The management of vulnerabilities in cultural heritage: a possible model to parametrize the intervention priorities

Preserving our cultural heritage, particularly when the economic resources are lacking, is not only a matter of techniques, but, first of all, a matter of priorities. Defining these priorities is not an easy task and it is subjected to social pressures and to subjective judgments. This paper proposes an analytical model aimed at parameterizing the intervention priorities through objective criteria, in order to obtain a uniform picture of the vulnerabilities in a defined territory. The final product is an ordered list of both architectural and artistic-cultural assets, which need urgent actions for their conservation and for which the time factor is crucial. The proposed algorithm is able to quantify the level of urgency of a possible conservative intervention, evaluating simultaneously different parameters on the level of decay, on the risk conditions and on the touristic and cultural potential of the single asset. It represents therefore a fundamental instrument to optimize the available resources, concentrating the interventions where there is correspondence between maximum risk and highest efficacy in stopping the decay. The model was applied factually to the area of the Parma province, obtaining the hierarchical identification of the urgent interventions to be carried out for the safeguard of its cultural heritage.