On the impacts of climate change on the functional deterioration of heritage buildings in South Chile

Abstract

Currently, the scientific community has almost reached a consensus on the negative impacts of climate change. The causes of global warming are negative for sure, but are the impacts of these new climatic conditions negative and relevant? The answer is again probably yes, but not necessarily so. This study intends to evaluate the impacts of climate change on the functional deterioration of heritage buildings located in South Chile. For this purpose, an advanced artificial intelligence methodology, based on fuzzy logic, is used, and 79 heritage buildings, in five locations in South Chile, are analysed. The results obtained revealed that the predictions of climate change for this region, with an expected increase in temperature, associated with a reduction of the average annual precipitation, for the period 2045–2069, could actually benefit the functional performance of the heritage buildings analysed. Some lessons could be learned from the results, and the proposed model could be used for the prioritisation of maintenance activities, in heritage buildings, for the different locations analysed, considering the expected effect of climate changes, which in many other cases can be detrimental. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd