This research paper aims to explore the potential to improve the role and effectiveness of urban planning in decreasing disaster risk. It suggests that risks associated with disasters will be reduced if certain urban planning and disaster management theories and practices are integrated, focussing particularly upon citizens’ participation in the processes of planning.

This paper uses the case of the Bendigo 2009 bushfire in Victoria, Australia. It considers why certain parts of the built-up area in Bendigo were more susceptible to bushfire-attack than others, as a base for development of key urban design principles to increase settlement resilience to bushfire.