Venice at the edge: mapping long-term adaptation pathways as sea levels rise

Researchers map how Venice and its lagoon face escalating sea-level rise, outlining four main adaptation paths—open lagoon with MoSE, ring-dikes, closed lagoon, and retreat—showing the adaptation space shrinking with higher seas, identifying tipping points where transitions become unavoidable, and weighing the trade-offs among monuments, lagoon ecosystems, living culture, and the local economy to stress the need for early, coordinated action and large-scale planning to avoid the most disruptive outcomes.