MOSE workers’ perspectives are a starting point for building livable lagoon futures. I use methods of anthropological and historical analysis, first to define the experiences that have shaped working knowledge of and narratives around MOSE, and second to ask if MOSE as a working space may be a site from which it is possible to rework and reimagine human relations to the lagoon. The central claim of this thesis is that working experiences of MOSE are perspectives essential to assembling a viable transition to livable futures, where the mobile barrier project may be part of adaptive transformation practices rather than remaining a symbol of rigid defense. Bottom-up participation in lagoon futures relies on conditions of trust built between the many divergent realities that inhabit the lagoonscape, but social trust is currently very low. What models, proposals, and opportunities for futures of abundant trust exist in the Venetian lagoon? MOSE can be a starting point for living amid rapid socio-geologic change, but not because it is an effective long-term adaptation solution. To the contrary, because it is a partially-effective short-term social formation, MOSE demands other social formations to fill in the gaps and bring about more participatory futures.