Abstract
Recent data show that there are intensifications of phenomena related to climate change, such as the increasing of heavy rains, more frequent and intense droughts connected with fires, and alterations of the local climatic conditions, including heat islands with consequent impacts on cities, districts, and buildings. Not only are natural hazards stressing Europe but also human-induced events like low-magnitude earthquakes as a direct cause of fracking or mining. This study aimed to investigate the significant stressors and summarize what impact is the most dangerous in each European country. There is a need to secure the operating conditions of urban infrastructures and to preserve a high-quality indoor environment of buildings. The main scope of this paper is to compare selected tools that evaluate the urban and building resilience and to assess their suitability, based on an analysis of natural and human-induced hazards in the European countries. The results represent a contribution to urban and architectural planning practice, and to the consistent implementation of measures to improve the resilience of the built environment by providing guidance as to which assessment tool is most suitable for each country.
Highlights
Changing of the environmental conditions on the Earth is a natural and everlasting process
According to the data reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [1] and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [2], it is clear that there are intensifications of phenomena related to climate change (CC), such as changing precipitation patterns including intense rainfalls, more frequent and severe droughts, and alterations of the local climatic conditions, including heat islands with consequent impacts on cities, districts, and buildings
Due to the increased occurrence and concentration of extreme events related to climate change, it is essential to systematically focus on risk managing and mitigation and on improving the resilience of urban areas and buildings to reduce their vulnerability to extreme events, rather than working in just a reactive mode responding to particular events [3]
Summary
Changing of the environmental conditions on the Earth is a natural and everlasting process. The current focus on climate change and its impact on social and economic development is helping to accelerate recognition that natural disasters are a critical hazardous factor for the health, safety, and productivity of occupants of buildings [4], and for the sustainable wealth of the urban population. In some cases, improved robustness or redundancy leading to increased environmental impacts at the construction stage brings benefits that become fully evident only later during the buildings’ operation in terms of extended service life. Such a debate shall be a part of planning for (overall) sustainability
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