Territorial Resilience and Flood Vulnerability. Case Studies at Urban Scale in Torino (Italy) and Porto/Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal).

This paper presents the implementation in QGIS of spatial informations for two case studies in Italy and Portugal by the conceptualization proposed in MOVE (Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability assessment in Europe, www.move-fp7.eu). The chosen areas are in Turin (Italy) and Porto – Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal). The conceptual model MOVE describes territorial vulnerability along three dimensions: exposure, susceptibility and lack of resilience. Each dimension can be described through a variety of indicators, such as physical, social, economic, cultural and others. A set of 59 variables to include in the analysis was drawn from the spatial informations available in publicly accessible databases. In addition to the indicators already presented in similar studies, the assets of cultural and historical heritage are introduced. Because of a rather complex measurement and research work, all indicators were standardized and mapped in the European grid (1 km x 1 km). Finally, maps of exposure, susceptibility and lack of resilience were obtained, from which it was possible to draw the maps of the local variation of flood vulnerability. The enphasis is on local variation because maps result from normalization of variables into a local range. Therefore, maps show local variability of vulnerability and can not be referred to either a national or European standard scale. The latter will be possible if further research identifies appropriate ranges for each indicator, representative for larger areas. The procedure, however, shows clearly how urban inequalities translate in inequalities in flood vulnerability and resilience. In this sense, if adopted to simulate the effects of planning, this procedure could help in designing more resilient territories.