EXPEDITIOUS METHODS OF URBAN SURVEY FOR SEISMIC VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS

Abstract. The aim of the proposal is to illustrate how expeditious procedures of urban survey carried out through photomodeling can be the most suitable representation tool in combination with an expeditious procedure for assessing the seismic vulnerability of the historic building heritage in Italian city centres. For some years, in fact, the research group is developing a protocol for the rapid assessment of the seismic vulnerability of masonry aggregate buildings in Italian historic centres.

The protocol is based on the determination of synthetic indicators providing a preventive quantification of the possible earthquake damage. This evaluation procedure is oriented to prevent and reduce the current vulnerability, aiming at the conservation and preservation of the historic building heritage. The synthetic indicators are defined by identifying expeditious evaluation procedures based on the typical evolutionary processes suffered by each aggregate in its planimetric and height development, on the construction techniques and on the design concepts used in the local area; these aspects are directly correlated to failure modes.

The application of the entire process (starting from the rapid survey phases up to the final restitution of the seismic vulnerability assessment results) is illustrated for the historic centre of Imola. The ancient nucleus of this city constitutes an excellent example, as it is clearly representative of the Emilian historical architecture both for the processes of formation and transformation of the inhabited area, both for what concerns the constructive characterization deriving from the local building traditions.