Assessing community resilience, housing recovery and impact of mitigation strategies at the urban scale: a case study after the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquake

Abstract

In this paper, the reconstruction process of a town affected by the 2012 Northern Italy Earthquake is analysed using information published on the town journal. Relevant aspects are highlighted, and the housing recovery is compared with that of a nearby city. Then, a what-if scenario is considered, by proposing a set of seismic mitigation strategies. These strategies are applied to a small sub-system of the city and the variation of the buildings’ vulnerability and expected damage is evaluated using a recently introduced methodology for risk assessments at the urban scale. Finally, a cost–benefit analysis is performed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed strategies. The analysis highlights a significant reduction in the expected damage and socioeconomic impact, as well as an increase in the overall performance of the urban system.