Stage - a conversation with Francesca Vanelli

Water resilience is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Designers have an important role in shaping how communities respond to flood risks, making rivers and vulnerabilities visible, and creating adaptive and resilient solutions. In this talk, architect and researcher Francesca Vanelli will explore how design can influence flood vulnerability, drawing on her experience in Italy and Australia. She will examine governance, urban density, public-private adaptation, and the unintended effects of design decisions, while presenting collaborative approaches such as co-design, community mapping, and a distributed adaptation atlas.

Francesca Vanelli integrates research and design across international contexts, collaborating with institutions, communities, and multidisciplinary teams. Through her practice, Common Floods, she develops shared strategies for flood adaptation and resilient communities, combining design tools, participatory methods, and context-based governance to support decision-making at the local level.