Vulnerability, impacts and assessment of climate change on Jakarta and Venice

In the next future, cities located in coastal areas are likely to suffer for climatic changes more than all other human systems. The demographic growth, combined with sea-level rise and global warming related to natural causes and anthropogenic activities, endanger those systems. Thence, to effectually cope with new climate forcing, coastal cities need improvements to be sustainable, resilient and liveable, applying flexible design approaches rather than a traditional one. The paper highlights such concepts presenting two case studies of important coastal cities: Venice, in Northern Italy, and Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Although characterized by completely different climatic conditions and living habits, these two metropolises are highly impacted by humans and threatened by similar factors like subsidence and sea-level rise, which increase their exposure to future calamities principally driven by climate change but strictly related to anthropic pressures. The present situation shows that, for the future, the resilience of coastal megalopolis can be increased only using a mix of approaches at various levels, spanning from technical measures to adaptable planning instruments that consider future uncertainties.