Robert B. Olshansky

Dr. Olshansky’s teaching and research cover land use and environmental planning, with an emphasis on planning for natural hazards. He has published extensively on post-disaster recovery planning, planning and policy for earthquake risks, and environmental impact assessment. His previous work included studies of earthquake risk in communities in the Central U.S., land use planning implications of the 1994 Northridge California earthquake, earthquake preparedness in the Central U.S., guidelines for seismic safety advocates, the use of seismic zonation in land use planning, policies for landslide hazard reduction, financing landslide mitigation, and local hillside development policies. He also completed a comprehensive study of the local implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act.

More recently, Professor Olshansky has studied recovery after several major earthquakes, most notably the Kobe, Japan earthquake of 1995. He spent the 2004-2005 academic year studying this topic as a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University, Disaster Prevention Research Institute. Since September 2005 he has been closely monitoring the post-Katrina planning process in New Orleans.

Publications include a book on landslide policy, two monographs on seismic safety for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, one monograph on hillside planning for the American Planning Association, and a forthcoming monograph on recovery following the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Kobe earthquakes.