The purpose of NATO ARW 983188 Coupled Site and Soil-Structure Int- action E?ects with Application to Seismic Risk Mitigation, held in Borovets, Bulgaria, 30 August-3 September 2008, was to present state-of-the-art, - site, soil-structure interaction e?ects (SSSI), as manifested in the broader area ofsouthandsouth-easternEurope,whichisthemostseismicallyproneregion of the European continent. Another objective was to attempt to de?ne the seismic risk posed to the built environment in this area and to present modern methods for seismic risk mitigation. The ARW was very successful and generated an interdisciplinary-type information exchange between the three main groups of participants: g- physicists, geotechnical engineers, and structural engineers. The presen- tions during the workshop can be grouped into four subject areas: (1) site conditions and their role in seismic hazard analyses, (2) soil-structure int- action, (3) the role of site e?ects and of soil-structure interaction in the design of structures, and (4) general and related subjects. The following ?elds were addressed during the presentations and the discussions: strong ground motion (near-?eld e?ects, seismic-wave propagation, free-? eld motion); geotech- calengineering(slopes,foundations,lifelines,dams,andretainingwalls);and structural engineering (buildings, bridges, ?eld measurements, and protective systems). The work presented in this volume includes contributions from engineers and scientists, mainly from south-eastern Europe and the neighbouring - gions of the Near East. The arrangement of contributions in di?erent chapters is not rigorous, and many papers present similar material, which includes broad coverage and di?erent disciplines, since earthquake engineering is by its nature an interdisciplinary subject.
