Adaptive measures for preserving heritage buildings in the face of climate change: A review

Climate change is varying the mean and pattern of the climatic factors as well as it is increasing the frequency of extreme events. Consequently, these changes trigger the variation in the speed and rate of the degradation processes of historical building materials and collections. In this regard, it is necessary to adapt existing technologies, as well as introduce new ones capable of decreasing the incidence of environmental factors, given the ongoing climate change. Nevertheless, in scientific literature, practical adaptive solutions to climate change are rarely examined in the context of built heritage or evaluated in real applications. Therefore, this review after a brief introduction on the impacts of the main climate factors on heritage materials, examines various regional and field-specific solutions for preserving heritage materials in the face of changing climatic conditions. The main finding of the review is the classification of adaptive solutions applicable to buildings into three categories: traditional measures, adaptive technologies, and emerging technologies. Moreover, this work will contribute to generating interest in this field and promote the development of appropriately tailored adaptive solutions for the mitigation of the climate change effects on historical buildings.