Urban Resilience and Urban Structure: Vulnerability assessment of historical Italian towns

Italy is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the Mediterranean area. The close correlation among masonry constructive technique, typologies and morphologies in the historic Italian city, can be an important point in the analysis and definition of urban resilience, particularly regarding the role of the built environment. The paper proposes a methodology for assessing urban vulnerability of historical towns. The typological processes of growth of these cities are elements that can contribute to the development of resilient urban planning, and which can lead the research towards new elements of urban analysis. In Italy, some laws promulgated after the recent earthquakes, (LR11/2005-Umbria, LR16/2012-EmiliaRomagna) emphasize the attention to the vulnerability of the urban system, with particular focus to urban built heritage. The concept of urban system vulnerability has become part of the planning in some Italian regions, though it is still not properly connected to urban resilience assessments. Therefore, it is indispensable to investigate the relationship between resilience and urban structure with the aim of increasing urban resilience through vulnerability assessments, damage scenarios and priorities for action at urban scales for built heritage. The proposed method is based on the implementation of the tested approaches related to the seismic vulnerability in areas of heritage values.