Gassino historical city centre neighborhood represents the heart of the historic centre of Gassino Torinese and many of the buildings which made up the area dating back from the first settlement of the ancient city, around the year 1700, like for example the main church, whose baroque style dome dominates the entire city. Other buildings have been built in the early nineteenth century, while in the south part of the neighborhood they are more recent, built around the year 1970. The covered area is about 8 km2, anyway residents are not so numerous; there is, indeed, a decrease in the population number because of some “difficulties” proper of some ancient historical city centre, like for example streets with large slope, the inaccessibility of the area with car and the absence of parking areas nearby, difficulties in renovating the buildings sometimes subject to architectural constraints, etc. On the contrary, the neighborhood is experienced by many tourists and workers. In Gassino historical city centre all the different functions typical of an historical Italian city centre are present, such as, the residential, commercial, office, educational, religious, leisure activities and it is also located the town hall.
Gassino historical city centre it’s an important heritage site, rich in traditions, monuments and ancient history therefore, to be preserved. The soil that composes the city is made up of layers of clay and gravel and has landslide characteristics, so mass movement climate risk is one of the most remarkable to be considered for the area. Furthermore, some of the areas nearby the historical city centre had suffered extreme precipitation events, due to intense precipitations, which have caused severe damage to the city. Consequently, the permeability of the neighborhood must be improved and preserved.
The Municipality of Gassino Torinese would like to improve the resilience of the city to climate change effects, above all concerning the extreme heat and heavy precipitations risks which have strongly affected the city because of the texture of the soil. The pilot action foresees the analysis of the climate risks in the neighborhood and, through a decision-making process, the optimal measures to increase the level of adaptation and resiliency of the Gassino historical city centre will be identified and implemented, making the city centre more liveable.
Based on the climate risk assessments results, focused mainly on extreme heat and heavy precipitations, specific adaptation measures will be elaborated for Gassino historical city centre. The resilience of the neighborhood will be enhanced making a more liveable urban context.