ISSN: 2977-814X

ISSUE DOI: https://doi.org/10.51596/sijocp.v3i2

Volume 3 Issue 2

journal.spacestudies.co.uk

Cultural Heritage Resilient to Climate

Change: Strategies for Microclimatic

Adaptation of Public Spaces in Historic

Centres

Francesco Armocida¹, PhD Candidate, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

@2023 Francesco Armocida

Published by SPACE Studies Publications owned by SPACE Studies of Planning and Architecture Ltd.

To cite this article:

Armocida, F. (2023). Cultural Heritage Resilient to Climate Change: Strategies for Microclimatic Adaptation

of Public Spaces in Historic Centres. SPACE International Journal of Conference Proceedings , 3(2), 20–27.

https://doi.org/10.51596/sijocp.v3i2.85

francesco.armocida@unirc.it

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative

Commons Attribution(CC BY) license

This article is published at journal.spacestudies.co.uk by SPACE Studies Publications.

journal.spacestudies.co.uk

SPACE Studies Publications

ISSN: 2977-814X

ISSUE DOI: https://doi.org/10.51596/sijocp.v3i2

Volume 3 Issue 2

journal.spacestudies.co.uk

Cultural Heritage Resilient to Climate

Change: Strategies for Microclimatic

Adaptation of Public Spaces in Historic

Centres

Francesco Armocida¹, PhD Candidate, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Italy

Article History:

Received May 5, 2023

Accepted June 23, 2023

Published Online December 29, 2023

https://doi.org/10.51596/sijocp.v3i2.85

Abstract

In the era of green transition, the processes of “adaptive manipulation” contribute, as highlighted in

the latest report of IPCC (AR6 SYR 2023), to strengthening the response of cities to changes and

climate hazards. Although the term heritage itself is used relatively rarely across all IPCC reports

(ICOMOS, 2022), recent scientiﬁc literature shows that climate change has a negative impact on

cultural heritage, its resilience levels, and its tangible and intangible entity. This emergency issue

is central at the international level in line with many European reports (ICSM CHC White Paper

III 2022, JPI White Paper 2022, Horizon Europe WP 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility and WP 5.

Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society).

The state of the art related to the most recurrent experimentation on the topic concerns: user-

driven climate adaptation strategies that include modelling processes and simulation of predictive

climate scenarios, regenerative processes related to solutions based on the nature and use of

adaptive devices capable of generating positive socio-economic and environmental impacts.

In this context, the objective of the contribution is to identify the main research experiences at

the European level on strategies for microclimate adaptation and mitigation of public spaces in

relation to the main climate hazards. The methodology is based on a critical review of research

experiencestoobtainusefuldataandcharacteristicsforthetestingofadaptiveandtechnologically

efﬁcient devices with application in the public spaces of historic centres. In particular, the result,

which is part of the study of ongoing PhD research, is focused on testing smart and user-driven

technologies aimed at increasing urban resilience to climate change. The study will present

partial conclusions from the ongoing research, highlighting open issues and future directions for

investigation.

Keywords: Cultur

al heritage, urba

n resilience, clima

te adaptation, user-dri

ven, hazard mitiga

tion

1. Introduction

In relation to the current issues arising from extreme events linked to climate change, the common

action line focuses on deﬁning adaptation strategies that increase the resilience of cities and

urban contexts. Currently, green transition processes represent a shared commitment in most

Corresponding Author: Francesco Armocida, PhD Candidate, Mediterranea University of

Reggio Calabria,Italy francesco.armocida@unirc.it

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international policies and intervention trajectories. In this sense, important scientiﬁc evidence

emerged in the latest Evaluation Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR6

SYR 2023) where it was seen how cities and urban areas offer signiﬁcant opportunities for

reducing emissions through a necessary decrease in energy consumption in the building sector

(IPCC, 2022). It becomes clear that the development of adaptive manipulation processes of cities

can contribute to increasing the resilience to climate change of the entire urban apparatus, in

line with goals 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and

12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of

Agenda 2030. It is therefore essential to consider the impacts that these climate hazards have

on cities, their cultural heritage and, above all, on the tangible and intangible entity that composes

it, which refers, in this contribution, to the public spaces of historic centres in the Mediterranean

area.

