Exploring the Venetian Lagoon: Toward A New Culture of Environmental Heritage

Venice and its Lagoon, a UNESCO World Heritage property, epitomizes
the challenges of water-related climate change. Historically,
it has been an exemplary site of human life in close interaction
with water. Today, with rising sea levels and intensifying
storm surges, it offers a powerful case for developing cohesive,
inclusive, and adaptive water management. The lessons emerging
from Venice have relevance to other UNESCO heritage sites.
In all its complexity, Venice underscores the need to recognize
water’s dynamic nature in governance and to avoid reliance on
rigid, fail-safe solutions, instead emphasizing collaborative actions
supported by political commitment. This article reframes
the heritage of Venice and its lagoon as a dynamic, amphibious
process, and argues that collaborative, adaptive governance is
the only viable path to a sustainable future.