THE LIVING VENICE P R O JE C T IMP L E MENTATION 2018 MPHIL IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN CA R O L YN SMITH
THE LIVING VENICE P R O J E C T I M P L E M E N TAT I O N October 2018
Carolyn Smith Queens’ College
W O RD CO UN T :
5119
including captions excluding footnotes, list of figures and bibliography This paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design University of Cambridge
With thanks to: Deborah Howard Ingrid ShrĂśder Aram Mooradian
This paper is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text.
CONTENTS 3
Introduction 9 Navigating the Labyrinth Context & Challenges 21 Charting the Course Phasing Drawings 35 The Changing Tide Project Implementation 47 Epilogue The Myth of Venice 49 Appendix: VEGA 53 List of Figures 55 Bibliography
This paper relates to an ongoing research and design project which will be submitted in June 2019. The project on which this paper is based will be refined by subsequent fieldwork research and design evolution. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is not to fully explain or justify the preliminary brief or masterplan, but to propose the methods by which a project of this nature and scale might be implemented in the political, social and economic context of contemporary Venice.
MUNICIPALITY OF VENICE The Municipality of Venice is often referred to simply as Venice, yet it is far larger than the historic city. Where necessary, the following terms will be used to distinguish between its constituent parts. TERRAFERMA The mainland component of the Venetian municipality, composed of communities around the edge of the lagoon. This includes the largest city of Mestre which is often referred to as Venice’s ‘twin city’. CENTRO STORICO The historic centre of Venice, often referred to merely as Venice, but for the sake of clarity will be referred to as the centro storico in this pilot thesis. ESTUARIO The other island settlements within the lagoon, the largest of which (in terms of population) is the Lido.
1
TESSERA FAVARO - VENETO TORCELLO BURANO
MESTRE
MARGHERA
MURANO
SANT’ERASMO
CENTRO STORICO
FUSINA
LIDO
SANTA MARIA DEL MARE
0
2.5
FIGURE 1
5
7.5
10 km
M UNI CI PALI TY O F VENI CE REF E R E N C E M A P
2
INTRODUCTION
3
The myth-laden Venetian Republic was once the longest-standing republic in history, famed for its political efficiency and impartiality.1 Contemporary Venice, however, struggles to navigate a web of local, regional and national politics, and to negotiate a role for its centro storico (historic centre) in the modern world. Italian politics are not famed for their expediency, but the diplomatic inertia surrounding Venice has led to an ad hoc and largely reactive approach to development. This has failed to address the burgeoning tourism industry and resulted in the largescale exodus of the Venetian population. The last seventy years have seen the loss of two-thirds of the city’s residents.2 Those who remain are demographically imbalanced: Venice has the oldest population in Europe today.3 Attempts to address contemporary depopulation have been piecemeal and largely centred on the provision of housing, failing to address the root of the crisis.4 A clear vision for the future is vital for Venice to negotiate its place within the prosperous Veneto region and resolve its relationship with global mass tourism. This project illustrates a speculative future for Venice, based on the city’s higher education sector and associated industries. The growth of this sector would provide a sustainable and viable alternative to the present tourism monoculture, and thereby increase employment opportunities within the centro storico.
1. Margaret Plant, Venice: Fragile City (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), p. 21. 2. The centro storico had a resident population of 174,808 in 1951; by 2015 this had reduced to 55,589. Comune di Venezia, A01_T01_Serie Storico Popolazione 13, Popolazione Residente, 2013. 3. Comune di Venezia, B01_T01_Movimento E Calcolo Della Popolazione Residente - Anno 2015, Popolazione Residente, 2015. The Local, “Italy Has Europe’s Oldest Population: Eurostat”, Thelocal.It, 2016. 4. Addressing contemporary depopulation has largely been left to ATER which predominantly provides social housing. For more information see: ATER Venezia, ”L’ATER di Venezia e La Sua Storia”, ATER Venezia: Azienda Territoriale Per L’edilizia Residenziale Della Provincia Di Venezia, 2018.
4
This would improve graduate retention and rebalance Venice’s demographic diversity.5 A university can operate simultaneously at both a global and local scale; this makes it an ideal mediator for a city which struggles to balance global desires with the needs of its local population.6 Venice hosts a range of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs);7 these are the only remaining large enterprises within the city that continue to grow.8 The project aims to work in concert with the existing Venetian HEI clusters and campuses to shift the rhetoric surrounding this celebrity city. To this end, the project situates itself as an architecture of resistance; an exploration of the methods by which Venice might embrace its ancient culture of innovation, as an alternative to its reliance on selling its past. Within this context, the project illustrates an alternative future for a contentious site: the Tronchetto-Marittima area. The site is a microcosm of Venetian political and economic tensions. The two islands currently host the centro storico’s car parks and cruise ship terminals, and are therefore closely associated with the predatory and unsustainable nature of Venice’s mass tourism industry. In November 2017, the Italian government ruled that the largest cruise liners (grandi navi weighing over 55,000 tonnes) will dock away from the centro storico by 2021.9 This historic decision signals a shift in Venice’s relationship with mass tourism and the cruise industry, and implies potential for the positive redevelopment of the site in the future. This paper imagines the hypothetical implementation of a new urban quarter for Venice on the Tronchetto-Marittima site. The following assumptions have been made for the purposes of the project, on the basis of the existing planned developments described above: All open-water cruise ship traffic has been relocated away from the centro
storico. The smaller open-water cruise liners (which weigh less than 55,000 tonnes) followed the relocation of the largest grandi navi. Cruise ship passengers now dock elsewhere and enter the city via more dispersed access sites.