The intervention strategies focus on experimenting with climate adaptation actions for public

spaces in vulnerable neighbourhoods, increasing the endowment of greenery, soil permeability,

and social spaces to improve comfort and functionality through the adoption of adaptive, smart,

and technologically advanced devices. These experiments, through user-driven approaches,

result in community actions that promote public-private partnerships, including the integration of

cultural heritage into future design scenarios. (European Union, 2022).

In this context, the following contribution aims to analyse the relationship between climate-

change-related hazards and extreme events and the public spaces of historic centres in the

Mediterranean area. The aim of the research is to identify, within the European landscape, a

comprehensive picture of participatory, adaptive, responsive, technologically efﬁcient, and nature-

based solutions implemented in innovative devices capable of increasing the resilience of public

spaces in historic centres to the upheavals linked to these changes.

1.1. The Effects of Climate Change on Historic Centres in the Mediterranean

Area

The effects of climate change represent one of the most important global challenges, which are

addressed through the adoption of adaptation strategies to mitigate its most extreme impacts

on cities. It is precisely the Mediterranean area that is considered (according to IPCC, ARC.6; IPCC

ARC.5; European Environment Agency, 2012) a “hot spot” region: an area identiﬁed as vulnerable

to climate change, with urban areas particularly exposed to its effects.

Among the various causes of climate risk related to man-made climate hazards, Climate

Adaptation Plans also report increased rainfall events with more intense, frequent rainfall and

higher temperatures, which threaten the integrity of historic centres and their public spaces in

both their material and immaterial forms. The criticalities related to these hazards are countless;

for example, the increase in extreme rainfall events and temperatures, along with the alternation

of soil wetting and drying, increases the risk of soil subsidence, while intense and frequent rainfall

can cause harmful ﬂooding with direct effects on historical settlements. According to studies

carried out in relation to 2100, in the Mediterranean hot spot, the effects of high temperatures

would pose a signiﬁcant risk of material degradation of the elements that make up the cultural

heritage considered. The same scenario suggests an additional risk associated with intense,

sudden rainfall and extreme pluvial or ﬂuvial ﬂooding in areas with limited drainage systems

(Kapsomenakis & Douvis et al., 2022). In this context, the processes of adaptation and mitigation

to climate change, accompanied by sustainable management of environmental issues, become

key challenges for all European cities (Lafortezza & Sanesi, 2018) and, to an even greater extent,

for all those residing in the Mediterranean area. For this reason, this analysis suggests that it is

fundamental to adopt adaptation strategies for Cultural Heritage and, more speciﬁcally, for public

spaces in historic centres.

In line with the latest reports of the European Commission (European Commission, Directorate-

General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Strengthening Cultural Heritage resilience for

climate change: Where the European Green Deal meets Cultural Heritage, Publications Ofﬁce

of the European Union, 2022), the role of historic centres becomes central, in relation to how

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21

climate change is progressively undermining the tangible and intangible integrity and resilience

levels of European Cultural Heritage. According to the European Union, in fact, these changes

are destined to continue and intensify due to the scarcity of green commitments of member

states, and this also in relation to the weakness of policies in support of heritage, the number of

research programs on the subject and the failure to investigate the possible repercussions of

future events.

It is important to recognise that historical centres represent an opportunity for investigation that

can make cultural heritage a factor in sustainable development and economic growth for the

city, and an interesting testing ground for the activation of innovative regeneration strategies.

Although they are currently the victims of complex atmospheric impacts, innovative approaches

to the regeneration of urban spaces affected by physical and social degradation are being

implementedinthehistoriccentresofEuropeancitiesthroughsolutionsthatinducenewdynamics

of socio-economic and environmental development (Boeri & Gaspari et al., 2016). Among the

proposed intervention strategies, the fundamental one is aimed at resilient urban development,

based, in addition to mitigation actions, on adaptation codes that respond quickly and ﬂexibly

to hazards arising from changing socio-economic and environmental needs. The concept of

resilience, expressed previously, has now entered the ﬁeld of urban planning and regeneration,

and within new intervention strategies for built and not-built systems, as the connective tissue

that infrastructure generates for public space (Marrone & Orsini, 2018).

