SLODs in Urban Built Environment

Climate change evidence has been reported in the last decades, suggesting that the anthropogenic activities are accelerating these changes towards a warmer and more polluted environment. In addition, it has been noted that cities are the areas that have generated a larger disturbance, and which will probably suffer the most from these two aspects. In this context, Slow-Onset Disasters (SLODs) have been linked to climate-change related disasters and have been stated to have a higher impact risk within dense Built Environment (BE) (i.e., cities). Therefore, this chapter presents a description of the most relevant SLODs, their significance and confluence, the way in which scientists and entities are monitoring their progression at different scales, a structured risk assessment strategy and the deconstruction of the BE characteristics that make it more prone to SLODs risk. Finally, this chapter highlights the necessity of adapting the traditional risk assessment methods, to account for different vulnerability types (physical of the BE and of the exposed citizens).