5. In this context, graduate retention is intended to mean remaining in the centro storico after completing their studies as well as continuing into further study. 6. This is because HEIs are not bound by traditional territorial boundaries and yet have strong links with their locality. See John Goddard and Paul Vallance, The University and the City (Abingdon: Routledge, 2013), p. 156. 7. Without providing an exhaustive list, the largest of these are Ca’ Foscari, IUAV and Venice International University, while the Accademia di Belle Arti and Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello are particularly renowned, despite their smaller size.
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The causeway no longer permits private vehicle access. The Ponte della Libertà is still open to officially authorised buses, trams and vehicles required for
the distribution or construction industries, but private vehicles are required to park in Mestre, Marghera, Fusina or further afield. Cars have only ever penetrated the centro storico as far as the Tronchetto-Marittima area; owners formerly switched to public transport here. This transfer from private (land-based) vehicles to public transport methods now occurs on the terraferma. This paper will first address the project context and outline the methods by which the challenges presented will be met. The context is complex; for clarity, this paper only touches on topics insofar as they are relevant to the implementation of the project. The paper will then outline, more specifically, the proposed phasing of the masterplan and its physical implementation.
8. Leo van den Berg and Antonio Russo, The Student City: Strategic Planning For Student Communities In EU Cities (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017) 9. This does not account for all cruise ship traffic and exact location of the new terminals is still to be confirmed, for more details see: Corcoran, Kieran, “Cruise Ships Are Being Banned From Sailing Through Venice After Locals Got Sick Of Them Dwarfing Their City”, Business Insider, 2017. Anna Somers Cocks, “This Is No Way To Solve The Cruise Ship Issue In Venice”, The Arts Newspaper, 2017.
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MARITTIMA ISLAND
DE SE VEL E F OP IG ME UR NT E8 S ITE
TRONCHETTO ISLAND
0
250
FIGURE 2
7
500m
S I TE LO CATI O N PLAN
SANTA LUCIA TRAIN STATION MAIN ACCESS POINT TO THE CENTRO STORICO
GIARDINI MAIN BIENNALE LOCATION
PIAZZA SAN MARCO MAIN TOURISM HOT SPOT
CRUISE SHIP ROUTE MARITTIMA - ADRIATIC
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N AV I G AT I N G T H E LABYRINTH CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES
“The problems of the world are tragic, the problems of Italy are farcical. Venice is a tragedy within a farce.” Vladimiro Dorigo 10
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The potential for the Venetian knowledge economy to provide a sustainable future for the city was acknowledged as long ago as the 1980s, when the destructive impact of mass-tourism first became painfully evident. However, progress has been impeded by the absence of a coherent vision for the physical implementation of this economic shift. Until the Development Plan (Piano Regolatore) of 1996 (of which the final variations were only agreed in 2000), Venice had been operating on the outdated, and only incrementally updated, Piano Regolatore from 1962. The Piano Regolatore of 1996 represented the first coherent attempt to assess the spatial implications of prioritising new industries and called for the centro storico and its terraferma districts to begin to work in symbiosis.11 “[we must break] the habitual pattern of oscillating between palliative measures and temporary schemes which we all know to be ineffective”.12
The Municipality’s VEGA Science and Technology Park was a step towards the realisation of the 1996 Piano Regolatore [see Figure 3] and, as the most recent ‘knowledge-focused’ development in the Municipality, it is a key case study for the project. The implementation of VEGA has not been without its difficulties and, as a result, the project is often portrayed in the media as a failure [see Appendix for more detail]. At the time of writing, the publicly owned buildings within the park are for sale, in an attempt to recoup the €15 million required for the VEGA S.c.a.r.l. consortium to avoid bankruptcy.13
The foundations for the present
10. Vladimiro Dorigo quoted in Stephen Fay & Phillip Knightley, The Death Of Venice (London: André Deutsch, 1976), p. 92. 11. Leonardo Benevolo, Venezia: Il Nuovo Piano Urbanistico (Roma: Laterza, 1996) 12. Benevolo, 1996, p. 82. 13. Gianni Favarato, “Parco Vega: ‘Mega Bando’ Per Salvarlo Dal Fallimento”, La Nuova, 2018.
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SCIENCES & ENGINEERING
The 1996 Piano Regolatore saw the economic weight of the Municipality reorganised around either end of the causeway connecting Venice to the terraferma. Ease of transport between the two economic poles would allow the neighbouring urban entities to benefit from their contrasting spatial characteristics and related industries. This plan highlights the present HEI clusters in the city and how they relate to the Piano Regolatore. The site is ideally located to form an additional pole within the centro storico.
