CARTOGRAPHIC AND GEOMATICS TOOLS FOR THE STUDY OF LANDSCAPE HERITAGE RISK. THE CASE STUDY OF THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM, WEST SESIA RIVER

The contribution aims to inform the essential elements of current research. First, define landscape risk through its conceptual construction, assuming that any definition of a theoretical object must be based on the state of the art of theory. We then define the theoretical framework to study the research object, built around geospatial landscape analysis models related to drought hazard. Finally, the case study, the water infrastructure of the irrigated landscape west of the Sesia River, and the research questions are presented. Today, action to protect the landscape heritage in Italy is regulated by Legislative Decree 42/2004, Part III, and in particular, Art. 131 states that it is possible to identify the perceptible signs of the identity of the community that lives in and has built a landscape and that these signs should be recognised for their civilisational value and protected through protection and enhancement1. But in the face of increasingly rapid changes in environmental conditions, what tools do we have to understand, assess, and manage these changes in landscape heritage?