Co-producing sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries on the MOSE megaproject: Media frames of continuity, stability and transformation in Venice

In Europe, sea level rise adaptation is strongly reliant on technological and engineering solutions. Megaprojects such as Venice’s mobile floodgate system MOSE are meant to provide protection to coastal areas. Due to their complexity and sizeable impact, however, megaprojects tend to be highly contentious. This article explores the interplay of sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries in MOSE and how they build a collective past, present, and imagined future. Using data from Italian media, we identify frames that combine sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries that co-produce a legitimation of MOSE through techno-optimistic ideas of uniqueness and innovation, thereby illustrating how cultural and historical values shape spatial and sociotechnical imaginaries to construct the acceptance of wide-scale megaprojects. However, imaginaries of megaprojects also reveal contradictions: when ecological issues are framed as invasive events, imaginaries reject techno-optimism and place nature at the top of the hierarchy of space and place. Our study helps to deepen the conceptual understanding of sociotechnical and spatial imaginaries by looking at how they intertwine with temporal and spatial-hierarchical dimensions.