Research Challenges–Motivation

Recent studies highlight the potential impact of Climate Change (CC) and geo-hazards (such as landslides and earthquakes) on historic areas hosting Cultural Heritage (CH) sites and monuments, which in turn yield significant adverse impacts on economies, politics and societies. The deterioration of CH sites is one of the biggest challenges in conservation; aspects such as building technologies/materials, preventive measures and restoration strategies, resilience and adaptation methodologies must be considered. Up today there is no specific process towards understanding and quantifying CC effects on historic areas; combined with the limited strategies on CC-related issues, it becomes difficult to assess quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of various climatic and other parameters on the CH sites. These issues form an integral part of the necessary support that should be provided to governmental bodies and cultural authorities. to properly adapt their policies, in the short and long term, towards deploying sustainable mitigation plans and providing efficient reconstruction of the CH parts that have been damaged. Finally, the absence of communities’ participatory approaches to the overall planning of the historic areas is a main challenge to tackle.