There is a growing societal demand for data and services that characterise our built environment, and research institutions are increasingly expected to develop advanced and comprehensive solutions to meet this need. Within the European Research Infrastructure EPOS, risk-related services are already being provided in two of its Thematic Core Services (TCS): Seismology and Tsunami. To complement such services, avoid duplication of efforts, and enable integration with other natural, technological, climatic and anthropogenic hazards, it is proposed that a new TCS focused on characterising the built environment is created. This would envisage the provision of data, data products, services and software (DDSS) related to buildings and urban infrastructure, i.e., the built environment, following FAIR principles and contributing to broader scientific efforts to promote Open Science.
A TCS on Built Environment Data would involve leading engineering research groups from across Europe working together on services such as:
- hazard-agnostic exposure databases (buildings, infrastructure and population);
- dynamic models of exposure evolution;
- access to structural testing facilities;
- data characterising built-environment vulnerability;
- access to experimental data.
In addition to the engineering research community, it is expected that this TCS would also involve other disciplines, such as social sciences, urban planning, climate and environment, and disaster-risk-reduction researchers, so that data on social, economic, environmental and adaptive dimensions can be integrated into the developed services.