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• A risk assessment model is proposed for evaluating the cultural heritage. • The model integrates the AREC Cards, the Factsheets and the SMARTER method. • A set of indicators calculates a risk index w.r.t. fires, earthquakes and floods. • The risk assessment model support the decision-making in managing extreme events. Nowadays, the topics related both to the safeguard and the valorization of cultural heritage and cultural assets are getting more attention in the political agenda. Innovative approaches to implement both the risk analysis and the resilience assessment are ever more required. This paper illustrates an original approach, concerning the development of a risk assessment model for cultural assets, with reference to fire, earthquake and flood. The proposed model includes specific evaluation tools, that are based on parameters and indicators related to the factors of hazard and vulnerability for the three considered types of risk. The multi-dimensional set of indicators is used to get synthetics indices, through a multicriteria approach. Furthermore, this evaluation is supported by specific questionnaires to include in the assessment model the opinion of different experts and stakeholders to introduce the indicators weights. The results of this model are represented by specific evaluation tools which can be implemented in the risk assessment of cultural assets in different specific situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A risk analysis interface is developed to assess unmovable cultural heritage. • It includes the asset risk evaluation cards, factsheets, and multicriteria model. • The results are integrated to obtain a risk index for fire, earthquake, and flood. • A comparative assessment of two unmovable cultural assets is performed. • The interface can support the implementation of actions pre and post-events. The present article illustrates the application of the Risk Analysis Interface (RAI), which was developed within the European project ResCult. This assessment model is focused on the risk evaluation of immovable cultural assets and their different components, that need to be preserved and managed in case of extreme events. In detail, this article describes the application of this risk assessment model to the two selected pilot case studies of the project, the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice and the Convent of San Nicola in Tolentino (Italy). This article highlights the application procedure and the results obtained by its implementation in the two pilot case studies. The focus of this article is underlying and explaining in-depth the functioning of the specific evaluation tools, to underline their suitability to be applied in ex-ante, in-itinere, and ex-post phase of a disaster occurrence. The outcome of this article is providing information about how applying the RAI developed within the ResCult project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the European ResCult project, a Model has been prepared which provides a methodology for assessing the risk of immovable cultural heritage in relation to natural and man-made disastrous events, such as earthquakes, floods and fires. The Model is aimed at Institutions, Civil protection, experts, sector operators, as a fast and effective tool. Values that allow a detailed and concise view of the risk are assigned and calculated to indicators of hazard and vulnerability of the elements of the building and its context. The Model can be used before, during and after a disastrous event, to evaluate interventions in the prevention, emergency and reconstruction phases. In prevention, it can help determine the most vulnerable elements of the building and suggest where to act with preventive measures to reduce this vulnerability. During or immediately after the occurrence of an event, it can assist the Civil Protection and the operators in the priorities to be assigned to the interventions. After the event, it can help you develop an effective reconstruction strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Green spaces concur to reduce flooding in urban areas providing an important ES. • Remote sensing data were used to obtain a fine-scale analysis at urban section level. • ES supply and demand were modeled to calculate a Priority Index of intervention. • The Priority Index can inform urban planning to invest in urban ES. Abstract Climate change is expected to modify the timing and amount of precipitation in the future, increasing the demand for effective adaptation at the local scale, especially to mitigate the impacts of extreme events, expected to increase in frequency and magnitude. Green infrastructure (GI) can provide a crucial water regulating ecosystem service, helping communities to adapt to the increased stormwater runoff and associated flood risks expected from climate change. This paper presents a new planning tool that utilizes remote sensing and census data to model the supply and demand for urban flood reduction services through GI. A high-resolution urban digital model is used to distinguish between permeable and impermeable areas at fine (e.g. 25 cm) spatial scale. Flood reduction capacity was modeled using two indices: i) the amount of runoff reduced by existing GI, and ii) the runoff reduction coefficient. We also analyzed the flood reduction demand using a vulnerability index. The tool is demonstrated in a historical urban center of the Northern Italy, with different scenarios used to identify priority areas of intervention. The results show that the flood reduction capacity is unevenly distributed throughout the study area. Public and private surfaces contribute different amounts of runoff with different flood reduction potentials. In eight of nine urban study areas, private properties generate more runoff than public properties under the worst scenario conditions. The study identified two priority areas of intervention, based on their mismatch between supply and demand of GI’s water regulating services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime spatial planning (MSP) is envisaged as a tool to apply an ecosystem-based approach to the marine and coastal realms, aiming at ensuring that the collective pressure of human activities is kept within acceptable limits. Cumulative impacts (CI) assessment can support science-based MSP, in order to understand the existing and potential impacts of human uses on the marine environment. A CI assessment includes several sources of uncertainty that can hinder the correct interpretation of its results if not explicitly incorporated in the decision-making process. This study proposes a three-level methodology to perform a general uncertainty analysis integrated with the CI assessment for MSP, applied to the Adriatic and Ionian Region (AIR). We describe the nature and level of uncertainty with the help of expert judgement and elicitation to include all of the possible sources of uncertainty related to the CI model with assumptions and gaps related to the case-based MSP process in the AIR. Next, we use the results to tailor the global uncertainty analysis to spatially describe the uncertainty distribution and variations of the CI scores dependent on the CI model factors. The results show the variability of the uncertainty in the AIR, with only limited portions robustly identified as the most or the least impacted areas under multiple model factors hypothesis. The results are discussed for the level and type of reliable information and insights they provide to decision-making. The most significant uncertainty factors are identified to facilitate the adaptive MSP process and to establish research priorities to fill knowledge gaps for subsequent planning cycles. The method aims to depict the potential CI effects, as well as the extent and spatial variation of the data and scientific uncertainty; therefore, this method constitutes a suitable tool to inform the potential establishment of the precautionary principle in MSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]