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ECONOMICS
HUMAN SCIENCES & LITERATURE
PRIMARY UNIVERSITY LOCATION SECONDARY UNIVERSITY LOCATION 0
FIGURE 3
1
2 km
M UNI CI PALI TY O F VENI CE DEV E L O P M E N T P L A N
S OURCES
Leonardo Benevolo, Venezia: Il Nuovo Piano Urbanistico Leo van den Berg & Antonio Russo, The Student City: Strategic Planning For Student Communities IUAV, Sedi dell’Ateneo Ca’ Foscari, Mappe Unive
12
state of affairs were laid during the initial stages of the development in the mid1990s.14 VEGA was always a political project: the Municipality of Venice is the majority shareholder in VEGA S.c.a.r.l..15 The lack of clarity in the development’s core aims, compounded with conflicting political agendas, resulted in design compromises and a loss of control of the development costs. Although sufficient EU funding has been granted to the Veneto region for the regeneration of the park, the negative rhetoric surrounding the development has stalled the process and the (previously left-leaning) Municipality, now governed by a conservative coalition, has no interest in furthering its case.16 The lessons from VEGA are explicit: the aims of the Tronchetto-Marittima development must be clearly and hierarchically defined within the project brief, costs must be carefully controlled and, where possible, political involvement must be restricted. “… the real trouble in Venice is that [vital, complex issues] are being dealt with by politicians and bureaucrats who are not up to it. In Venice these people deal with everything - industry, restoration, the arts - in an amateurish sort of way. Politicians aren’t capable of handling the simplest problems of administration because of the way they are selected. They are in power because of party, money, religion, and the ability to keep quiet.”17
Venice’s multi-tiered system of government complicates bureaucratic procedure to the point of inertia. The Municipality of Venice cannot legislate and is therefore governed by a mix of national and regional policy. Venice’s singular spatial and infrastructural needs regularly require more specific legislation; these are often replete with political motives and frequently have unforeseen consequences.18
14. See Michael Cozza, “VEGA - VEnice GAteway For Science And Technology Park”, in Knowledge-Creating Milieus In Europe (Berlin: Springer, 2016), pp. 149-150. 15. With 55.63% of the shares. Gianni Favarato, 2018. 16. Tosi, Maria Chiara, & Alessia Franzese, Interview with Prof. Maria Chiara Tosi, current Vice President of VEGA, and Alessia Franzese (IUAV Tolentini, Venezia, 2018) 17. Vladimiro Dorigo quoted in Fay and Knightley, p. 91. 18. Following the Costa Concordia shipwreck in 2012, the national government ruled that ships must stay 2 nautical miles from shore. The law was applied everywhere in Italy, except Venice. It is speculated that this was to protect interests in the Venetian cruise industry. Salvatore Settis, If Venice Dies, (Bologna: New Vessel Press, 2014), p. 137. Regional law L. 431/98 permitted private owners to rent to the tourist market. It successfully reduced the dereliction of the centro storico but also caused property prices to more than double between 2000 and 2010, effectively accelerating the process of depopulation. Jane Da Mosto & et al. The Venice Report (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 59.
13
ITALIAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT BASED IN ROME
STATE TRANSFERS
STANDARD URBANISTICI GENERAL URBAN STANDARDS
APPLIES TO ALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ITALY
SPECIAL LAW FOR VENICE
REGOLAMENTO EDILIZIO GENERAL BUILDING REGULATIONS
CREATED IN RESPONSE TO FLOOD OF 1966
VENETO REGIONAL GOVERNMENT SECOND MOST PROFITABLE REGION IN ITALY ALLOCATES MAJORITY OF FUNDING FOR INFRASTURCTURE PROJECTS DUE TO MANAGING EU FUNDING VENICE IS THE CAPTIAL
STATE TRANSFERS
VERY NEW SYSTEM CREATED IN 2014 AND REPLACES PROVINCES EFFECTS / POWERS LIMITED AT PRESENT
REGIONAL REGULATORY PLAN
APPLIES TO ALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ITALY
PIANO DI AREA EU REGIONAL FUNDING ALL EU FUNDING IS ASSIGNED REGIONALLY
METROPOLITAN CITY OF VENICE
PIANO REGOLATORE GENERALE
CONTAINS REGIONAL URBAN STANDARDS REGULATES AREA REQUIREMENTS AND URBAN DESIGN POLICY
PIANO STRATEGICO STATE TRANSFERS APPLIES TO ALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ITALY
STRATEGIC PLAN LARGELY CONCERNED WITH TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE
GOVERNED BY METROPOLITAN MAYOR VENICE IS THE CAPITAL SO THE MAYOR OF THE CITY IS ALSO THE MAYOR OF THE MUNICIPALITY
MUNICIPALITY OF VENICE CREATED IN 1926 BY COMBINING VENICE AND ITS TERRAFERMA DISTRICTS STILL TENSION FROM CONFLICTING INTERESTS 65% OF THE POPULATION LIVES ON THE TERRAFERMA GOVERNED BY METROPOLITAN MAYOR WHO LIVES OUTSIDE OF MUNICIPALITY CANNOT LEGISLATE, OWNS INFRASTRUCTURE, REGULATES VIA SECURITY
INCOME FROM TAX REVENUE VERY LIMITED, INFRASTRUCTURAL COSTS FAR OUTWEIGH INCOME
PIANO REGOLATORE MUNICIPALITY SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND DESIGN GUIDELINES
REGOLAMENTO EDILIZIO SPECIFIC BUILDING REGULATIONS WITH REGARDS TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND CITY CONTEXT
Venice’s political structures and regulatory proceedures are complex. This diagram does not attempt to be comprehensive but to provide a simplified and clear illustration of the main elements.
