Urban Scale Monitoring Approach for the Assessment of Rising Damp Effects in Venice

Laura Falchi, Martina Corradini, Eleonora Balliana and Elisabetta Zendri ()
Additional contact information
Laura Falchi: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, Statistics, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123 Venice, Italy
Martina Corradini: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, Statistics, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123 Venice, Italy
Eleonora Balliana: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, Statistics, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123 Venice, Italy
Elisabetta Zendri: Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics, Statistics, Università Ca’ Foscari, 30123 Venice, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: In coastal areas, the rising damp of salty water is a well-known degradation factor of historical masonries, leading to visible features such as crusts, masonry erosion, and plaster loss. Venetian masonries are strongly affected by decay caused by rising damp exacerbated by direct contact with salty water. Recurrent flooding due to high tides and an increase in the frequency of flooding events, also related to climate change, raises concern about the impacts. Although several studies have been carried out on probable future scenarios, a valuation of the decay risk due to rising damp at the urban level still needs to be implemented. This paper proposes a non-invasive and economically sustainable approach for evaluating rising damp effects at an urban scale. The approach includes a collection of archive images of masonries affected by rising damp dating back to the 1990s; a visual survey of the actual conservation state of masonries; a classification based on significant descriptors; and a discussion on exposure conditions and conservation states. The descriptors chosen are rising damp levels, biological growth, plaster loss, efflorescence, and brick erosion. The evaluation was implemented in a georeferenced system suitable for future comparisons, thus providing a management tool for the city’s preservation.

Keywords: rising damp effects; monitoring methodology; Venice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6274/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6274/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6274-:d:1117043

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().