Seismic Risk Governance for the Existing Building Stock in Algeria: A Structured Review of Technical and Governance Barriers

Urban seismic risk governance in the Global South faces a persistent implementation gap: although the technical knowledge and policy instruments required to assess and reduce building vulnerability are increasingly available, translating them into sustained, large-scale action remains challenging. Algeria illustrates this gap particularly well. Located along one of the Mediterranean’s most active seismogenic belts, the country has an urban building stock encompassing six major structural typologies and more than a century of construction, much of which remains exposed to significant seismic vulnerability. The 1980, 2003, and 2020 earthquakes repeatedly demonstrated the consequences of this exposure. Importantly, Algeria has demonstrated a clear commitment to major disaster risk reduction, including a reduction in seismic vulnerability in the existing building stock, through a dedicated public policy supported by an established, evolving legislative and institutional framework. Nevertheless, a persistent policy-to-practice gap remains between this institutional commitment and the implementation of a systematic, nationwide strategy for existing-building seismic risk reduction and retrofitting. This paper investigates the underlying causes of this gap through a structured review of the published literature and post-earthquake reconnaissance data. Fourteen barriers are identified and organized into two mutually reinforcing dimensions: technical barriers, including incomplete building documentation, limited locally adapted assessment tools, and potentially disruptive retrofit techniques; and governance barriers, including fragmented urban management responsibilities, the absence of a comprehensive mandatory retrofit mechanism, and limited financial incentive structures. Five international urban seismic retrofit programmes are subsequently examined to identify transferable governance and implementation lessons. Based on these findings, this paper proposes ten actionable recommendations structured into a phased strategic roadmap for strengthening urban seismic risk governance in Algeria. Each recommendation is explicitly linked to the identified barriers and informed by documented international experience. This study argues that reducing the seismic vulnerability of Algeria’s existing building stock requires not merely additional technical capacity, but an integrated governance framework capable of translating legislative commitment into coordinated, prioritized, financed, and enforceable action.