Pinch analysis to reduce fire susceptibility by redeveloping urban built forms.

Fire disasters pose a severe threat to the functionality of the cities and their sustainable development. Lack of analytical approach in research literature hinders the development of a fire-resilient city. A novel analytical framework is proposed in this paper to reduce the overall fire susceptibility of a city through a cost-effective redevelopment of the existing urban built forms (UBF). The proposed framework involves a regression model to capture the linear relationship between the fire susceptibility of an area and the built-up variables at a granular scale. Additionally, extended pinch analysis is incorporated in the framework to minimize the financial expenses incurred during the redevelopment, for the reduction in fire susceptibility of a city. The applicability of the proposed framework is demonstrated through a case study involving the southern region of Mumbai, India. The results suggest medium-rise buildings should be the main constituent for the UBF in Mumbai to reduce its fire susceptibility cost-effectively. Based on the illustrated case study, specific policies are recommended. The proposed novel methodology endorses a holistic decision-making process, applicable in developing fire-resilient cities in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]