FIGURE 4 -PO LI TI CAL STRUCTURE AS RE L E VA N T TO T H E D E V E L O P M E N T
14
The Port Authority, which manages the city’s ports and profits from Venice’s cruise ship berths is a national body. As such, the Tronchetto-Marittima site and main canals are the only area of direct national interest in the centro storico. If, as the project assumes, the cruise terminals are relocated away from the centro storico, the national Port Authority will dramatically reduce its usage of the site. Recent events (see La Nuova, 2017) have shown that the Port Authority has no interest in expanding its remit beyond port-related industries and it is therefore expected that the Port Authority will be compensated for its loss of land-use and immobile facilities by the Municipality with relevant land and a contribution to the construction of its new terminal infrastructure.
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VENICE
CAVALLINO TREPORTI
PORTO MARGHERA
MIRA
CHIOGGIA
NATIONAL PORTS NATIONAL WATERWAYS 0
2.5
FIGURE 5
5 km
AREAS O F DI RECT NATI O NAL I N T E R E S T
S OURCE
Porto di Venezia
16
MUNICIPALITY OF VENICE METROPOLITAN CITY VENETO REGION ATER VENEZIA INNOVAZIONE DVRI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COFINDUSTRIA VENEZIA ESU VENICE CLUSTER OTHER PRIVATE ENTITIES
VIU CA’ FOSCARI IUAV MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS MAIN DESIGN PROJECT CLIENT
CLIENT ESTABLISHED
OTHER PARTNERS FUNDING AND INTERESTED PARTIES
CONSORTIUM DEVELOPMENT CLIENT
CLIENT BRIEF ESTABLISH OBJECTIVES
PUBLIC COMPETITION APPOINT ARCHITECT SPECIALIST IN URBAN DESIGN
DESIGN TEAM
ARCHITECT
EMPLOYED BY ARCHITECT STRUCTURAL ENGINEER SERVICES ENGINEER SITE SURVEYOR QUANTITY SURVEYOR
CONSULTATION CONSULT WITH: STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES (ASC, ALUC) NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCILS RESIDENT GROUPS (PER, LA VIDA)
BRIEF DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECT AND MAJORITY SHAREHOLDERS
SOPRINTENDENZA
CONCEPT DESIGN
MUNICIPALITY
DEVELOPED DESIGN
SEEK FUNDING
BANDO PREPARATION OUTLINE PROPOSALS PREPARED BY THE RUP
FIGURE 6 - CL I ENT AND DESI G N TEAM FO R M A S T E R P L A N P R O C E S S
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In the place of proactive and responsive state involvement, Venice largely relies on private interests to take the initiative with regard to city development. Within this context, the Tronchetto-Marittima development will reduce state involvement wherever possible. While the Municipality of Venice and the Veneto Region are included within the development consortium [see Figure 6], they are not the majority shareholders; their input in the design process will be carefully controlled. Their inclusion will ensure funding and planning permissions, but their reduced role limits potential for corruption and competing political interests, which paralysed the VEGA and MOSE consortia. The detailed involvement of the Municipality is not necessary for the success of the Tronchetto-Marittima development, provided it is willing to cooperate and doesn’t seek to actively block the proposals. In Technopoles of the World, Castells & Hall point out that Cambridge has successfully flourished into a global centre for innovation and technology, despite receiving no assistance from the state and being entirely inconsistent with the national government’s regional development policies.19
In contrast, the new Tronchetto-Marittima
development is in accordance with both regional development policy and the Piano Regolatore. It will capitalise on Venice’s global prominence as a desirable location for private business headquarters, along with the wealth of cultural infrastructure and density of HEIs already present within the centro storico. The development consortium will be university-led, with the three main Venetian HEIs as the majority stakeholders [see Figure 6]. The lead universities will lend their expertise to the development and provide a measure of political impartiality that will allow the implementation of the masterplan to span a far larger timescale than a single electoral cycle. The project will be realised using a mixture of public and private funding. The majority of the initial design stages and first phase of construction will be publicly funded, which will stimulate the later private investment.20 The development will make use of EU funding, supplemented by contributions from the lead HEIs. The
19. Cambridge has only been a global centre for innovation and technology industries since the 1970s. Its success is attributed to the fact that it capitalised on the networks already present in the city. Manuel Castells and Peter Hall, Technopoles Of The World: The Making Of Twenty-First-Century Industrial Complexes (London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 99-100. 20. This worked well for the VEGA development and was not the source of the project’s financial difficulties. See the Appendix for more information.
