RHA LAB
RHA LAB

WHAT IS “INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT FOR BUILT HERITAGE”?
AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?
by RHA LAB

Due to the changes, occurring in the context of the climate crisis, threats and risks to communities and cultural heritage sites are gaining in importance: Heavy rainfall becomes more likely, which in turn can increase the risk of flooding. In other cases, the likelihood of rainfall can decrease due to climate change, and thus lead to droughts. Furthermore, due to the changing climate, retrospective observation data are tending to become less and less reliable, and prospective climate change scenarios show a very broad range of possible future conditions, which are highly dependent on the input data and the selection of climate change scenarios. Given that risks cannot reliably be predicted, a change in mindset is needed since the wrong understanding of risk is a risk in itself.

Until now, integrated approaches between heritage professionals and risk managers, to protect built heritage from risk, are unsatisfactory – for different reasons:

First, a neglect of the respective other discipline is still very much prevalent. Risk management research has only recently begun to address the challenges and potential of heritage-sensitive risk management, and many problems remain unresolved. In turn, experts in monument preservation and heritage management largely disregard the need to consider risk management. There is little awareness of this issue and scant resources are dedicated to it unless a disaster strikes. A significant lack of basic knowledge in the field of risk management often prevents cultural heritage professionals from working towards heritage-sensitive local risk management.

Another issue is that the rationales and languages of the two disciplines – risk and heritage – are very different. Both sides use their own very specific terms and concepts which are often barely understood by the other one – such as different kinds of complex risk assessment methods, or “values” and “protection-worthiness” of heritage.

Furthermore, there is no sufficient clarity concerning the definition of objectives. The setting of a normative basis for risk management is crucial, since it includes basic political discussions and decisions, and finally determines the evaluation of risk and the choice of measures. Nevertheless, the processes often lack debates, e.g., on which threats and which cultural assets and sites to consider, or how to define what is recognized as “protection-worthy” etc.

Therefore, Integrated Risk Management for built heritage aims to set up an integrative process that strengthens the link between heritage and risk management, following a comprehensive approach, especially concerning the four key features:

Integrated Risk Management seeks to…

  1. Pursue the “all-hazards-approach”: Attention should be paid to all manner of natural and/or human-made threats – e.g., flooding, storms, droughts, earthquakes, fire, technical collapses, or armed conflict, as well as interactions between those.
  2. Consider all phases of the “Risk Management Cycle” (SHELTER 2019): Prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery
  3. Follow a systematic approach to cultural heritage, in which all types are included: Tangible as well as intangible heritage, and state-listed monuments as well as legacies that are not formally protected but can still be meaningful to the local communities (BBSR 2024).
  4. Address particularly the local (urban) level: While upper levels (e.g., national and regional) also develop (integrated) risk management approaches, the primary interest is on the local one. On the local (urban) level, concrete measures have to be implemented, and many actors interact and need to be coordinated.
INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT

SOURCES

- BBSR – Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (2024): Baukulturelles Erbe vor Risiken schützen und resilient gestalten. Eine Arbeitshilfe für die kommunale Praxis. Bonn

- SHELTER – Sustainable Historic Environments hoListic reconstruction through Technological Enhancement & community-based Resilience (2019): D.2.1 HA Resilience structure. In: SHELTER, https://shelter-project.com/. Deliverables: https://shelter-project.com/documents/deliverables/

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