Flooding and Environmental Challenges for Venice and its Lagoon: State of Knowledge

Description

This book was first published in 2005. Time may be running out for Venice. With rising average water levels, the frequency of city flooding is increasing and the threat of a repeat of the November 1966 events, when a violent storm surge took water levels nearly two metres higher than usual, remains. Surrounding the city is a severely degraded lagoon ecosystem. This timely scientific and technical volume synthesises the great wealth and diversity of recent interdisciplinary research on Venice and its Lagoon and the prospects for large engineering interventions to separate the lagoon and sea, as well as other measures in the built environment, discussed at an International Conference, held at Churchill College, Cambridge, in September 2003. The lessons and inferences reported here show how Venice, with its mix of challenges to protect its prestigious cultural heritage within one of the largest coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean, and against a background of pressures brought about by industry, port activities and tourism, share many issues with other areas threatened by coastal flooding, including areas of the Netherlands, the USA and the cities of London and St Petersburg.

Tom Spencer is Director of the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit. Caroline Fletcher is Senior Research Associate at the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit and Principal Scientist at HR Wallingford Ltd.

'... the book is varied and will attract the interest of many academics, managers, engineers and environmentalists with a view to the future of Venice.' David M. Patterson, University of St Andrews 'This is not a coffee table picture book on the artistic and historic delights of Venice; rather it provides all one wishes to know about the scientific research into Venice and its flood problems.' Environmentalist '??? the book is varied and will attract the interest of many academics, managers, engineers and environmentalists with a view to the future of Venice.' David M. Patterson, University of St Andrews