Resilience and Cultural Heritage in Urban Development: From Holistic Guidelines to Practical Approaches

Water plays a dual role in the context of cultural heritage: it can be of great importance, but it can also threaten the existence of built heritage. This article explores the intricate relationship between water and built heritage, focusing on the risks posed by climate change-induced events such as heavy rainfall, which can lead to flooding and surface water run-off. The research project “Resilience and Built Heritage” focused on how built heritage contributes to urban resilience and emphasizes the imperative of integrated risk management, which requires collaboration between heritage professionals and risk managers. The challenges identified include mutual understanding of the disciplines of heritage protection and risk management and a lack of clarity in defining common objectives. Hence, integrated risk management is proposed as a comprehensive concept, encompassing an all-hazards approach and analytical as well as normative steps of risk evaluation and management. Integrated risk management can help develop consistent, holistic, integrative strategies to sustainably protect our built heritage – and thus strengthen its resilience to risk.