Sink or Swim: Sea Level Rise Adaptation in Venice, Italy : A case of citizen non-participation

Abstract: Due to global warming, sea levels will irreversibly continue to rise around the world throughout this century. Therefore, coastal urban communities will need to adapt to new environmental challenges, such as more frequent and intense flood events. The participation of the public in climate change adaptation planning has been widely recognized as beneficial, but the roles and tangible value of citizens in planning processes remains a contested and insufficiently researched topic. In the city of Venice, Italy, a technologically advanced mobile barrier system designed for flood prevention serves as the centerpiece of the city’s climate change adaptation plans. This study sought to uncover how the level of citizen participation in the development of this system has influenced its construction and how it is currently being perceived by the city’s residents. In this context, the potential roles and outcomes of citizen participation in sea level rise adaptation are explored, resulting in numerous findings that build on the growing body of research that exists within this domain. Limited citizen participation in sea level rise adaptation planning was evident in the case of Venice—the findings from this study indicate that tolerance, transparency and corruption were significant factors in determining the outcome of the construction of the mobile barrier system and how it has been perceived by citizens. The findings allude to citizen participation in public climate change adaptation projects being both directly and indirectly beneficial to both citizen satisfaction and project development, but it should be noted that there are intricate links that exist between the level of public participation in an adaptation project and citizen perspectives on it. Therefore, the study posits that public participation is not absolutely positive nor negative in the context of public climate change adaptation planning, and thus more research needs to be conducted on how citizens can participate in relevant planning processes in more meaningful and productive ways.