Do we know how urban heritage is being endangered by climate change? A systematic and critical review

Laura Quesada-Ganuza, Leire Garmendia, Eduardo Roji, Alessandra Gandini

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

It is worldwide accepted that climate change is affecting cities and that the conservation of the cultural heritage contributes to sustainable development. However, despite the high level of interest and research in climate-change risks on socioeconomic, urban and natural systems, studies that assess climate change impacts on urban cultural heritage and contribute to a holistic understanding on the subject present noticeable gaps in knowledge. A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out to assess the state-of- the-art of cultural heritage risk assessment methodologies within urban systems in the context of climate change, specifically historic urban areas. For this purpose, a systematic search was applied using Web of Science and Scopus. The search identified and characterized existing methodologies on vulnerability and risk assessment for cultural heritage in a changing climate following the PRISMA protocol, and it synthesized knowledge gaps to be addressed in the near future. This study aims to bring risk assessment methodologies closer to urban planners for more efficient climate change adaptation policies. The research concluded that there is an unbalance between the amount of methodologies for the different climate change derived hazards and their impacts on historic urban areas. The amount of methodologies focused on flooding highlights that further research is needed for other relevant hazards, like heat and cold waves, that contribute to a holistic perspective.
Original languageEnglish
Article number102551
Pages (from-to)102551
Number of pages1
JournalInternational Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Volume65
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

Keywords

  • Historic urban areas
  • Extreme events
  • Risk assessment
  • Vulnerability assessment
  • Exposure

Project and Funding Information

  • Project ID
  • info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/821282/EU/Sustainable Historic Environments hoListic reconstruction through Technological Enhancement and community based Resilience/SHELTER
  • Funding Info
  • The authors wish to acknowledge funding from the European Com-mission through the SHELTER project (GA 821282) and from the Uni-versity of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (PPGA20/26), as well as the support of research groups IT1314-19 of the Basque Government, GIU19/029 of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU and SAREN of the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao. 9. Annex I – Papers reviewed References Year Citations Author keywords Hazard (s) Risk aspects/Systems 1 [49] 2020 0 Damage Assessment; Climate-Change; Precipitation; Future; Model; Management; Framework; Hazard Floods Vulnerability/Physical 2 [60] 2020 1 Floods Vulnerability/Physical (continued on next page) Fig. 6.Articles published each year. L. Quesada-Ganuza et al.

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