Holcim Foundation Forum 2025

Retreat Resist Respond | Rethinking Flood Resilience

Holcim Foundation Forum 2025

Retreat Resist Respond | Rethinking Flood Resilience

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    Holcim Foundation Forum 2025 Official Aftermovie

    In November 2025, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction convened an international Forum in Venice to discuss one of the defining climate challenges of our time: how to build and support flood-resilient cities and communities.

In November 2025, the Holcim Foundation brought together leading architects, engineers, urban planners, climate scientists, and policymakers in Venice to address one of our era's most urgent challenges: building flood-resilient cities and communities.

Holcim Foundation Forum 2025 Digest

This publication distils key insights from the Holcim Foundation Forum, convened in Venice in November 2025 to examine one of the defining climate challenges of our time: how to build and support flood-resilient cities and communities.

Read the Digest

Building a Flood-Resilient Future

  • Retreat

    Strategies for proactively relocating people and structures in communities hit by catastrophic flooding and at significant risk for future incidents.

  • Resist

    Leading-edge techniques and design approaches to protect people and places in regions threatened by rising sea levels and prone to flooding.

  • Respond

    Intelligent and adaptable infrastructures and building systems that respond dynamically to extreme weather and changing environmental conditions.

Publication - Forum Digest

The Holcim Foundation has released Five Critical Questions a Flood-Resilient Future, a new publication capturing insights from its Forum held in Venice in November 2025.

Holcim Foundation Forum 2025 Digest

This publication distils key insights from the Holcim Foundation Forum, convened in Venice in November 2025 to examine one of the defining climate challenges of our time: how to build and support flood-resilient cities and communities. Drawing from interdisciplinary discussions between architects, engineers, urban planners, climate scientists, and policymakers, the Digest captures practical lessons, shared patterns of thinking, and emerging priorities for long-term resilience planning. 

The publication is structured around five critical questions that emerged through the Forum’s discussions: How long do we have to transform our cities for flood resilience? What are the social implications of managed retreat? What is the role of nature in flood defence? Is resilience planning becoming a luxury only wealthy nations can afford? Who pays for resilience? 

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Holcim Foundation Forum Talks

Revisit key talks from the Holcim Foundation Venice Forum 2025, featuring leading thinkers and practitioners in climate resilience, urban planning and sustainable design. Each presentation brings a distinct perspective—from scientific insight and data-driven analysis to policy, ecology and built-environment innovation—offering practical and critical reflections on flood resilience and adaptation in an era of accelerating climate change.

(Click on the Talks below to watch the replay)

Publication Announcement

Five Critical Questions a Flood-Resilient Future

The Holcim Foundation has released Five Critical Questions for a Flood-Resilient Future, a new publication that brings together insights from its international Forum, capturing how experts from across disciplines are grappling with the urgency of action, the long time horizons of adaptation, and the need to balance technical solutions with social responsibility.