Living with Water: Toward an amphibious planning paradigm for multi-risk territories

Historically, climate adaptation responses have focused on large-scale mitigation strategies, often overlooking local needs, knowledge, and perceptions. Traditional planning—rooted in land-based logics and constrained by rigid borders—struggles to address the complexity of risks that are deeply interwoven with water. In Italy, a multi-risk landscape where land and sea interact constantly, challenges such as unsustainable growth often take the form of overbuilt, impermeable coastal zones that disrupt natural water cycles; social inequalities are evident in unequal access to safe, resilient public spaces along bodies of water; and intensifying environmental risks—from coastal erosion to flooding—are symptoms of failing to engage with water’s dynamic character. Drawing on research from the PNRR-funded MIRACLE project, this contribution calls for adaptive, amphibious strategies that bring local knowledge to the forefront. We propose urban laboratories as platforms for resilience, structured around three steps: (1) multi-risk analysis, (2) participatory and perceptual mapping, and (3) scenario building. By embracing water’s fluidity and relational nature, these labs foster inclusive, context-specific adaptation planning for more just and water-sensitive urban futures.