An Energy-Resilient Retrofit Methodology to Climate Change for Historic Districts. Application in the Mediterranean Area

Elena Cantatore and Fabio Fatiguso
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Elena Cantatore: Department of Civil, Environmental, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh)—Polytechnic University of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Fabio Fatiguso: Department of Civil, Environmental, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh)—Polytechnic University of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-32

Abstract: Focusing on the uncertainties of climate change and its effects on the built environment, on the energy responsibilities of residential building stock and on the dichotomy between the transformation and preservation of cultural heritage with a long-term perspective, this paper proposes a detailed methodology aimed at managing energy retrofit transformations and preservation actions in historic districts following “resilience thinking.” The proposed methodology pursues the traditional process of retrofitting for cultural heritage, and identifies—on building and component scales—a structural process aimed at: (i) recognizing and testing the adaptive qualities of traditional built constructions to climate change based upon the genius loci experience; (ii) diagnosing critical energy emergencies which occurred due to historical transformations or exposure to criticalities of climate change; (iii) identifying and managing improvement requirements according to priority levels of transformation (MUERI). The test on a representative case study in the south of Italy (Mediterranean area) highlighted some significant results: (i) the importance of compactness and of light-colored materials in fighting local microclimate alterations; (ii) the pivotal responsibility of roofs in current and future trends in energy consumption, promoting and testing both innovative and traditional solutions; (iii) the reduction into a limited number of buildings cases to assess, solving the complex and various combinations of features, with which suitable solutions and guidelines are associated.

Keywords: resilience; energy retrofit strategy; historic urban built environment; inherent adaptive behaviors; climate change in Mediterranean area; south of Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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