Seismic vulnerability and urban morphology, tools for urban and building integration

In historical towns, the morphology is intrinsically linked to the seismic vulnerability of the urban organism. The seismic history of the Italian peninsula has influenced its towns highlighting the close correlation among the evolution of masonry constructive technique, typologies and morphologies (Fiandaca, Lione, 2009). Through the reading of the urban fabric from a seismic vulnerability point of view, and the investigation of the property of structural resilience in the built heritage, it’s possible to identify compromised, incongruous and improper components of both building and urban organisms. The purpose of the research is to provide effective tools to investigate and analyse the heritage in order to define an organic approach on the aforementioned components for building, architectural and urban intervention. Among these tools, the survey of the building and typological units, considered in their mutual aggregation and relationship, or the map of the age of the built heritage (MABH) show the components in the urban fabric where to operate to implement the 4Rs of Resilience (Rapidity, Robustness, Redundancy, and Resourcefulness) (Cimellaro et al., 2010, D’Amico, Currà, 2014). For example the MABH should be read in parallel and compared with the actual configuration, structural and morphological, of the urban organism analysed. The visualisation of the stratification of the building types and construction systems leads to determine quantitative and qualitative “degrees of freedom” in building and architectural renovation and integration projects. The study was conducted on a significant selection of cities in central Italy, from small to medium size, with a significant built heritage percentage. Each case study will be described through the sequence of the experimented tools.