LAGOON SCENARIOS FOR THE BASSA FRIULANA PLAIN: A FLOODING ARCHIPELAGO

The territory of the Bassa Friulana plain has been the arena of constant adaptation and alteration between lands and waters over the centuries. The matrix of geomorphological features characterized by the alluvial origin of the Tagliamento river artery and by the presence of risorgive expound an emblematic case of the landscape of flux. Moreover, the socio-economical conditions incessantly adapted through the assortment of landscapes: forestry (from the ancestral silva lupanica to the exploited pine forest), both extensive and intensive farming (from the agro-centuriatio to the manso, then the great land reclamation and urbanization), energy and tourism (as in the seaside town of Grado or in the fishing Marano Lagunare which pressurize the lagoon). Indeed, par excellence is a landscape of transition and a fragile subject to climate change, albeit an extreme laboratory to cope with its multidimensional impacts. The research aims to investigate the complexity and uncertainty related to the transformation of this territory, through the connection between retro-coastal morphological evidence and embedded resilience. The paper first focuses on the morphological history of a landscape unit, consisting of biological deserts and wrecks of the endangered landscape. Secondly, it analyzes and elaborates hydrological scenarios to explore and discuss potential design strategies. The research hypothesis advances that the hydrological risk represents an intrinsic and retroactive vulnerability of the area that, if recognized, could be adapted and mitigated. The water margin continuity could be recovered, restored and monitored through the development of flooding strategies to respond to possible future fluctuations. In conclusion, the form of the archipelago emerges as a specificity of the landscape unit. More than a metaphor but as a conceptual and programmatic dispositive, the archipelago can inform on the dynamic structure of the Bassa Friulana complex system within an ecological framework.