Enriching Seismic Exposure Models to Create a Multipurpose Building Model

Exposure models such as ESRM20 provide building exposure to seismic hazards per district or geocell. These kinds of models hold a great amount of information about building types and construction in different countries, but remain primarily relevant to fields within seismology. While some of the data they hold could be used interdisciplinarily, incorporation of other data points could improve its relevancy for climate-change related hazards such as heat waves and cold fronts. For countries within Europe, which belong to the ESRM20 models, there are two datasets which provide the necessary data and the link to tie them together, TABULA and the European Building Stock Observatory (EUBSO). The building typologies of these datasets were mapped to match the taxonomy of the exposure models in order to include the relevant data.

TABULA is a European dataset for residential buildings’ energy efficiency capabilities and characteristics. The dataset lacks cohesion and homogeneity across the 21 countries it covers and for some countries, there is no clear distribution for the total number of buildings per class. Without a probability distribution of building types, it is not possible to combine TABULA with the seismic exposure models, as the definition of the classes in each taxonomy does not overlap. As an example, TABULA has classes for years of construction while the seismic exposure models have none; if the number of buildings in each class is not known, the models cannot be combined. The EUBSO can bridge that gap. This dataset has similar building type classifications as TABULA but with the number of buildings in each of its classes and some data on the energy efficiency of buildings, including for non-residential ones, filling the gap left by TABULA.

We combined the three datasets in two stages. First, the exposure models are improved using the more detailed occupancy and construction year descriptions from the EUBSO. Afterwards, the building types in the models match with those from TABULA, and each feature in the exposure model can be linked to a TABULA class. Finally, these enriched models are used, along with other sources such as OpenStreetMap, in the creation of the Global Dynamic Exposure model (GDE). This is a building by building model of the entire world with seismic and climate exposure data. This includes buildings' resilience to seismic activity and several points concerning energy efficiency such as CO2 emissions, energy required for heating, and how much different building components resist the flow of heat. While this dataset may be used for exposure, it can also serve as a digital twin of the building stock in projects for urban development, and improve understanding of cities and how they are built. This dataset is being used for the Local Digital Twins Toolbox initiative by the European Union which provides cities with urban development tools. With an increase in smart cities initiatives and a search for ways to improve the sustainability in European municipalities on the rise, this dataset provides a detailed base understanding of the buildings that are in them.