SLow Onset Disaster Events Factors in Italian Built Environment Archetypes

Resilience of the built environment is a primary issue to provide the citizens users a high-quality environment and livable cities. The aim of this research is to identify the Built Environment (BE) typologies prone to the Slow Onset Disasters (SLODs), in Italian cities. A SLOD can be defined as an uninterrupted, gradual or variable, low intensity and high frequency event that generates a negative effect on population, which on the long term can generate significant health and environmental decay. The results of the research have demonstrated that some SLODs type are more impacting within the built environment: the air pollution concentration and the increasing temperatures. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that some urban archetypes: the piazza, piazzale and the urban canyon are more prone to produce negative effects on the population through amplification of the consequences of the exposure to the SLODs. The article concludes with some insights (solar radiation and wind tunneling analysis) on the most critical architypes, for understanding better how they perform under specific conditions. This research, within the context of the Italian research project (PRIN) BE S ECURe, is to be intended as the first step towards the definition of a method for assessment of the effects of the SLODs risk on a specific part of the city.