Analysing the vulnerability of buildings to climate change: Summer heat and flooding

The REGKLAM project (Development and Testing of an Integrated Regional Climate Change Adaption Programme for the Model Region Dresden) forms part of the KLIMZUG programme (Managing Climate Change in the Regions for the Future) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It is concerned with the adaptation of important sectors of the Dresden region to climate change. One aim is to investigate and where necessary reduce the vulnerability of buildings and settlement structures to changing climatic conditions. This paper looks at flood damage as an example for the potential of climate change impacts on buildings. In ex-post analyses and projections, the article presents the results of regional climatological studies. Interfaces between meteorology and civil engineering are discussed. On the basis of a typology of building stock in the region, the vulnerability of given building types to given impacts was analysed in the form of impact models. The examples of environmental causes chosen were summer heat and flooding. The paper concludes with a discussion of how buildings can be adapted to cope with the impacts described.

VIVO