technological systems, digital tools, and smart grids serving urban communities
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at present by extreme events such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and fires, multiplied by the effects of climate change. Italy, due to its geomorphology is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe in that sense 83. Bearing this in mind, it seems especially important to identify the potential vulnerabilities of the built environment in order to define strategies aimed at enhancing urban resilience. The evaluation of vulnerability, from that of a single building on up to an urban scale, is based on the combined analysis of descriptive factors (materials, construction techniques, age) of the building itself and of the surrounding environment (location, geomorphological and seismic risk, potential exposure to meteo-climatic effects). Increasing knowledge of the peculiarities of buildings and their related territories and an enhanced culture of prevention, maintenance, and risk management, are key factors for ensuring sustainable conservation of public and private real estate. A useful supporting tool for urban management is the proper use of insurance contracts84 that help cope with the risk This claim is supported by data from the Germanwatch Global Climate Risk Index, an analysis based on one of the most reliable data sets available on the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socioeconomic data. The annual study by Germanwatch calculates the extent to which countries around the world have been affected by extreme weather events and ranks them according to their vulnerability. In the report, Italy is ranked 21st in the world for impacts from extreme climate events in 2018 and 26th for loss of life due to climate change. Eckstein D., Künzel V., Schäfer L., Winges M. 2019, Global Climate Risk Index 2020. Who Suffers Most from Extreme Weather Events? Weather-Related Loss Events in 2018 and 1999 to 2018, Germanwatch e.V, Berlin, Germany. 84 That is ‘insurance policies’, i.e. the documents proving and regulating the insurance. 83
