Architectural Heritage Management in Earthquake-Prone Areas

Dear Colleagues,

The historical and architectural heritage of many countries of the world consists mainly of masonry buildings. It is well known that many of these buildings are vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and landslides. For this reason, there is an urgent need to improve the structural performance of historic buildings and enhance safety.

Although research has focused intensively on these aspects, there are still some problems related to appropriate management approaches.

This sort of heritage buildings is likely to be characterized by various changes over time, either negative changes due to abandonment, or positive changes due to renovation of historic buildings to support their adaptation to new living conditions. Thus, inherent vulnerabilities result from all the changes that the asset has undergone, which poses an even greater risk for buildings in seismic areas, as this could lead to irreversible damage and loss.

A good understanding of the vulnerability of historic buildings in earthquake-prone areas is therefore important for their appropriate preservation.

This not only allows the planning of preventive maintenance measures but, in the event of an earthquake, it leads to more informed decisions about where to intervene first and to determine more quickly where to take safety measures for the buildings most at risk.

Our goal, therefore, is to discuss outstanding issues, challenges, and successes in collecting architectural heritage data to improve the management of these types of assets.

We invite researchers, professionals, and stakeholders to contribute to this special issue by submitting both original research articles and review articles to promote scientific progress in this field.

Dr. Michele Betti
Dr. Giovanni Castellazzi
Dr. Francesco Clementi
Guest Editors

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