Ken Topping
Kenneth C. Topping is president of Topping Associates International, a lecturer in California Polytechnic State University’s City and Regional Planning Department, and project director of the 2010 State Hazard Mitigation Plan being prepared for the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA). He is the former planning director for the City of Los Angeles (1986-1990) where he directed significant plans and projects. Recognized internationally for work integrating city planning with disaster management, he has advised on mitigation and recovery in Australia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan.
Topping is co-principal investigator with Rob Olshansky and Laurie Johnson on a National Science Foundation study comparing post-earthquake redevelopment after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles with the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake in Japan. He was visiting professor at Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute in Japan from 2002 to 2004 and consultant to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Planning Association (APA) on integrating mitigation with community planning. Topping co-authored Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction (FEMA-APA 1998) with Jim Schwab and others.
Following Hurricane Katrina Topping advised on New Orleans rebuilding. His thoughts on Stafford Act reform are summarized in an invited comment, Toward a National Disaster Recovery Act of 2009, which appeared in the January issue of Natural Hazards Observer. He holds master’s in public administration (1972) from California State University-Los Angeles and a bachelor’s cum laude in sociology (1956) from the University of Redlands. He is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Resources by Ken Topping from the Natural Hazards Library Staff
Rebuilding communities following disaster: Lessons from Kobe and Los Angeles
With Robert Olshansky and Laurie A. Johnson,
Built Environment, 2006, vol. 32, issue 4
The First Round: An Assessment of Local Hazard Mitigation Plans in California under DMA 2000
Proceedings of the 2007 Hazards and Disasters Researchers Meeting