the development of disaster reduction at local level through planning
• evaluate specific actions available to assess and reduce vulnerability to bushfires
• consider and compares means to prepare and implement a rapid recovery
• highlight "best practice"

Professor Ken Topping is a leading U.S. expert in planning for disaster mitigation and recovery. Formerly planning director for the City of Los Angeles, Topping has consulted internationally on planning and disaster management in Pacific Rim countries.

He assisted the City of Oakland, California, in recovering from a devastating 1991 firestorm and helped finance a vegetation management plan and seasonal fire suppression enhancement program.