Throughout its history, the city of Venice has faced head-on the challenges posed by a constantly changing natural environment. Rather than “fighting” nature, its inhabitants have adopted a “living with” approach. As such, there is a long history of adaptation measures: from the use of barriers and gangways against the acqua alta, or the sophisticated tide forecast system. These measures have always merged ancient knowledge with modern prediction and communication networks. Today, the speed and size of ongoing changes require the adoption of specific and effective structural and non-structural measures, but because of this long history, Venice is not caught unprepared. With the support of European, national, and local institutions, Venice developed a general plan of interventions for the safeguard of the city. These plans include coastal reinforcement, morphological restoration, the reclamation of polluted sites, a system of mobile sea barriers, city pavement elevation, and general urban maintenance. The measures that Venice has taken to manage flood risk and protect its cultural heritage have earned it status as one of the role model cities in the “Making Cities Resilient” UNISDR Campaign. Currently, the City of Venice, with the support of CO.RI.LA., is working on the evaluation of climate change risk and vulnerability for the Venice islands and mainland, to be included in the new Climate Action Plan on adaptation and mitigation goals for 2050. At this year’s International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses we aim to tell the story of these plans, insights, and actions of adaptation: the lessons from Venice.
Dr. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope, Chief Social Scientist, Common Ground Research Networks, IL, United States
Dr. Victoria Hurth, Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Visiting Fellow of Cambridge Judge Business School, UK
Dr. Victoria Hurth, Senior Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Visiting Fellow of Cambridge Judge Business School, UK
Tony Juniper, CBE, Chair, Natural England, United Kingdom
Pierpaolo Campostrini, Managing Director, CORILA, Consortium for Managing Scientific Research on Venice Lagoon System, Venice, Italy
For each conference, a small number of Emerging Scholar Awards re given to outstanding graduate students and emerging scholars who have an active academic interest in the conference area. The Award, with its accompanying responsibilities provides a strong professional development opportunity for early career academics. The 2020 Emerging Scholar Awardees are listed below.
Virtual Posters present preliminary results of work or projects that lend themselves to visual representations. View the posters below.
Virtual Presentations are grouped by general themes. Each presenter's formal, written paper will be available to participants if accepted to the journal.
