Natural Risks Exposure and Hazard Avoidance Strategies: Learning from Vesuvius

One of the major corroborations related to catastrophic events originated by geological, hydrological and atmospheric phenomena is that global population growth and its concentration in large urban areas has been increasing risk exposure exponentially. For this reason, working strategically towards a more aware and intelligent location of residential buildings should be a priority in order to reduce the effects of natural disasters. After introducing hazard avoidance strategies in general, the essay describes the two most common approaches: the land use regulatory approach based on building constraints and bans; the incentive approach based on managed retreat and relocation programs. Subsequently, the essay introduces the subject of volcanic risk in Italy and expressly the case of the Mount Vesuvius hinterland, an extremely hazardous and highly populated area where local authorities have prepared innovative and detailed ‘housing decompression’ plans and projects. In conclusion the essay discusses the inefficacy of these experiments because of social and political infeasibility connected to (overlooked) risk perception issues and cultural biases.