Criteria and indicators for risk assessment: a European overview in Heritage protection; from documentation to interventions

The present contribution is based on the work carried out within the work package focused on the identification and analysis of existing directives for risk assessment and evaluation. The final aim is to establish indicators to be included into the final model of a European Cultural Heritage Identity Card (EU-CHIC).It has emerged how, currently, there are several regional or national projects aiming at registering, monitoring and preserving the immovable Cultural Heritage. The most complete risk assessment methodologies have been developed in those countries where the risks are highly relevant and seriously endangers built heritage. These results however reflect single country situations, while it seems that there is a need to develop guidelines to be globally accepted and shared within a larger European perspective. In Europe, several projects and tools are already available to the identification of natural hazards. It is worth mentioning the availability of maps addressing specific risks and hazards and their graphical distribution, which were developed by the European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON). The results achieved by ESPON might be considered in conjunction with those obtained by research projects (Noah’s Arc, Climate for Culture, PERPETUATE, FIRESENSE, etc..) to provide a better understanding of the impact of climate change on cultural heritage and to determine risk priorities at a country and regional level. As far as risk assessment methodologies are considered, local and national projects have developed best practices which are discussed in details.