18
OUTLINE PERMISSION
DESIGN TEAM LED BY PROJECT ARCHITECT AS PROJECT MANAGER
APPOINT PHASE 1 DESIGN TEAM
CONSORTIUM DEVELOPMENT CLIENT
APPLICATIONS FOR PHASE 1
UNDER THE BANDO CONDITIONS
PHASE 1 DESIGN TEAM LED BY PROJECT ARCHITECT SECONDARY ARCHITECTS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS STRUCTURAL ENGINEER SERVICES ENGINEERS SITE SURVEYORS BUILDING SURVEYORS QUANTITY SURVEYORS
ESTABLISH PUBLIC FUNDING STREAMS
INPUT FROM CLIENT AT EACH STAGE OF DESIGN DEBATE AND REFINE WITH ADMINISTRATIVE BODIES
SOPRINTENDENZA
CONCEPT DESIGN
MUNICIPALITY
DEVELEOPED DESIGN
PROVVEDITORATO
TECHNICAL DESIGN
MUNICIPALITY
ESTABLISH PRIVATE FUNDING STREAMS
PERMISSION TO BUILD PERMESSO PER CONSTRUIRE
GARA D’APPALTO
PUBLIC COMPETITION FOR WORKS
CONTRACTOR IN CONTACT WITH PROJECT ARCHITECT THROUGHOUT CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
PROCESS REPEATED FOR EACH CONSTRUCTION PHASE
TENDER PROCESS
CONSTRUCTION
FUNDING
FOR FURTHER BREAKDOWN SEE PHASING DRAWINGS AND FIGURES
PRACTICAL COMPLETION
TESTING STRUCTURAL TESTING AND PERFORMANCE CERTIFICATES
FIGURE 7 - DESI G N PRO CESS FO R EACH P H A S E O F WO R K S
19
project will avoid the need to petition the national government for a contribution via the Special Law for Venice, limiting conflicts of political interest and the potential for corruption.21 Rome’s direct involvement in the development will therefore decrease once the cruise ship terminals have been relocated [see Figure 5]. Within each phase of the masterplan implementation, a mix of housing types, university and employment facilities, and community infrastructure is planned. This will allow more profitable development types to subsidise the less profitable on a rolling basis and will limit funds being directed elsewhere in the city or region during the inevitable down-time between construction phases.
21. The city is sustained by the funds provided by the national Special Law for Venice, but this is already overstretched by routine city maintenance and over a third of the money assigned since 1986 has been drained by the MOSE project. MOSE is €4.2 billion over-budget, 23 years overdue and the subject of an ongoing corruption investigation in which it is suspected that €20 million was embezzled from the project by the former mayor and other city officials. Alberto Vitucci, “Mose, Fenomeni Di Corrosione Alla Bocca Di Porto Del Lido”, La Nuova, 2018. Settis, 2014, p. 171.
20
CHARTING THE COURSE PROJECT PHASING PLANS
21
FISH MARKET FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET
NEW TERMINAL BUILDINGS
FERRY TERMINAL
FERRY ROUTE FUSINA - LIDO
0
0.25
0.5 km
VAPORETTO LINE 2 / N
RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE
EXISTING BUILDINGS (TO BE RETAINED)
PEOPLE MOVER
EXISTING BUILDINGS (TO BE DEMOLISHED)
ROADS
EXISTING UNIVERSITY FACILITIES
LISTED BUILDINGS
LAND LEASED BY THE PORT AUTHORITY
VAPORETTO LINES 4.1 / 4.2 & 5.1 / 5.2
FIGURE 8 - SITE PLAN AS EXI STI NG
22
2045
PRACTICAL COMPLETION
2044 2043
PHASE 5
2042 2041 2040
PHASE 5
PHASE 4
2039
PHASE 5 DETAILED AND TECHNICAL DESIGN 200 STUDENT BEDSPACES + 150 DWELLINGS CONSTRUCTION OF GLOBAL CHALLENGE CENTRE 8.4 HA / 20% PUBLIC FUNDING
2038 2037
PHASE 4 DETAILED AND TECHNICAL DESIGN 400 STUDENT BEDSPACES + 250 DWELLINGS CONSTRUCTION OF INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE 8.2 HA / 20% PUBLIC FUNDING
PHASE 4
2036 2035
PHASE 3
2034 2033 2032
PHASE 3 DETAILED AND TECHNICAL DESIGN 600 STUDENT BEDSPACES + 600 DWELLINGS CONSTRUCTION OF CENTRE FOR AGEING 12 HA / 50% PUBLIC FUNDING
PHASE 3
ALTERATIONS TO VAPORETTO INFRASTRUCTURE COMPLETE
2030
FIRST EXPO EVENT IN THE NEW COMPLETED PARKLAND
PHASE 2
2031
2029 2028
PHASE 2 DETAILED AND TECHNICAL DESIGN 800 STUDENT BEDSPACES + 300 DWELLINGS CONSTRUCTION OF INSTUTE OF CREATIVITY 6.8 HA / 50% PUBLIC FUNDING
PHASE 2
2027
SOUTHERN CIRCULATION PATH COMPLETE
2026 2025
MARITTIMA CANAL EXCAVATION COMPLETE
2024 2023
2021
NO CRUISE SHIPS OVER 55 000 TONNES DOCK IN THE CENTRO STORICO
2020 2019 2018
PHASE 1
NO CRUISE TRAFFIC DOCKS IN THE CENTRO STORICO
PHASE 0
2022
PHASE 1 DETAILED AND TECHNICAL DESIGN 600 STUDENT BEDSPACES + 600 DWELLINGS CONSTRUCTION OF SCUOLA VENEZIA 19.8 HA / 70% PUBLIC FUNDING TRONCHETTO FERRY TERMINAL EXTENSION PHASE 1 100% PUBLIC FUNDING
PHASE 0 DESIGN
GOVERNMENT RULING TO RELOCATE CRUISE SHIPS OVER 55 000 TONNES AWAY FROM THE CENTRO STORICO
2017
FIGURE 9
23
GOVERNMENT RULING TO RELOCATE ALL REMAINING CRUISE TRAFFIC AWAY FROM THE CENTRO STORICO
IM PLEM ENTATI O N TI M ELI NE
0
0.25
0.5 km
PHASE 1
EXISTING BUILDINGS
NEW VAPORETTO STOP (BY PHASE)
PHASE 2
DEVELOPMENT LOTS
PRIMARY CAMPO WITHIN EACH PHASE
PHASE 3
LANDSCAPED AREAS
ACCESS POINTS
PHASE 4
NEWLY RECLAIMED LAND (SOLID)
NEW SOUTHERN CIRCULATION PATH
PHASE 5
NEWLY RECLAIMED LAND (PONTOON)
PEOPLE MOVER
FIGURE 1 0 -M ASTERPLAN PHASI NG
24
2030
9
DESIGN COMPETITION AND CONSTRUCTION OF PARKLAND PAVILIONS
PHASE 2 BEGINS DEVELOPMENT OF INTERMEDIATE PARKLAND AREAS COMPLETED
8
2028
PHASE 2
2029
PHASE 1 PRACTICAL COMPLETION
6
2027
7
RELOCATION OF SANTA MARTA VAPORETTO STOP TO VAPORETTO STOP B NEW VAPORETTO STOP C DEVELOPMENT OF PERMANENT PARKLAND AREAS
2026
4
2025
5
CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES AND ASSOCIATED LANDSCAPING FOR SOUTHERN CIRCULATION PATH MAIN CONSTRUCTION PHASE: 600 STUDENT BEDSPACES 600 DWELLLINGS SCUOLA VENEZIA ESTABLISHED
2024