Research developments focus on the positive role that cultural heritage can play in urban

regeneration processes, currently examining possible impacts on historic centres and their

public spaces, with particular attention to modelling and predictive simulation of future data and

scenarios. The importance of the availability of such data is also highlighted in the latest Joint

Programming Initiative White Paper (JPI Cultural Heritage & JPI Climate), with respect to the need

for cultural heritage studies, to integrate environmental data capable of providing information on

long-term processes and mitigation strategies capable of inﬂuencing decision-making (Ballard,

C., & Baron, et al., 2022).

At the European level, therefore, experimentation is directed towards a multidisciplinary response

to the problem, through the adoption of user-driven strategies for microclimatic adaptation of

such urban spaces and the application of green and technologically advanced devices in fragile

contexts and exposed to the hazards resulting from climate change.

2. Methodology

Regarding the objective of the research, which aims to identify the relationship between the

hazards related to climate change and the public spaces of historic centres in the Mediterranean

area to deﬁne a complete picture of user-driven, adaptive and technologically efﬁcient solutions

able to increase the urban resilience of such fragile contexts, this contribution intervenes using

a rigorous and schematic methodology. Methodology is based on a transversal reading of the

main lines of experimentation that European cities are practising on the themes of adaptive

design and the identiﬁcation of paths in which innovative and smart technologies have ensured

the increase of resilience in public spaces threatened by climate hazards and extreme events.

The investigation process, in fact, is fundamental to deﬁning the characteristics that, identiﬁed

through experience and case studies already consolidated, are applied in a subsequent phase

of experimentation.

To deﬁne the survey framework, it was necessary to critically elaborate on some of the

best practices collected and to identify, through speciﬁc criteria, the key themes, objectives,

performance, strategies, and results. More speciﬁcally, this analysis will lead to the deﬁnition of

the research topics necessary to construct a complete body of knowledge on these practices,

which is fundamental to structuring speciﬁc objectives.

The selection of the various case studies, for which example excerpts are reported, was based

on three criteria: the ﬁeld of interest, the goals, and the climatic hazards addressed (Table 1).

Subsequently, the critical analysis of the results provided the systematisation of these data

and information concerning: the name of the case study, the ﬁeld/s of interest, the goal/s, the

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hazard/s considered, performance, and reference (Table 2).

Table 1. Keywords used and case study decision criteria for objectives and hazards

Priority themes

Keywords

Fields of interest

Climate change, urban regeneration, adaptive devices, co-

design, cultural heritage, and historic centres

Goals

Climate adaptation, disaster risk management, urban and

microclimatic resilience, sustainable urban regeneration,

vulnerability reduction, monitoring, early warning systems,

social cohesion, and community

Hazard

High temperatures, heat island, high rains, pluvial ﬂooding,

air pollution, multi-hazard

Table 2. Summary of case studies

n.

Name

Fields of interest

Goals

Hazard

Performance

Reference

1

CityTree,

CityBreeze e

WallBreez

Adaptive devices Urban and microclimatic

resilience

Atmospheric

pollution

Absorption of pol-

lutants

[1]

2

3

Sun&Shade

Adaptive devices

Climate adaptation,

urban and microclimatic peratures, heat

High tem-

Urban cooling

[2]

[3]

resilience

island

Agroplaza

Venecia e

Agroplaza

Kirikiño

Adaptive devices Urban and microclimatic

resilience, social cohe-

High tem-

peratures,

atmospheric

pollution

production of

electricity

sion, and community

4

5

CO-MIDA

User driven strate-

gies

Social cohesion, and

community, sustainable

urban regeneration

Atmospheric

pollution

Atmospheric

pollutant absorp-

tion, electricity

production

[4]

[5]

Urban

Program di

Manifesta 14

Urban regenera-

tion

Sustainable urban re-

generation, social cohe-

sion, and community

Other

Social inclusion,

development of

ICT technologies

2.1. Topics of the Research

The literature review and the recognition of the case studies have led to the identiﬁcation of the

research topics that can be traced back to three speciﬁc thematic areas: the ﬁrst that refers to the

application of adaptive and technologically efﬁcient devices, able to respond to climate hazards in

poorly resilient urban contexts, the second to the testing of user driven strategies, fundamental

for the involvement of society in the processes of change, and the last to the processes of

sustainable urban regeneration of contexts that are extremely exposed and threatened by the

effects of climate change.

