In recent years, cities around the world are facing a increasingly evident change: sudden rains that become floods, scorching summers, landslides and increasingly frequent fires. Phenomena that once seemed exceptional are now part of normality and put territories and communities to the test. The causes are quite well known: the changing climate, disorderly urban expansion, and excessive land use that reduces nature’s ability to absorb and regulate water. The result of all this is a more fragile planet, in which every extreme weather event risks turning into a catastrophe.
But natural disasters are not an inevitable fate. With a little bit of planninginnovation and respect for the environment, in fact, it is possible to prevent and reduce damage. In different parts of the world there are already several experiments and pioneering projects that are demonstrating that a smarter way of living with nature is not only possible, but necessary.
How to prevent natural disasters: global projects
One of the most interesting examples of projects designed to prevent and reduce damage comes from China, where the sponge citiesor the “sponge cities”. To combat urban flooding caused by torrential rain, entire neighborhoods are transformed with green solutions: permeable paving, parks that collect rainwater, artificial lakes and green roofs. Thus water is absorbed and released slowly, reducing the risk of flooding and improving the quality of urban life at the same time.
In the United Kingdom, in Pickering, North Yorkshire, they chose a different but equally innovative approach with the project Slowing the Flow. After years of recurring floods, the community has invested in natural interventions: thousands of trees planted on the hills, restored peat bogs, small dams in the streams that hold the water instead of letting it rush downhill. It was not a large dam that was built, but a series of almost invisible mini dams integrated into the landscape.
Even in Myanmar, a country often affected by landslides and floods, prevention has become increasingly important, and they have been developed early warning systems which combine sensors in the area and information collected by the inhabitants themselves. This way, when the terrain shows the first signs of instability, communities can receive early warning and evacuate in time. A simple and effective technology, capable of saving lives.
What risks does Italy run?
And in Italy? Unfortunately, our country is well aware of the risks associated with hydrogeological instability. Landslides, floods, coastal erosion: almost every year we witness tragedies affecting communities large and small. The ISPRA data speak clearly: 94% of Italian municipalities are exposed to at least one of these risks. In total, over 636,000 landslide phenomena have been recorded and almost 6 million people live in areas at risk. In 2024, the national surface area classified as “dangerous for landslides” increased by 15%, reaching over 69,000 square kilometers: almost a quarter of the entire territory. Numbers that make the fragility of our country clear.
The causes they are partly natural, given that we live in a mountainous area, with steep slopes and often unstable terrain, but much of the responsibility is ours: in fact, even if climate change intensifies the intensity and frequency of heavy rains and extreme weather events, what makes the situation worse are disorderly urbanisation, land consumption, construction in risk areas and the lack of maintenance of the territory.
What is the Return project
Projects are also being developed in Italy that address natural and environmental risks in an innovative way. Among these there is Returnan initiative funded by the Pnrr that aims to strengthen the monitoring, prediction and integrated management of risks at local and national scales. This project adopts a “multi-risk approach”because it does not only consider individual natural events – such as floods, landslides or earthquakes – or anthropogenic ones – such as pollution and industrial accidents – but also their interactions and possible cascade effects such as landslides or tsunamis triggered by earthquakes.
To do all this, the project uses a digital ecosystem that reproduces real contexts in virtual environments, allowing the simulation of various hypothetical scenarios and planning mitigation strategies. In this ecosystem there are two virtual territories, Returnland and Returnville, which serve to better understand which areas are most vulnerable and to test interventions on the territory. And not only that: this project tells us that prevention is possible: we don’t just need walls and barriers, but collaboration, science and innovation. And this is how Italy can become a country capable of protecting its beauty.
