MULTI-RISK MITIGATION STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING BUILT ENVIRONMENT RESILIENCE THROUGH A QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT

Nowadays SUOD (SUdden-Onset Disasters) and SLOD (SLow-Onset Disasters) events are responsible for a significant share of documented accidental fatalities. Regardless of their timescale, or their unfolding time, both the type of risks are expected to increase due to the growth of population in urban areas, increasing the exposure to risk; nevertheless, they can be mitigated by undertaking strategic interventions on the built environment, to reduce its vulnerability to risks. In fact, the European Commission demands from, and offers funds to each Member State to contrast risks by implementing available mitigation measures. The purpose of this work is therefore to collect, structure and compare the available risk mitigation strategies for SLOD and SUOD events, considering their combined benefits, for moving towards a multi-risk-resilient Built Environment (BE). To this end, it also integrates literature review gaps by identifying three main leading groups of strategies: morphological factors, physical-material/construction factors, and dedicated systems for promoting conscious users’ and managers’ behaviors (including evacuation and emergency planning). Therefore, the contribution of this article is to frame the possible strategies for facing multi-risks and unveil their combined potential in mitigating more than one risk with one common mitigation strategy. Finally, the article hypothesizes the exemplificative application of the illustrated strategies on specific Built Environment Typologies (BETs) subject to specific risks and multi-risks combinations. This work is intended to serve as a preliminary risk mitigation portfolio of effective strategies for interested stakeholder, including designers and the public administration.