Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 4-21-2025

Abstract

As the globe grapples with the profound consequences of climate change, its impact on built cultural heritage has emerged as a critical concern. Rising global temperature and unpredictable weather patterns threaten the integrity of historical sites, consequently, jeopardizing our collective identity and historical narratives. This paper focuses on Historic Cairo, Egypt identifying the risks associated with climate change based on the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 outlined by the IPCC. The study aims to develop risk response resilience strategies to provide a comprehensive treatment plan for the impacts of the climate change risks affecting Historic Cairo. The research methodology comprises two main phases: a theoretical phase involving a literature review on climate change-associated risks and their impacts on built cultural heritage and an analytical phase involving an expert survey questionnaire targeting heritage management stakeholders. The data collected revealed that key stressors such as the mean air temperature, extreme heat, relative humidity, changes in soil chemistry, and fire weather exhibit critical challenges requiring urgent mitigation efforts and attention. Moreover, the historic associative value, along with the architectural, aesthetic, and artistic values demonstrated significant vulnerability. Hence, these values were assigned extremely high to high-risk priority levels necessitating proactive measures to mitigate the identified risks. In contrast, precipitation and rainfall were deemed to have low-risk priority levels on the heritage communal, urban, and historic values. Consequently, the risk response strategies were developed to effectively mitigate these challenges. This research contributes to the ongoing global and local efforts to enhance resilience in built heritage management. Additionally, it aligns with the sustainable development goal (SDGs goals 13 and 11) which emphasized the need for cultural built heritage protection and addressing vulnerabilities against climate change impacts with a specific application in the Egyptian heritage context.

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