Abstract
This paper deals with a geophysical survey carried out in some critical urban areas of the historical city of Matera (Southern Italy). Matera has a very complex shallower stratigraphy characterized by both anthropic and natural “targets” and is affected by geological instability. Therefore, Matera represents an ideal and very challenging outdoor laboratory for testing novel approaches for near-surface explorations in urban areas. Here, we present the results of a near-surface survey carried out by jointly applying Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) methods. The survey was implemented in three different critical zones within the urban area of Matera (Piazza Duomo, Piazza San Giovanni, Villa dell’Unità d’Italia). These test sites are of great interest for archaeological and architectonical studies and are affected by ground instability phenomena due to the presence of voids, cavities and other anthropic structures. The effectiveness of the survey was enhanced by the exploitation of advanced 3D tomographic approaches, which allowed to achieve 3D representation of the investigated underground and obtain information in terms of both the location and the geometry of buried objects and structures and the characterization of shallow geological layers. The results of the surveys are now under study (or have attracted the interest) of the Municipality in order to support smart cities programs and activities for a better management of the underground space.
Highlights
Today, there is an increasing awareness about the necessity of smart management and protection of the urban areas, which is one of the main elements ensuring the Smart City paradigm
Three test sites located in the urban area were selected: Piazza Duomo; Piazza San Giovanni and Villa d’Unità d’Italia
Methods to illuminate and reconstruct the geometry of buried structures, being its urban subsurface a complex geological environment that was continuously modified by the anthropic activities during the millenarian history of the city
Summary
There is an increasing awareness about the necessity of smart management and protection of the urban areas, which is one of the main elements ensuring the Smart City paradigm The latter one considers the good and reliable behaviour of the urban areas as strictly affected by the functioning of the service networks interacting one to each other and mutually dependent. The risk scenarios of urban areas and of their infrastructures are the result of the combination of their vulnerability (dictated by their condition and resilience capabilities) with the hazards due to the different environmental and anthropic causes In this frame, it is worth underlying that urban areas, when characterized by a degraded condition, could be damaged seriously even by events whose impact would be negligible in “normal situations”. These considerations bring the necessity to carry out a long-term monitoring and assessment of the status of cities and of the embedded infrastructures in view of enabling “risk-scenario analysis” tools [4,5,6]
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