Physical vulnerability assessment using indicators. A methodological framework.

Climate change is responsible for increased land and sea temperatures influencing in this way precipitation patterns and consequently the magnitude and frequency of weather related natural disasters. The proposed research presented herein aims at providing a framework and a guideline to promote and offer tools for the assessment of the physical vulnerability and to investigate its relationship and interactions with the resilience of the built environment. The proposed research focuses on buildings located at mountain areas and torrential hazards but it may offer a basis for similar research on other hazard types in other environmental context (coastal, urban etc.). Although physical vulnerability is not a new field of research and in the literature there are many studies that focus on vulnerability issues, there is no standard methodology for its assessment. The most common method for physical vulnerability assessment is the use of vulnerability curves. However, this method bears several drawbacks, such as the extensive data requirements or the lack of consideration of buildings characteristics etc. The proposed research investigates the role of vulnerability indicators (e.g. buildings characteristics) in the physical vulnerability of buildings subject to torrential hazards and propose a new methodology. The objectives of the proposed research are to provide a complete indicator based methodology for the vulnerability assessment for buildings. A new set of indicators will be proposed and a new weighting approach based on existing damage information. The approach will be applied at several case study areas in Austria where data regarding the intensity of torrential hazards and their corresponding damages and costs are available. Additionally, the methodology will be validated in a case study in Switzerland in close collaboration with the University of Bern. The proposed research also aims at making a step further and investigate how physical vulnerability indicators influence the resilience of the built environment and with which indicators can this resilience be expressed. Physical vulnerability maps will be developed based on the physical vulnerability index (PVI). Low cost/high impact solutions are going to be proposed and new damage documentation techniques are going to be anticipated in order to improve data availability and quality in the future. The results and the recommendations are going to be included in a Guideline for physical vulnerability assessment using indicators. Following the completion of the proposed research the applicant is expected to have reached the level of qualification required (Habilitation) for the pursuit of a full professorship.

Climate change is responsible for increased land and sea temperatures influencing in this way precipitation patterns and consequently the magnitude and frequency of weather -related natural disasters. Recent events have shown that to prepare for upcoming extreme events and to reduce negative consequences authorities, decision-makers and other stakeholders require a thorough understanding of the vulnerability of the built environmen t to natural hazards. The project provided a new methodology, a framework, and a guideline to promote and offer tools for the assessment of the physical vulnerability of buildings. In more detail, the role of vulnerability indicators (e.g. buildings characteristics) of buildings subject to torrential hazards was investigated and a new methodology for the assessment of their vulnerability was proposed and applied. Based on a statistical analysis of damage data from past events in Tyrol (Austria) a physical vulnerability index (PVI) for buildings has been developed that can be used to indicate which building is going to suffer loss following a catastrophic event. Physical vulnerability maps have been developed showing the spatial pattern of the index. These maps may be used to guide strategies for disaster risk reduction in the future but also to target specific buildings and reduce their vulnerability by introducing local adaptation measures. Additionally, the index was validated using data from recent events from the European Alps (Italy and Austria) demonstrating significant predictive capacity. Furthermore, the framework developed within the project presents a wider indicator inventory considering not only the physical vulnerability of the buildings but also their resilience and the capacity of a building to return to a functional status following damages (build back better). The project focused on buildings located in mountain areas and dynamic flooding. However, project results offer a basis for similar research on other hazard types in a different environmental context (coastal, urban, etc.). New directions following the finalisation of the project include the development of similar indices for buildings subject to wildfires, the transferability of the inde x in the Mediterranean context, and the interaction between physical vulnerability and institutional changes (e.g. austerity).