A Geographical Abacus of the Urban Building Heritage Based on Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)

Abstract

This paper describes the preliminary result of the research project “Urban Abacus of Building Energy performances (Abaco Urbano Energeticodegli Edifci – AUREE)” aimed at supporting the renovation and energy efficiency enhancement of urban building heritage financed by Ricerca Sistema Elettrico (MISE) program. The AUREE concept is a Web – GIS GeoBlog portal with some customized interfaces aimed to share the knowledge on urban building heritage and promote the participation of the stakeholders of the urban community. The methodological approach is specifically addressed to small and medium Mediterranean urban contexts that are characterized by a lack of baseline data. It is characterized by the implementation of a simple analytical Urban Building Energy Model (UBEM) based on spatial Open Data, typological study of the local building heritage and a web-based participative framework. After a touch on the theoretical context, the paper presents the general framework of the AUREE project and then focuses to the methodological approach for some participative interfaces. Via an experimentation on the city of Carbonia (Sardinia, IT), the paper presents an archetypes approach based on historical information that provides an exhaustive segmentation and classification of the urban building stock. They are the necessary basis for the UBEM and for the knowledge structure for the Geographical Abacus aimed to support homeowners on the early step of a building renovation decision.