2.1.1. Application of Adaptive and Monitoring Devices in Urban Contexts

Regarding these devices, the experiments related to the CityTree panel, the CityBreeze (Figure

1) and the WallBreeze systems represent an innovative example that responds to the concept

of “re-naturing cities”. These systems, in fact, through nature-inspired technologies, create a

mobile plant infrastructure capable of improving air quality in surrounding contexts. The positive

environmental impact of these devices, tested under the European project “CityTree Scaler” in

collaboration with the German start-up Green City Solutions, is comparable to that generated

by 275 trees per panel. The environmental contribution is guaranteed by a plant ﬁlter system

composed of various mosses that can absorb up to 240 tons of CO2 per year. The project is

in line with climate mitigation strategies aimed at increasing the resilience levels of urban areas,

responding to these problems through systems capable of counteracting speciﬁc problems

encountered: the presence of ﬁne dust and the effects of heat islands. Moreover, these devices

respond to these microclimatic needs also through solutions aimed at creating new sustainable

journal.spacestudies.co.uk

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places of aggregation [1]

Figure 1. Green City Solutions, CityBreeze system, Germany (Green City Solutions, 2022)

Another reference concerns testing adaptive devices to address heat island effects. In the

Sun&Shade project (Figure 2) by Carlo Ratti Associati, the processes of sustainable urban design

aim to achieve active climatic well-being in extremely hot areas. The technological solution is

that of a digitally controlled canopy to ensure, on the one hand, the cooling of outdoor spaces

through the covering surface, and on the other hand, to meet energy supply issues through a

system of reﬂection of the sun’s rays, contributing to responding to the processes of adapting

cities to climate change. The system, installed in the city of Dubai, consists of a roof formed by

reﬂective surfaces oriented to capture the sun’s rays, preventing them from reaching the ground

and directing them towards a photovoltaic collector that produces and stores electricity [2].

Figure 2. Carlo Ratti Associati, Sun&Shade, Dubai (Carlo Ratti Associati, 2017)

A further experience concerns the line of investigation CiudadBótica conducted by the Spanish

studio Pezestudio aimed at viewing the city as a real “living organism”. This strategy is pursued

through the ﬁeld application of two design experiments: Agroplaza Venecia and Agroplaza

Kirikiño (Figure 3), the ﬁrst presented during the Venice Biennale 2020/21 and the second, in the

same period, in Bilbao. Both concern self-sufﬁcient urban furniture elements with a removable,

modular wooden structure that, through a rocking system, can produce electricity. The same

construction system is applied in Bilbao to create a neighbourhood outdoor space intended to

promote social aggregation among the inhabitants. The materials and local vegetation used form

the basis for experimentation with native techniques and technologies, within an entirely circular

vision of the project. CiudadBótica is therefore a co-creation workshop aimed at building the city

from the collective imagination of those who live there, in which nature regains its importance

from a sustainable and inclusive perspective [3].

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Figure 3. CiudadBótica, Agroplaza Kirikiño, Bilbao (Pezestudio, 2020)

2.1.2. Experimentation with user-driven strategies

The CO-MIDA project (Figure 4) establishes an innovative relationship between the project, the

environment, and society. One of the seven winners of the contest “Ciutat Proactiva” held in 2020

in Barcelona, the project of the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (IAAC), is part of

the spaces of ConnectHort: a modular vertical garden prototype with elements created from

3D-printed clay for the cultivation of aromatic and edible plants in contexts with no availability

of horizontal spaces. The peculiarity of the project concerns the role of bacteria and other

microorganisms in the soil, which not only beneﬁt plants but, through a Bio-Photovoltaic system,

also enable the production of energy needed to power the sensors of the garden itself. The

ﬁrst vertical garden prototype was installed in 2021 in the Jardín de Las Mariposas in Barcelona

through a vigorous co-design process and a series of workshops attended by the various

stakeholders involved in the design process that led to the development of the proposal in an

inclusive perspective aimed at creating a more sustainable urban ecosystem [4].

