Planning emergency in historical centres: from vulnerability to the definition of urban risk maps

Abstract

Historical centres are high-risk scenarios for evacuees during earthquake emergency. Herein, the preventive identification of criticalities concerning the emergency paths is important to preserve evacuees’ and rescuers’ safety and design effective risk mitigation solutions. This study proposes new indices for the quick evaluation of paths’ vulnerability and of possible debris amounts blocking the evacuation paths within the historical centre. Furthermore, starting from the obtained indices, the study produces probabilistic risk maps of the centre useful before and after emergency to plan the safe paths for evacuees and rescuers, design emergency operations and resource allocation.

Urban Safety, Socio-Technical Solutions for Urban Infrastructure: Case Studies

“…There is a lack of information on emergency planning integrated into urban space. Regarding urban centers with a strong historical value, the literature is even more lacking and most often is only associated with the seismic vulnerability of historic buildings [15].…”