Welcome & Introduction

• Prof. Claudia R. Binder, ENAC Dean
• Prof. Jan Hesthaven, EPFL Vice President for Academic Affairs

Keynote lecture

• Prof. Andrea Rinaldo

Q&A

• Moderation: Prof. Claudia R. Binder

Title:

WILL VENICE SURVIVE?
Built and natural environments in a changing world

Abstract:

Venice’s fate is still a case study of paramount importance today. On the one hand, the intrinsic relevance of the at-risk cultural heritage inevitably commands global attention. On the other, the quantitative evaluation of the ecosystem services jeopardized by the effects of climate change proves complex especially in contexts stratified by history. The very notion of sustainability, which hinges on the social worth of the entire set of capital assets of the Venetian economy (including the current natural capital), needs to face here a long history of change and must not assume the biosphere to be external to the human economy. The lack of a desirable, characteristic reference state of the environment weighs in: lagoons are metastable tidal landforms where a benchmark natural capital does not exist because the Venetian environment has been radically changed through the centuries to suit shifting models of the city’s social and economic welfare long gone by now. However, sea-level regressions and transgressions have always shaped the cycles of the fortune of coastal areas, and it is only during the Anthropocene we fancied to resist such strong evolutionary forces. Should we simply accept the notion that in the long run Venice will become just a layer of a sedimentary deposit? Should we instead unleash today’s technological options in engineering the Earth and its risks? Acute problems have been tackled in the past, yet an idyllic golden age when nature was in equilibrium with man never existed, and the built and the natural environments we see today are the byproduct of decisive transformations imposed by man.

My take is: within this century, owing to the effects of climate change, Venice and its lagoon cannot be the ones we see now. Soon sea-level rise will require a plan in place that will imply a radical rethinking of its built and natural environments: the sea-lagoon interfaces, the lagoon domain, the social and economic activities within the greater Venice area, and the very survival of the texture of the city. The time to set in motion a proper discourse about the possible scenarios — possibly by a broad international consultation — is now given Venice’s track record in acting. These decades extend beyond the lifetime of most of us, so we must act without self-interest on behalf of future generations. The science community should thus act affirmatively in their sentinel responsibility to alert the society, possibly making the case of Venice the template for the global rethinking of how to conserve cultural heritage, while fostering sustainable development, at a time when rapidly changing environmental conditions no longer allow for the mere conservation through maintenance.

About the speaker:

Prof. Andrea Rinaldo is Full Professor and head the Laboratory of Ecohydrology at ENAC since 2008.

He received the 2023 Stockholm Water Prize – the world’s most prestigious award in water research.

The work he has completed throughout his career focuses on the study of water flow and, in particular, river networks, true “ecological corridors” that explain the movements of living organisms and certain fundamental biological phenomena.

Born in 1954 in Venice – a “floating city” that undoubtedly shaped his career interest in water – in 1954, Rinaldo has made an outstanding contribution to his field. He is the author of over 300 journal articles as well as several books published by major scientific publishing houses. He has also carried out field research in Haiti, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and other countries.