Protection and conservation of Cultural Heritage against climate changes, natural and anthropic risks 

Cultural heritage (CH) is permanently exposed to natural and anthropic hazards due to the impact of climate change, which accelerates the effects of natural hazards as well as those caused by human actions. The traditional distinction between natural and man-made hazards is challenged by the combination and interaction of different hazards and causes, as natural disasters also cause migration and social conflicts, and human behavior accelerates natural processes. Phenomena related to climate change and natural/anthropic risks raise new research questions and open new challenges for modern societies, requiring a broad multidisciplinary approach towards problem solving. A multi-scale approach should be applied to encompass different scenarios and to address both general and specific issues. Relevant case studies will be identified among: Environment and Historical landscapes, Historical Cities and minor historic centres, Built Heritage and Monuments, Works of art. Overall objective of the Spoke 7 is delivering innovative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change, natural and anthropic risks on cultural heritage. Spoke 7 is developed in synergy with the themes addressed in the other Spokes, in particular in Spoke 1 - Spoke 4 - Spoke 5 - Spoke 6 - Spoke 8. 

Planned activities are:

• Stakeholder engagement, communities’ awareness-raising 

• Assessment of past resilience and adaptation models, re-appropriation of the historical memory

• Overall risk analysis on the multivariate effect of climate change and the interaction of different hazards on 

• Improvement of methodologies for multi-source and multi-scale CH documentation 

• Development of CH digital twins to investigate their response to climate change and to support simulation 

• Multi-temporal visualization of heritage contexts based on geomatics data 

• Development of digital sensing and monitoring technologies integrated with methods for assessing the seismic risk 

• Development of monitoring technologies to mitigate climate damages and integrate methods for multihazard risk assessment 

• Formulation of multiscale procedures based on enhanced modeling approaches to introduce the effects of environmental and mechanical damage

• Development of multilevel procedures for the identification of scars and reconstructions in built heritage affected by historical earthquakes 

• Definition of environmental respectful conservation and restoration strategies, compatible with conservation principles, also considering the carbon footprint 

• Develop and test methods and materials for mitigation risks and first aid of damaged artworks in emergency scenarios 

• Definition of an early warning system to mitigate the risk of climate damages induced by natural hazards

• Evaluation of environmental impact of conservation and restoration practices and performance assessment of developed products and solutions 

• Developing advanced materials and methodologies to counteract degradation effects 

• Optimization of smart 3D printing for reintegrations