The Recovery of Coastal Flooding Archaeological Heritage Sites Through Nature-Based Solutions and Community Needs

Flood phenomena linked to anthropogenic actions, such as large-scale urbanization, massive tourist flows and climate change are some of the main causes of degrading coastal archaeological heritage sites. In the field of Architectural Technology, the study investigates the degradation status of these sites and its causes and identifies recovery and adaptation strategies based on technological and nature-based solutions to mitigate the problem. Starting from the application of the alignment check of the demand-performance approach (UNI 8289, 1981) to nature-based solutions, this research proposes a recovery strategy to mitigate degradation of coastal archaeological sites threatened by floods. The strategy focuses on mediating conservation and transformation of the surrounding built environment, preserving the archaeological heritage for future generations and promoting sustainable tourism. The integration of technological and nature-based solutions in the cultural heritage sites may allow the reactivation of parts of the sites no longer able to communicate with the contemporary settlement system in which diaphasic landscape, environmental and technological dimensions are grafted. This topic is explored by focusing on the example of archaeological site of the Villa di Pollio Felice (called also Bagni della Regina Giovanna) in Sorrento, Southern Italy. The urbanistic position of this site makes the maritime villa and its promontory of artificial terraces a site of infrastructural interest accessible from both sea and land. This gives the site's recovery actions an ambivalent value to operate both in the sense of material culture, exposed to flooding, and immaterial culture, exposed to degradation and the risk of losing the cultural identity of the community. This study provides a rehabilitation model of coastal archaeological sites which encourages the appropriate relation between material and immaterial built heritage, by improving the integration of nature-based solutions. The model links the need to conserve the cities of the past and transform the nowadays cities. Exploiting the flooding phenomena can be an opportunity to empower the recovery tools for the cultural heritage and its built environment.