2023 NO CRUISE SHIPS DOCK AT MARITTIMA
2018
2
PHASE 0
2020
CRUISE SHIPS OVER 55 000 TONNES NO LONGER DOCK AT MARITTIMA
1
PHASE 1 DESIGN PROCESS
2021
2019
DEMOLITIONS COMPLETE EXCAVATION OF MARITTIMA CANAL WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID
3
2022
FIGURE 11 -PHASE 1
25
DEMOLITIONS AND SITE PREPARATION WORKS TO PEOPLE MOVER TO ALLOW EXCAVATION OF MARITTIMA CANAL
FERRY TERMINAL EXTENSION ON NEWLY RECLAIMED LAND NEW VAPORETTO STOP A
VAPORETTO C
RETAINED AND AND TO REMAIN IN USE UNTIL PHASE 5
USED DURING PHASE 1 CONSTRUCTION MARITTIMA CANAL
TRONCHETTO FERRY TERMINAL
VAPORETTO A
0
0.25
0.5 km
VAPORETTO B
LOCATIONS FOR PERMANENT LANDSCAPE FEATURES
RESEARCH FACILITY
SPORTS PITCHES
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
PERMANENT PARKLAND
NEW VAPORETTO STOP
COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE
INTERMEDIATE LANDSCAPING
ARCHITECTURAL PAVILIONS
MIXED USE / RESIDENTIAL
PRIMARY CONSTRUCTION SITE
PRIMARY CAMPO
DISTRIBUTION / TRANSPORT
CONSTRUCTION DROP SITE
PRIMARY CIRCULATION ROUTE
TO BE DEMOLISHED
26
2034
4
PHASE 3 BEGINS
2028
2027
PHASE 1
2029
PHASE 1 COMPLETED
2
PHASE 2 DESIGN PROCESS
2030
FIGURE 12 -P HASE 2
27
CONSTRUCTION PHASE ON NEWLY RECLAIMED AREA 600 STUDENT BEDSPACES 50 DWELLLINGS INSTITUTE OF CREATIVITY, INNOVATION & DESIGN ESTABLISHED
CONSTRUCTION OF PONTOON RECLAMATION WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID NEW VAPORETTO STOP D
3
2031
1
2032
PHASE 3
2033
PHASE 2 PRACTICAL COMPLETION
CONSTRUCTION PHASE ON EXISTING SITE 200 STUDENT BEDSPACES 250 DWELLLINGS
EXCAVATION OF RIO WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID
RETAINED AND AND TO REMAIN IN USE UNTIL PHASE 5
USED DURING PHASE 2 CONSTRUCTION
VAPORETTO D
0
0.25
0.5 km
LOCATIONS FOR PERMANENT LANDSCAPE FEATURES
RESEARCH FACILITY
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NEW VAPORETTO STOP
COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE
INTERMEDIATE LANDSCAPING
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CONSTRUCTION SITE
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2039
PHASE 4 BEGINS
3
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CONSTRUCTION PHASE ON EXISTING SITE 200 DWELLLINGS
2036
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FIGURE 13 -P HASE 3
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CONSTRUCTION PHASE ON EXISTING SITE 600 STUDENT BEDSPACES 400 DWELLLINGS CENTRE FOR AGEING STUDIES ESTABLISHED
EXCAVATION OF RII CONSTRUCTION OF PONTOON RECLAMATION WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID
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PHASE 4 DESIGN PROCESS
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FIGURE 14 -P HASE 4
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MAIN CONSTRUCTION PHASE: 400 STUDENT BEDSPACES 250 DWELLLINGS INSTITUTE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ESTABLISHED
EXCAVATION OF RIO WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID
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TO BE DEMOLISHED
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PHASE 5 PRACTICAL COMPLETION
2044
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2041
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PHASE 5 DESIGN PROCESS
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FIGURE 15 -P HASE 5
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MAIN CONSTRUCTION PHASE: 200STUDENT BEDSPACES 150 DWELLLINGS GLOBAL CHALLENGE CENTRE ESTABLISHED
EXCAVATION OF RIO WATER DRAINAGE AND SERVICE PIPELINES LAID
PHASE 4 COMPLETED
0
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RESEARCH FACILITY
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PRIMARY CAMPO
COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE
PRIMARY CONSTRUCTION SITE
PRIMARY CIRCULATION ROUTE
MIXED USE / RESIDENTIAL DISTRIBUTION / TRANSPORT
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TURNING THE TIDES PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
“Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi” 22 (If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change)
35
It is a popular misconception that the city’s urban fabric has remained largely unchanged since the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. In fact there have been significant alterations and additions, particularly in peripheral areas. The growth of the city we see today can be loosely categorised into four phases: the initial, parish-based nuclear development pattern; the fourteenth- and fifteenthcentury linear additions to the north and west of the city; the significant nineteenthcentury alterations;23 and the large-scale reclamations from the beginning of the twentieth century. The project sits within this context of peripheral development, following the reclamation of Sant’Elena during the 1910s and Sacca Fisola in the 1960s, but will add a new phase to the city’s morphology: the large-scale redevelopment of an existing site. YEAR 1960s SITE RECLAIMED
2013 1810 1500 1300 1100
FIGURE 16 -T HE M O RPHO LO G Y O F THE C E N T R O S TO R I C O SOURCE
Venice Project Center
22. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo, 11th edn (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1965), p. 29. 23. These include the creation of Strada Nova, the widespread infilling of canals and the Ala Napoleonica wing of Piazza San Marco.
