Nature Water, Published online: 11 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s44221-026-00658-1 Coastal urban areas are increasingly threatened by sea-level rise and extreme weather, necessitating hard-engineering solutions such as storm-surge barriers. Here the authors examine the Mo.S.E. barriers in Venice Lagoon, revealing that while they are effective for urban flood protection, they compromise wetland resilience and that optimized management could mitigate these ecological impacts.