Figure 4. Bio-Photovoltaic CO-MIDA vertical garden installed in the ConnectHort space (IAAC, 2022)

2.1.3. Processes of sustainable urban regeneration

In line with experiments related to the sustainable regeneration of public spaces, the Carlo Ratti

Associati studio once again intervenes through the Urban Vision and Urban Program processes

of Manifesta 14 (Figure 5) for the European Nordic Biennial in Prishtina in 2022. The project

proposes a new intervention methodology to reclaim the city’s public spaces through temporary

measures that leverage artiﬁcial intelligence for urban analysis. “Commons Sense” identiﬁes

citizens as key actors in the evolution of the urban environment by proposing a method based

on a series of interventions developed through a participatory approach in places capable of

becoming triggers for “urban renaissance”. It is interesting to note that the sustainability of the

project also depends on the use of innovative technologies developed in collaboration with the

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MIT Senseable City Lab, aimed at leveraging artiﬁcial intelligence to create a path for digital

fruition of the city. This methodology has been useful in the construction of a new pedestrian

path: a green corridor along a former railway track with vegetation elements and ephemeral

systems that are removable and reusable in other contexts [5].

Figure 5. Carlo Ratti Associati, Manifesta 14, Prishtina (Carlo Ratti Associati, 2022)

3. Conclusions and Discussions

The processes of adaptive manipulation of fragile and poorly resilient urban contexts to climate

change hazards, such as historic centres, foreshadow a valid response to the trajectories and

targets of green transition planned for 2030. These aspects aim to satisfy transversal needs for

the reactivation of social and cultural innovation processes through user-driven strategies and

sustainable urban regeneration processes linked to the adaptive reuse of public spaces in cities.

The analysis of case studies and of the experiences of interest regarding the themes of adaptive

urban design has therefore offered an effective reading of the trajectories developed in recent

years in Europe, allowing the formation of a complete picture of the intervention strategies

to be pursued. Moreover, the critical reading of the latter proposes new modes of action for

urban regeneration, sustainable, adaptive and user-driven, aimed at protecting areas exposed to

changes such as the public spaces of historic centres in the Mediterranean area.

A common characteristic of all analysed case studies concerns attention to climate mitigation

across various hazards through experimentation with innovative strategies that respond to

the trajectories of the digital and green transition and use technological and social innovation

processes as drivers of sustainable development. From this analysis, the revitalisation of historic

centres inevitably arises from a bottom-up approach, driven by the deﬁnition of shared solutions

that become an integral part of the regenerative process. The nature of the experiments also

offers a further key to interpretation linked to the replicability of the proposed models transferred

to other similar conditions regarding the cultural heritage and the material and immaterial aspects

of the historic centres that are part of it. In a period of extreme transition, it is therefore desirable

that these new and disruptive models of intervention, far from those of canonical regeneration of

public spaces, be applied to European cultural heritage, through technological and experimental

solutions through synergistic and inclusive processes capable of activating new forms of sociality,

cultural and technological-environmental innovation. The themes of this ongoing PhD research

are therefore under development and foresee the imminent start of the testing phase on case

studies related to historical centres in the Mediterranean area and the climatic problems to which

they are subject, and to which research can contribute to the identiﬁcation of strategies and

operational models for intervention.

Conﬂict of Interests

No potential conﬂict of interest was reported by the author.

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Endnotes

This paper has been presented at the SPACE International Conference 2023 on Sustainable

Architecture Planning and Urban Design.

References

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[2]

[3]

[4]

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https://iaac.net/project/co-mida/ (Last Access: 28.04.2023)

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28.04.2023)

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