Ricerc@Sapienza

Una delle conseguenze più dirette dei cambiamenti climatici in atto è rappresentata dal costante e repentino
innalzamento del livello dei mari, tematica sulla quale il presente lavoro intende soffermarsi, con l’obiettivo di
offrire un contributo scientifico che favorisca, da un lato, il progresso della conoscenza sulle misure di
adattamento dei territori costieri interessati da fenomeni di inondazioni e, dall’altro, l’innovazione del piano
urbanistico locale nella prospettiva del climate-proof planning, anche attraverso l’individuazione di azioni di

Il contributo intende analizzare il tema delle aree costiere in ambiente urbano, interessate da fenomeni di inondazione causati dall’effetto combinato dell’innalzamento del livello del mare e delle sempre più frequenti alluvioni.

In recent years, the territorial impacts connected to sea level rise have prompted a reflection on the responsibilities of policy makers in transposing these issues into urban agendas. The need also emerged to both broaden and update the skills of urban planners and to improve territorial governance tools, with the aim of developing feasible regeneration and resilience strategies to face climate change.

This research was primarily funded by New York State Energy Research and Development
Authority (NYSERDA; Agreements 28258, 28258A). We would like to acknowledge the vision
and leadership of Mark G. Becker (1961-2014), who was an original Principal Investigator for
the project. Amanda Stevens, Jane Mills and Dara Mendeloff also played important roles in the
project. Funding also came from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Centers call for support of the National Climate Assessment (Agreements NNX12AI28G and

In this study, we analyze the impact of the sea level rise induced by climate change on the coastal cultural heritage site of Motya, the Phoenician colony (IV–III millennium B.P.) located in the San Pantaleo island, NW corner of Sicily (southern Italy). In particular, we assessed the effects of this phenomenon on the human settlement in the past 2400 years and the expected sea level rise scenario for the next decades. A detailed flooding scenario for 2100 from direct observations and two models, taking into account the contribution of Vertical Land Movements (VLM), is provided.