The 'seismic behaviour' of urban complex systems

摘要

Damages due to earthquakes are varied and heterogeneous, even though the scientific literature has been mainly focusing on physical ones and the consequent loss of human lives. Very few studies have pointed out the multiple dimension of damage, highlighting the heterogeneous kind of damages occurring in the different time periods after an earthquake. This study, looking at the city as a complex system and grounding on the analogy between the behaviour of a complex system hit by an external stress and the city hit by an earthquake, focuses on the "seismic behaviour" of urban systems. In detail,a conceptual framework for describing and forecasting such behaviour is provided. Moreover, the role of urban planning in seismic risk mitigation has been highlighted, pointing out that both structural interventions on buildings and infrastructures and actions facing the seismic problem in its "urban" dimension are required.