An attempt to link risk assessment with land use planning: a recent experience in Italy

Shows a framework to assess urban and regional vulnerability. Starting from the first attempts to measure the vulnerability component of risk (the latter given as the combination of hazard and vulnerability) which have been carried out in Italy but which considered only single buildings, the method used until now is broadened to take into account also the vulnerability of the subsystems which are part of regional systems as well as social and economic vulnerabilities. Some important parameters have been identified to evaluate these vulnerabilities, and put in a framework which aids the assessment of overall regional and urban vulnerability. According to the authors’ opinion such a framework can be very useful in addressing planners’ and public administrators’ decisions both on preventive strategies and during the preparation of reconstruction plans. This framework has been applied to a small seismic settlement in Lombardy, Toscolano Maderno.