Abstract
Abstract. Seismic risk in urban city centres may be high, even when the city is in low to moderate seismic areas, due to the vulnerability of the residential buildings. To assess the seismic vulnerability and estimate the expected damage in case of occurrence of an earthquake, an up-to-date detailed and comprehensive information of the residential building stock, such as number of dwellings, location, age, geometry, stiffness irregularities, structure, constructive system and practices, among others, is needed. This paper presents the authors experience, describing the step by step procedure followed to obtain the required information to classify and catalogue the residential buildings of the historical neighbourhoods of the city of Valencia into a database. Official sources, like the Cadastral Database, the website of the Urban Planning Service of the city of Valencia, the Municipal Historical Archive of Valencia, and the Historical Archive of the Valencian Architects Society, but also unexpected references are shared, pointing out the information that has been retrieved and its reliability. Additionally, relevant information must be obtained with an on-site data collection. This field work is essential not only to prove the accuracy of the abovementioned data but also to define some of the parameters related to the building vulnerability.The built database, included in a GIS system, has been used by the authors for seismic risk studies. This procedure can be implemented in future assessments at an urban scale.
Highlights
In general, characterized by a rich historic heritage, including monumental or religious buildings and residential buildings varied in age and styles, with a majority of them made of unreinforced stone or brick masonry and, quite often, with bad level of maintenance
These up-to-date data have been subsequently organised and stored in a georeferenced database included in a Geospatial Information System (GIS), which has been used for seismic risk assessment of some neighbourhoods in Valencia
In this paper the procedure to map an urban area for seismic risk assessment has been explained and the process to build a comprehensive, reliable and georeferenced building database in a city with the history and scale of Valencia has been described
Summary
In general, characterized by a rich historic heritage, including monumental or religious buildings and residential buildings varied in age and styles, with a majority of them made of unreinforced stone or brick masonry and, quite often, with bad level of maintenance. In this paper the step by step procedure (with application to the city of Valencia) is described, pointing out the information retrieved from the available sources and from the on-site survey, an irreplaceable key for data validation. These up-to-date data have been subsequently organised and stored in a georeferenced database included in a Geospatial Information System (GIS), which has been used for seismic risk assessment of some neighbourhoods in Valencia. This procedure can be implemented in future urban scale assessments
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