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FIGURE 17 -1 627 PLAN O F VENI CE Venice’s unique urban morphology is the result of a distinct pattern of land reclamation over the centuries. Each island began relatively independently with the construction of its parish church and adjoining campo, developing outward from this central communal nucleus until the edges met other surrounding islands. This has resulted in a unique, multi-centred urban form in which the focal points (Piazza San Marco, Rialto, Campo San Polo and now, arguably, Piazzale Roma) are differentiated only by scale.
The new HEI facilities are dispersed throughout the masterplan, in response to Venice’s multi-centred morphology.
These key institutions will drive the
development and will populate the main campi. This ‘cluster’ model of academic institutions (rather than the ‘campus’ model)24 reflects the existing character of the HEIs already present within the Venetian centro storico and will address the isolationism and social polarisation that is often associated with the knowledge economy.25 This dispersal will embed the facilities within the new urban fabric, allowing them to function as ‘civic institutions’.26 The masterplan takes inspiration
24. As defined by Berg & Russo, 2017. 25. Cambridge is a prime example of a flourishing knowledge economy, but this has resulted in extreme demographic and social polarisation. The city has been Britain’s most unequal city for two years running, despite its unprecedented level of growth. Donna Ferguson, “Cambridge Tops The League … As Britain’s Most Unequal City”, The Guardian, 2018.
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from Newcastle Helix, in the UK. It is a prime example of an embedded urban HEI expansion, which focuses on interdisciplinary research fields for Newcastle University. The off-campus location assists interactions with external actors and the community in ways which would not be possible on a university campus.27 The key institutions selected for the Tronchetto-Marittima development reflect strong, commercially viable areas of inter-disciplinary study at Venice International University (VIU). A ‘hard’ presence within the centro storico will focus and promote their inter-disciplinary research but, perhaps more importantly, their situation within a mixed-use, demographically diverse urban quarter will provide a more permeable interface for interaction between the institutions, private business partners and the local community. This social, as well as physical, integration produces the mutually beneficial ‘soft’ effects which are almost impossible to achieve in an isolated environment like a science park. The recent trend for large-scale projects within the Municipality of Venice to stall during the first phase of work has meant that the design of a clear phasing strategy, which provides future flexibility, has been a key consideration for the Tronchetto-Marittima masterplan. The design takes inspiration from the phasing of the university-led, mixed-use development Cambridge North West. Due to its peripheral location, the initial phase of this 150 ha development established a community (now completed and dubbed Eddington) which has sufficient civic infrastructure to be populated relatively independently. This allows for flexibility in the later phases of development; delivering 1,000 homes and 325 student bedspaces (along with the necessary infrastructure) only three years into the 25-year construction period.28 The first phase of the Tronchetto-Marittima development will establish a critical mass community, which provides the necessary infrastructure and is sufficiently connected to the rest of the centro storico to be populated independently of later additions. This allows future phases to be adapted according to Venice’s changing needs over time without compromising what has already been built, thus avoiding the stagnation of the project if these later phases are significantly delayed.
26. An institution which is engaged with its surrounding urban entity and generates public benefits for society rather than merely profit. As defined by Goddard & Vallance, 2013, p. 6. 27. Goddard & Vallance, 2013, pp. 95-7. 28. North West Cambridge Development, Phase 1, (North West Cambridge Development, 2018)
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FIGURE 18 -C AM BRI DG E NO RTH W EST PH A S I N G V I S U A L I S AT I O N S
FIGURE 19 -C AM BRI DG E NO RTH W EST PH A S E 1 C O M P L E T E D 2 0 1 7
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FIGURE 2 0 -THE TRO NCHETTO UNDER CON S T R U C T I O N The Tronchetto-Marittima islets are formed by concrete retaining walls, infilled with rubble. Excavating the new Canal would involve sheet pilling the revised retaining edge, extracting the rubble infill and then removing the retaining wall which enclosed the area.
