Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage
Author(s)
Menegazzi, Cristina
Date Issued
March 15, 2010
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
The risk management of cultural heritage is a topic that has been confronted in a systematic, methodological and theoretical manner at an international level only in the last 15 years. In the research undertaken, the historical origins and the evolutionary processes of preventive conservation are examined. This complex discipline encompasses not only climatic and environmental factors, but also those connected to safety, so as to arrive at an integrated disaster risk management.
The research is subdivided into four chapters.
The first chapter: “The Research”, presents the objectives of the research and its general context. The aim, limits and organisation of the research work are highlighted. The selection has favoured qualitative methods and the support of case studies. The research being at international level, texts and publications in various foreign languages have been taken into consideration. It presents techniques for collecting data, making it clear in which cases reference was made to direct observations on the field, rather than to interviews or access to documents in libraries, research centres, documentation centres, museums and the like. The theory has served to determine a conceptual apparatus to identify major interpretive frameworks for observation and comparison of case studies. The methodology takes into consideration the choices made to carry out the research, such as a balanced geographical selection of case studies, and defines the types of museums and heritage sites under consideration.
The second chapter: “Preventive Conservation versus a Disaster Risk Management”, presents the historical origins of preventive conservation, and how this discipline has found it’s positioning with respect to restoration. Several conferences and important courses that have helped this discipline to evolve over time have been listed. This is followed by an intentionally brief explanation of the different factors of deterioration that interact upon the cultural heritage. Methods of measuring and controlling each of these factors have been identified. At the end of the second chapter, the concept of risk management applied to cultural heritage is introduced, outlining some techniques for identifying and analysing these risks.
The third chapter: “Review of Theory and Practice”, presents the theoretical and practical concepts of risk management, applied to cultural heritage. Terms such as “disaster”, “risk”, “vulnerability”, “probability” and “integrated management” are defined, as well as others specific to disaster risk management. It then introduces the perception of risks and analysis of the local situation in sociological, psychological and anthropological terms in relation to the cultural heritage. Various stages in the cycle of integrated emergency management are taken into account: “risk prevention and perparedness” being preventive actions to be implemented to avoid or minimise the impact and severity of catastrophes; “risk readiness” being immediate actions to confront the situation caused by the catastrophe; “risk response” being the coordination of actions aimed at minimising the devastating effects created by the catastrophe; and “risk recovery” being the programme of actions to rectify the situation prior to the catastrophe (restoration, reconstruction, stabilization, rehabilitation, etc.). Given the vastness of the topic, the research has given priority to "risk prevention", identifying several examples of risk assessment and mitigation measures.
The fourth chapter: “Case Studies” , presents the cases studies themselves. The choice of case studies was a reasoned choice, not based on statistical criteria. About a dozen case studies, in various regions of the world, were chosen, to represent a range of direct and secondary disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods, wide scale pest infestations etc. These are presented, described and analysed, in each aspect regarding the key concepts identified in this theory. The case studies gave me the chance to investigate sectors outside my specialisation. Scientific exchange with fellow architects, sociologists, biologists, botanists, conservators, engineers, firefighters, physicians etc, have enriched the contents.
The research is also accompanied by a series of annexes, most of which I have developed personally. There are also forms for the identification and analysis of risk management of cultural property, as well as a bibliography, web references, lists of conferences and courses relevant to the thesis, papers and international recommendations, etc.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Memoria e materia delle opere d'arte attraverso i processi di produzione, storicizzazione, conservazione, musealizzazione
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