Venice Architecture Biennale’s Carlo Ratti: ‘People talk about mitigating climate change harm but it’s too late’

Carlo Ratti is posing next to a marble statue of a semi-naked Venus in the Ca’ Giustinian, one of the last gothic palaces to be built in Venice in the late 15th century. Next he’s outside the fancy Hotel Monaco, charming a gondolier into shot for our photographer. Ratti, the curator of this year’s architecture biennale, the 19th to be held in Venice, seems more than happy to indulge in the clichés of the city for a fun portrait. 

“You could say it’s one of the first geoengineering projects ever,” says Ratti of the patchwork of land-spattered lagoon that human ingenuity formed into a city, as we settle on the terrace of the Hotel Monaco with an espresso. “This wasn’t meant for human living.” It is also an example of a place that has dealt with the damaging consequences of that human occupation — the ruinous effects of fishing and transport that have hollowed out the lagoon and threatened its marine and plantlife alongside the frequent invasion of acqua alta that floods its streets, squares and homes. “The Mose [Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico] has been built — a huge piece of eng...
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