Coping Capacity, Adaptive Capacity, and Transformative Capacity Preliminary Characterization in a “Multi-Hazard” Resilience Perspective: The Soccavo District Case Study (City of Naples, Italy)

Abstract

An innovative methodology for characterizing Coping Capacity (CC), Adaptive Capacity (AC), and Transformative Capacity (TC) resilience determinants in a multi-hazard territorial context is applied to the Soccavo district (Naples, Italy), located in the Campi Flegrei caldera and exposed to volcanic eruptions, ground deformations (bradyseism), earthquakes, geomorphological processes (landslides, rock falls, erosion), and climate change-related hazards (heat waves, pluvial floods). The method allowed for the identification of the CC, AC, and TC parameters that can be easily converted into qualitative–quantitative variables. Among all parameters, the method focused on multi-stakeholder and civil society engagement, which is representative of TC and variable relating to the risk perception and awareness, the urban space perception, or the people’s ability to activate bottom-up urban transformation processes within resilient development pathways. Therefore, qualitative tools such as collaborative mapping and co-design processes, pertaining to the urban planning and design fields, and quantitative tools such as surveys, from the social science field, were harmonized and combined to collect and analyze data on these site-specific topics. Considering people’s priorities and needs, the study was useful to define shared sustainable and resilient solutions in order to holistically integrate Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation urban planning and design approaches and simultaneously deliver social, environmental, and economic co-benefits.

Improving Climate Resilience of Critical Assets: The ICARIA Project

“…This involves considering both the effect of single hazards (e.g., floods, heat waves) on specific assets and the fact that individual hazards can increase the probability of compound events occurrence, aggravating the impact scenario with potential cumulative damages and cascading failures of interconnected networks and systems. The possible interactions between natural hazards have been only partially investigated to date, while in recent years the increasing levels of temperature and precipitation extremes has often been associated with multi-hazard events (e.g., pluvial floods associated with landslides and debris flows, or forest fires fueled by persistent drought and heatwave conditions) [6][7][8]12,13]. The risk assessment of this kind of events requires a careful evaluation of hazard interdependencies and vulnerability of exposed assets to inform the development of resilience measures and contingency plans.…”