Flood risk management in historic centres: A scalable typological framework integrating GIS, BIM and VR

Abstract

The increasing frequency and severity of climate-related disasters underscore the need for reliable and adaptable risk management solutions, especially in complex environments such as historic city centres, where structural and functional characteristics pose unique challenges. To address this issue, the paper proposes a workflow that integrates GIS, BIM, and VR technologies to enable seamless informative integration and effective assessment of key factors related to hazard, building vulnerability, and user exposure in flood prone historic towns. The approach adopts a multi-scalar logic – connecting the macro-scale analysis of the urban built environment with meso-scale modelling of selected blocks and open spaces – alongside a typological framework that abstracts real-case features into representative, idealized clusters. The objective is to build a digital ecosystem capable of identifying priority areas and scenarios based on construction characteristics and occupancy patterns and serving as a foundation for more specialized studies in hazard modelling, evacuation simulation, and virtual training and communication. The proposed workflow is tested on a historic centre in Central Italy exposed to fluvial flood risk, demonstrating its potential to integrate and operationalize data and processes that have typically been addressed separately in the current practice. Ultimately, the aim is to support a guided and accessible technology transfer to technical and administrative stakeholders involved in risk decision-making.