2026: Special Issue. Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis
Special Issue. Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis

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

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  • Paolo De Martino,
  • Elena Ferraioli,
  • Denis Maragno,
  • Francesco Musco
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-16564

Published 2026-01-29

Keywords

  • multi-risk climate adaptation,
  • perception mapping,
  • adaptive scenarios

How to Cite

De Martino, P., Ferraioli, E., Maragno, D., & Musco, F. (2026). Living with Water: Toward an amphibious planning paradigm for multi-risk territories. Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti, 156–179. https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-16564

Copyright (c) 2026 Paolo De Martino, Elena Ferraioli, Denis Maragno, Francesco Musco

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Abstract

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.

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