Science & Technology

Scientists propose moving the city of Venice to stop it from flooding

By T.K. Randall
April 17, 2026 ·  2 comments

Image: Venice Aerial View
Credit: Horst-schlaemma / (PD) One of Europe's most picturesque and unique cities, Venice is well known for its labyrinth of canals and for the fact that it is built across a series of small islands connected via hundreds of bridges.

This unique layout might make the city an unforgettable place to visit, but beneath the surface, its foundations have been slowly subsiding for years, while the ocean around it has been slowly rising.

This means that, within the coming decades, Venice faces potentially catastrophic flooding.

Scientists have long been working to come up with a solution to this - with improved flood defenses and stronger pumps being among the more conventional possibilities.

But depending on how bad things get, perhaps the most extreme option may also be the most inevitable - to relocate the city (or at least its most historic buildings) onto dry land."Under extreme sea level rise, relocation of monuments to suitable inland areas and abandonment would be the only remaining strategy, which might become unavoidable in the 22nd century under current climate policies and an Antarctic ice-sheet collapse," an international team of researchers wrote in a new study.

"Planned relocation and abandonment by residents are two components of the retreat strategy. Planned relocation consists of dismantling buildings and reassembling them in new higher locations."

Such an undertaking would be unlike anything ever attempted before and would likely cost over $100 billion.

It's an issue that a great many coastal cities will likely have to face over the next few hundred years.

Unless something is done to curb sea level rises - such a scenario will be all-but inevitable.

Source: Mail Online | Comments (2)

Tags: Venice