A Multi Risk Analysis for the Planning, Management and Retrofit of Cultural Heritage in Historic Urban Districts

The cultural heritage of historic cities is a complex system of overlapping features and their relationship with users. Such a Building Environment (BE) is increasingly exposed to Rapid Onset Disasters with socio-economic losses and low recovery capacity. At the same time, it is affected by Slow Onset Disasters, above all due to climate change. In these situations, decision-making becomes difficult as regards the immediate response to protect people and valuable buildings, as well as for BE maintenance and retrofit for their safe use and preservation. The need to address the balance between transformation and conservation requirements is evident. This paper presents the ResCUDE project, an ongoing multidisciplinary research study aimed at comprehensively characterizing the resilience of cultural heritage in historic districts and geared to design and implement a new method to support its protection, monitoring and planning. The proposed study develops a multi-risk analysis which integrates the multi-agent modelling of human spatial and social behaviour response during emergencies with geomatic techniques to delimit and survey exposed areas as well as building performance analysis, retrofit methodologies and an assessment of the impact of heatwaves. This multiform information is integrated into a consistent output aimed at managing risks and supporting decision-making to safeguard users and the inherent values of the BE. This would also allow for a multi-faceted evaluation of effective Natural-Based Solutions.