‌‌‌Earthquake-Resilient Urban Form: Design Strategies for Emergency Access, Rescue Operations, and Post-Disaster Recovery

With the escalating frequency and intensity of environmental hazards—driven by climate change and anthropogenic pressures—urban resilience has become a central imperative in contemporary urban planning and design. Cities worldwide face diverse disasters, including earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, each posing distinct challenges to urban systems. However, the growing complexity and unpredictability of these events demand proactive, multidimensional strategies to strengthen cities’ capacities for prevention, adaptation, response, and recovery. Crucially, urban resilience is not merely a function of emergency management but is deeply rooted in the spatial and morphological characteristics of urban form. Although resilient urban form has been extensively studied, critical gaps persist in understanding how urban morphology specifically influences seismic resilience, particularly at the block scale. The absence of integrated urban design guidelines that systematically incorporate seismic resilience exacerbates these risks. This chapter systematically investigates the spatial and morphological attributes underpinning earthquake-resilient urban form, focusing on three key dimensions: (1) block configuration, (2) open space networks, and (3) street systems. Drawing on comparative analysis of major earthquake events, this study develops a set of actionable urban design guidelines that prioritize life safety, enable efficient evacuation and rescue operations, and support rapid post-disaster recovery. By advancing principles such as flexible and modular block layouts, distributed and accessible open spaces, and highly connected street networks, the findings offer a practical framework for enhancing both the resilience of existing neighborhoods and the planning of new urban areas. This integrated approach aims to systematically embed seismic resilience into urban form, thereby reducing vulnerability, safeguarding human life, and supporting long-term urban adaptability.