{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,6]],"date-time":"2025-11-06T16:01:45Z","timestamp":1762444905101,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,12]],"date-time":"2019-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1560297600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In order to estimate the seismic vulnerability of a densely populated urban area, it would in principle be necessary to evaluate the dynamic behaviour of individual and aggregate buildings. These detailed seismic analyses, however, are extremely cost-intensive and require great processing time and expertise judgment. The aim of the present study is to propose a new methodology able to combine information and tools coming from different scientific fields in order to reproduce the effects of a seismic input in urban areas with known geological features and to estimate the entity of the damages caused on existing buildings. In particular, we present a new software called ABES (Agent-Based Earthquake Simulator), based on a Self-Organized Criticality framework, which allows to evaluate the effects of a sequence of seismic events on a certain large urban area during a given interval of time. The integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) data sets, concerning both geological and urban information about the territory of Avola (Italy), allows performing a parametric study of these effects on a real context as a case study. The proposed new approach could be very useful in estimating the seismic vulnerability and defining planning strategies for seismic risk reduction in large urban areas<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi8060274","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,12]],"date-time":"2019-06-12T10:55:19Z","timestamp":1560336919000},"page":"274","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["A New Agent-Based Methodology for the Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Areas"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2929-5044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Annalisa","family":"Greco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9368-5800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"Pluchino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy \u201cEttore Majorana\u201d, University of Catania, and INFN Sezione di Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7575-178X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luca","family":"Barbarossa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7424-249X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giovanni","family":"Barreca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological, Geological and Environment Science, University of Catania, Corso Italia 57, 95129 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ivo","family":"Cali\u00f2","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Martinico","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8290-8183","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Rapisarda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy \u201cEttore Majorana\u201d, University of Catania, and INFN Sezione di Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy"},{"name":"Complexity Science Hub, Josefstaedter Strasse 39, 1080 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1295","DOI":"10.1016\/j.engstruct.2004.04.008","article-title":"Modelling and vulnerability of historical city centres in seismic areas: A case study in Lisbon","volume":"26","author":"Ramos","year":"2004","journal-title":"Eng. 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