Risk Assessment Model for Heritage Buildings: Case Study of Yemen
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 2
Abstract
Heritage buildings are considered unique assets with a significant value for the country where they are situated that must be conserved or preserved for the coming generations. However, heritage sites, as any other site where a construction is present, experience tremendous risks that impact both the condition and the withstanding of the building or asset they include. Therefore, a risk management framework is essential for these sites and buildings, in particular to be able to decide how to respond and act upon foreseeable risks when they occur or even before experiencing them. This study starts with investigating the most dominant risks in the heritage buildings context with a focus on Yemeni sites, and consequently 38 Yemeni experts in the field of heritage building management were surveyed to examine the identified risks in three case study heritage sites in Yemen. The significance of the risks as well as their impact, likelihood, and detectability levels were measured using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) basis that reduces the subjectivity of the expert opinions. After risks were analyzed, a suitable response action was therefore suggested to manage and minimize risk impacts as much as possible. In addition to the relative scoring for the priority of each identified risk, an overall risk proneness metric is presented in this paper that can be used to compare the vulnerability of different heritage buildings and/or sites for a strategic efficient budget allocation for the management and preservation of those areas. The preliminary results revealed that armed conflicts, climate change, and flooding are three of the most critical risk factors in Yemeni heritage buildings. This framework is expected to aid heritage building managers in identifying the correct course of actions to prevent or mitigate risks from disturbing the heritage sites and help preserve their value and significance.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahmed, R., M. Afifi, and A. Nassar. 2019. “Using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in egyptian construction projects.” In Proc., Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Annual Conf., 1–10. Laval, Canada: CSCE.
Ahmed, R. Y., and A. H. Nassar. 2016. “The effect of risk allocation on minimizing disputes in construction projects in Egypt.” Int. J. Eng. Res. Technol. 5 (3). http://www.ijert.org.
Al-Sakkaf, A. 2018. Towards a climate-sensitive vernacular architecture in Arabian Peninsula. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert.
Al-Sakkaf, A., and R. Ahmed. 2020. “Applicability of BIM in heritage buildings: A critical review.” Int. J. Digital Innovation Built Environ. 8 (2): 20–37. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJDIBE.2019070102.
Al-Sakkaf, A., T. Zayed, and A. Bagchi. 2020a. “A sustainability based framework for evaluating the heritage buildings.” Int. J. Energy Optim. Eng. 9 (2): 49–73. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJEOE.2020040105.
Al-Sakkaf, A., T. Zayed, A. Bagchi, and E. Abdelkader. 2019. “Sustainability rating tool and rehabilitation model for heritage buildings.” In Proc., Annual Conf. of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering, 1–11.
Al-Sakkaf, A., T. Zayed, A. Bagchi, S. Mahmoud, and D. Pickup. 2020b. “Development of a sustainability rating tool for heritage buildings: Future implications.” Smart Sustainable Built Environ. https://doi.org/10.1108/SASBE-04-2020-0047.
Andretta, M., F. Coppola, A. Modelli, N. Santopuoli, and L. Seccia. 2017. “Proposal for a new environmental risk assessment methodology in cultural heritage protection.” J. Cult. Heritage 23: 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2016.08.001.
Ayala, D. F. D., A. Carriero, F. Sabbadini, D. Fanciullacci, P. Ozelik, M. Akdogan, and Y. Kaya. 2016. “Seismic vulnerability and risk assessment of cultural heritage buildings in istanbul, turkey.” In Proc., 14th World Conf. on Earthquake Engineering. Beijing, China: 14thWCEE.
Brown, K. 2018. “A war on ‘collective memory’: A sober report reveals the extent of the damage to war-torn cultural sites in Yemen.” 1–14. artnet News. Accessed January 19, 2020. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/yemen-war-cultural-sites-1399402.
Carroll, P., and E. Aarrevaara. 2018. “Review of potential risk factors of cultural heritage sites and initial modelling for adaptation to climate change.” Geosciences 8 (9): 322. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences8090322.
Cassar, M., and R. Pender. 2005. “The impact of climate change on cultural heritage: Evidence and response.” In Proc., 14th Triennial Meeting, 610–616. London, UK: University College London. https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/5059/.
Ferretti, V., and E. Comino. 2015. “An integrated framework to assess complex cultural and natural heritage systems with multi-attribute value theory.” J. Cult. Heritage 16 (5): 688–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2015.01.007.
Forino, G., J. MacKee, and J. von Meding. 2016. “A proposed assessment index for climate change-related risk for cultural heritage protection in Newcastle (Australia).” Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 19: 235–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.09.003.
Hetter, K. 2014. 1. L‘Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park, Canada 2. Nahanni National Park, Canada. 1–4.
Holický, M., and M. Sýkora. 2010. “Assessment of flooding risk to cultural heritage in historic sites.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil 24 (5): 432–438. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0000053.
Ibrahim, M. N., K. Abdul-Hamid, M. S. Ibrahim, A. Mohd-Din, R. M. Yunus, and M. R. Yahya. 2011. “The development of fire risk assessment method for heritage building.” Procedia Eng. 20 (4): 317–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2011.11.172.
ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites). 2003. Principles for the analysis, conservation and structural restoration of architectural heritage. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe: ICOMOS.
ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites). 2009. “UNESCO-ICOMOS Documentation Centre.” Earth Architecture. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://www.icomos.org/centre_documentation/.
Lee, J., J. Kim, J. Ahn, and W. Woo. 2019. “Context-aware risk management for architectural heritage using historic building information modeling and virtual reality.” J. Cult. Heritage 38: 242–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2018.12.010.
Piñero, I., J. T. San-José, P. Rodríguez, and M. M. Losáñez. 2017. “Multi-criteria decision-making for grading the rehabilitation of heritage sites. Application in the historic center of La Habana.” J. Cult. Heritage 26: 144–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2017.01.012.
Romão, X., E. Paupério, and N. Pereira. 2016. “A framework for the simplified risk analysis of cultural heritage assets.” J. Cult. Heritage 20: 696–708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2016.05.007.
Saaty, T. L., and L. G. Vargas. 1980. “Hierarchical analysis of behavior in competition: Prediction in chess.” Behav. Sci. 25 (3): 180–191.
Smith, C., H. Burke, C. de Leiuen, and G. Jackson. 2016. “The Islamic State’s symbolic war: Da’esh’s socially mediated terrorism as a threat to cultural heritage.” Journal of Social Archaeology 16 (2): 164–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469605315617048.
Stein, R., and A. Schröder. 2012. “Hodenhochstand - Heutige vorstellungen zu genese, diagnostik und therapie: Eine übersicht.” Chirurgische Praxis 74 (4): 657–674.
Wang, J. J. 2015. “Flood risk maps to cultural heritage: Measures and process.” J. Cult. Heritage 16 (2): 210–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2014.03.002.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 7, 2020
Accepted: Dec 29, 2020
Published online: Mar 12, 2021
Published in print: Jun 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Aug 12, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Huafeng Zhang, Changmao Qi, Mingyuan Ma, Grid-Based Employee Safety Behavior Risk Assessment of the Train Operation Department, Processes, 10.3390/pr10050913, 10, 5, (913), (2022).
- Abobar Al-Sakkaf, Samer El-Zahab, Eslam Mohammed Abdelkader, Ghasan Alfalah, A Holistic and Systematic Assessment of Maintenance Approaches in Heritage Sites, WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON SYSTEMS AND CONTROL, 10.37394/23203.2021.16.29, 16, (335-350), (2021).