MULTIADAPTIVE PLACES FOR MULTIRISK RESILIENCE

Abstract

This volume originates from the PRIN 2020 research project Sustainable Modelling of Materials, Structures and Urban Spaces Including Economic-Legal Implications (SUMMA) and offers an innovative and interdisciplinary contribution to the contemporary debate on urban resilience and adaptation. Initially focused on seismic risk, the research progressively evolved toward a holistic perspective capable of addressing the complex interplay of multiple, interconnected risks that increasingly affect territories and communities.

Moving beyond a purely defensive or emergency-driven interpretation of resilience, the book proposes a dynamic and transformative vision in which risk is understood not only as a threat to be mitigated, but also as an opportunity for rethinking, regenerating, and enhancing places. Environmental hazards, social and cultural vulnerabilities, health-related issues, loss of identity, and declining urban liveability are analysed as cumulative and interacting processes that shape both the fragility and the adaptive capacity of urban systems.

A distinctive contribution of this work lies in its emphasis on open public spaces as strategic arenas for resilience and adaptation. Conceived as spaces of social interaction, cultural memory, and ecological connection, public spaces are explored as laboratories for testing inclusive, place-based, and flexible strategies capable of translating resilience from an abstract concept into a tangible and evolving urban practice. These approaches are illustrated through a series of case studies conducted in diverse urban contexts, including the historic centres of Cittaducale, and Leonessa, Naples, Aversa, as well as the public spaces of New York and Copenhagen and the waterfront of New York. Through the development of original concepts—such as multiresilience and multiadaptation—together with innovative methodologies, indices, and design tools, this volume provides both a solid theoretical framework and operational guidelines for planners, designers, researchers, and decision-makers engaged in addressing multi-risk urban challenges.