Structural health monitoring is a crucial issue in areas with different hazard sources, such as Italy. Among non-invasive monitoring techniques, remote sensing provides useful information in supporting the management process and safety evaluations, reducing the impact of disturbances on the functionality of construction systems. The ground displacement time-series based on the analysis of Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, as well as the information about the geology of the area and the geometry of the construction under monitoring, provides useful data for the built environment’s structural assessment. This paper focuses on the structural monitoring and damage assessment of constructions based on the GIS integration of DInSAR measurements, geological investigation, historical surveys and 3D modeling. The methodology is applied to the residential area of Valco San Paolo in the city of Rome (Italy). Once the geological interpretation has confirmed the results of the DInSAR measurements, a quick damage assessment that considers all the possible conditions of the pre-existing damage at the time zero of the monitoring is shown for a damaged manufact in the area. The presented results highlight how the strategy to correlate the DInSAR-monitored ground settlements with the damage scales allows potentially to monitor continuous construction systems.

Natural and anthropogenic subsidence such as that in the Como urban area (northern Italy) can cause significant damage to structures and infrastructure, and expose the city’s lakefront to an increasing risk of inundation from Lake Como. This phenomenon affecting the Como basin has been studied by several researchers, and the major drivers of subsidence are known. However, the availability of historical InSAR data allowed us to reconsider the relationship between subsidence predisposing factors (i.e., the thicknesses of reworked and compressible layers, overburden stress, and the piezometric level) and ground surface displacements with higher precision over the entire basin. Benefiting from the deep knowledge of the hydromechanical setting of the Como basin and the availability of InSAR measurements from 1992 to 2010, in this paper we model subsidence-related movements using linear and nonlinear regression methods in order to determine the combination of natural and anthropic factors that have caused subsidence in the Como basin over the past decades. The results of this study highlight peculiar patterns of subsidence that suggest the influence of two further causes, namely tectonic control of the sedimentary architecture and diversion of local streams, which have never been considered before. This analysis aims to assess the spatial distribution of subsidence through InSAR analysis in order to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon in the Como urban area. The interferometric data could be used to better plan urban risk management strategies.

Managing subsidence and its impacts on cities in coastal and delta areas is a global challenge that requires comprehensive risk reduction policies, including both mitigation and prevention strategies. Urban areas often lack systematic methodologies for determining appropriate countermeasures. This paper proposes a twofold strategy for selecting subsidence reduction measures in urban areas – which refer to structural (i.e. technical) measures to prevent and mitigate subsidence and its physical consequences – based on their applicability and performance. The question-and-response (Q&R) system serves as a decision tree to identify suitable subsidence countermeasures based on their applicability to specific cases. Four indicators of effectiveness – i.e. reduction potential, operational reliability, negative impact, and service life – are then used to assess the performance of subsidence reduction measures. The proposed procedure was applied to 49 cases derived from a review of 52 scientific publications and additional expert sessions and surveys involving 5 academic scholars and 13 experts. Also, the method was applied to examples from Shanghai (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), and the San Joaquin Valley (USA, California). The strategies proposed in this paper proved suitable for an initial screening of subsidence reduction measures applicable in different urban areas, after which a site-specific assessment can follow. Furthermore, this study shows the need to collect and share experiences in evaluating the performance of subsidence reduction measures more systematically and gives a first framework to do so.

Managing subsidence and its impacts on cities in coastal and delta areas is a global challenge that requires comprehensive risk reduction policies, including both mitigation and prevention strategies. Urban areas often lack systematic methodologies for determining appropriate countermeasures. This paper proposes a twofold strategy for selecting subsidence reduction measures in urban areas – which refer to structural (i.e., technical) measures to prevent and mitigate subsidence and its physical consequences - based on their applicability and performance. The Question-and-Response (Q&R) system serves as a decision tree to identify suitable subsidence countermeasures based on their applicability to specific cases. Four indicators of effectiveness – i.e., reduction potential, operational reliability, negative impact and service life – are then used to assess the performance of subsidence reduction measures. The proposed procedure was applied to 49 cases derived from a review of 52 scientific publications and additional expert sessions and surveys involving five academic scholars and 13 experts. Also, the method was applied to examples from Shanghai (China), Jakarta (Indonesia) and San Joaquin Valley (USA, California). The strategies proposed in this paper proved suitable for an initial screening of subsidence reduction measures applicable in different urban areas, after which a site-specific assessment can follow. Furthermore, this study shows the need to collect and share experiences in evaluating the performance of subsidence reduction measures more systematically, and gives a first framework to do so.

Managing subsidence and its impacts on cities in coastal and delta areas is a global challenge that requires comprehensive risk reduction policies, including both mitigation and prevention strategies. Urban areas often lack systematic methodologies for determining appropriate countermeasures. This paper proposes a twofold strategy for selecting subsidence reduction measures in urban areas – which refer to structural (i.e., technical) measures to prevent and mitigate subsidence and its physical consequences - based on their applicability and performance. The Question-and-Response (Q&R) system serves as a decision tree to identify suitable subsidence countermeasures based on their applicability to specific cases. Four indicators of effectiveness – i.e., reduction potential, operational reliability, negative impact and service life – are then used to assess the performance of subsidence reduction measures. The proposed procedure was applied to 49 cases derived from a review of 52 scientific publications and additional expert sessions and surveys involving five academic scholars and 13 experts. Also, the method was applied to examples from Shanghai (China), Jakarta (Indonesia) and San Joaquin Valley (USA, California). The strategies proposed in this paper proved suitable for an initial screening of subsidence reduction measures applicable in different urban areas, after which a site-specific assessment can follow. Furthermore, this study shows the need to collect and share experiences in evaluating the performance of subsidence reduction measures more systematically, and gives a first framework to do so.