From Climate Risk Diagnosis to Design Decisions in the Built Environment: An Indicator-Based Adaptation Workflow with Bat-ADAPT and depthmapX

Abstract

Climate adaptation in mixed-use building assets requires methods that connect class-based risk diagnosis with feasible design decisions and explicit spatial localisation, a link that remains weak in existing screening approaches. This paper develops and tests a lightweight, indicator-based workflow to address this gap. Bat-ADAPT (R4RE), an indicator-based climate-risk assessment tool, assesses exposure and vulnerability and derives cross-risk classes. It is also used to simulate adaptation packages. depthmapX, a space-syntax-based spatial analysis tool, provides a complementary layer for locating selected measures within shared outdoor spaces. The workflow is applied to Cascina Fossata in Turin, Italy, through two assessment profiles representing a reused historic courtyard building and a new multi-storey construction. The baseline diagnosis identifies Heat as the priority hazard and “Rainfall & Floods” as the second relevant condition. Under the final packages, Profile 1 vulnerability decreases from High to Medium for both hazards, while Profile 2 reaches Low vulnerability for Heat and Medium vulnerability for “Rainfall & Floods”. Exposure remains unchanged in both profiles. The depthmapX analysis informs the placement of visual risk communication and the identification of candidate locations for cool refuge areas. The intelligibility test yields R² = 0.0193 for the baseline configuration and R² = 0.9103 for the controlled alternative configuration, indicating a stronger relationship between Connectivity and Visual Integration for the tested geometry. The case study indicates that the workflow can provide a traceable basis for early-stage adaptation decisions, while its outputs remain class-based and the spatial results do not demonstrate climate-risk reduction.