As such, the initial phase of construction is the most intensive and will provide the majority of the infrastructural works. The most significant of these is the excavation of the new Marittima Canal which will give shape to the new district and better connect the site to the rest of the centro storico. The structure of the artificial island [see Figure 20] makes this excavation relatively simple and the excavated rubble will be used to reclaim other portions of land around the site or be crushed for use as aggregate in the construction process. The new form of the Marittima islet responds to Bellavitis & Romanelli’s interpretation of Venetian morphology [see Figures 21 & 22] and brings the ‘tentacle’ of the Grand Canal around and through the site. The initial phase will establish the Scuola Venezia: a contemporary reinterpretation of the mediaeval Venetian scuola grande typology.29 The Scuola will address 29. The scuole grandi (guilds) were lay confraternities in mediaeval Venice, which contained members spanning the social strata of Venetian society. They were important institutions which hosted ceremonial events and cared for the poor. See Deborah Howard, The Architectural History Of Venice, 2nd edn (London: Yale University Press, 2002), p. 110.
40
FIGURE 21 -C HI O G G I A 1983 / / M AT M O RPH O L O G Y
The cellular island morphology of Venice alone cannot account for the intricacy and coherence of the city’s urban grain. In Venezia: La Storia, Bellavitis & Romanelli illustrate the city’s ‘mat’ and ‘tentacle’ morphologies. The ‘mat’ is a linear system, best seen illustrated in the plan of Chioggia. It is evident within each island and what gives the fishbone street structure. The ‘tentacle’ system is derived from the morphology of mediaeval trade routes. This inverted comb structure is formed along major waterways; the Grand Canal is the best example. The combination and overlaps of these two organisational orders (from the urban macro-scale to the local micro-scale) provide the continuous and yet varied system of spatial complexity evident in the city.
FIGURE 22 -M URANO 1500 / / TENTACLE M O R P H O L O G Y
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the key limiting factors for the growth of the Venetian university sector: it will establish a physical presence for student and graduate services and it will work to change the rhetoric which surrounds Venice, by presenting the city as a ‘marketplace of ideas’ to both local and global audiences.30 Changing the rhetoric requires the Scuola to act as a platform for promoting Venice’s existing, ongoing, cutting-edge research and innovation.31 This will offset the pervasive associations with tradition and tourist imagery, promote Venice as a city of higher education internationally, and communicate the value of the university to the local community. This rhetorical change is key for securing funding for later phases of the masterplan. The area which is not developed or used during the initial phase of construction will be landscaped to provide public parkland. This intermediate landscaping strategy will allow public access to the site and avoid the stagnation of the area if the later phases of the development are significantly delayed. The parkland will follow the precedent of the Giardini. It will feature both temporary and permanent architectural and landscape elements, and will be used to host expo events, in conjunction with the Biennale. Leading architects will be commissioned to design, via competition, pavilions within the landscape which will later be incorporated into the masterplan. These expo events will raise enough money to maintain the park and the permanent pavilions will become the churches and community centres within the later phases.
The architectural contributions will sustain
global media attention (and therefore private funding streams) and ensure that the central community facilities within each development phase will be of varied and high-quality design. While it remains flexible in detail, the masterplan will be used to ensure that permanent features (pavilions and trees) are focused on the areas which will later become the campi, campielli (small, semi-public campi) and public giardini (gardens) of the future urban public realm. This strategy is a reference to the original, multi-centred, morphology of Venice, but also inverts the contemporary museumification of the city: instead of buildings being preserved and removed from local usage by exhibitions for the cultural tourism industry, the exhibition venues will be subsumed by the local community as it grows. 30. As outlined by Berg & Russo, 2017. 31. The facility will house a new exhibition hall, conference hall, offices and teaching spaces.
42
The second phase of works will implement the Institute of Creativity, Innovation and Design. This facility will allow Venice’s cultural assets to have an increased role in cultural innovation and production, beyond their use as a backdrop for international exhibitions like the Biennale. The Institute will provide a key interface for the wider community to interact with existing creative activities and research areas (at IUAV, VIU and Ca’ Foscari). IUAV is already widely renowned as an architecture school which explores the visual arts more broadly,32 but the new Institute will provide a more permeable, public platform for these efforts. The Institute will also allow inter-disciplinary research to include disciplines outside of the visual arts, including linguistic arts and the philosophy of creativity. Although technology and innovation are primarily associated with the sciences, they are just as relevant to the creative sector. As our economies become increasingly led by information technology, the ‘creative’ workforce becomes a progressively important consideration within all sectors. Theatre and opera were once the lifeblood of Venetian culture and, while contemporary theatre persists in grassroots political movements,33 only five formal theatres remain in the centro storico. Their programmes predominantly feature Goldoni’s eighteenth-century classics and cater to the cultural tourism industry. The Institute will include a new theatre and open studio spaces within its programme, which will engage with local theatrical culture and provide a legitimate platform for contemporary theatre.
During the summer months,
the theatre’s programme will expand out into the surrounding parkland, where experimental student architecture projects can also be exhibited. This will ensure the continuing use of the park by Venetian residents, beyond more outward looking expo events. A significant portion of the second phase of works is to be erected on an extension to the site, which will be constructed as a large pontoon. The flexibility of this construction method will allow the ground level to be set much closer to the water without compromising the long-term viability of the structures built on it: as global sea levels rise, the level of the pontoon can be raised. This construction method 32. IUAV modules include Urban Design, Planning and Acoustics which relate more obviously to field of architecture but the Department of Cultural Projects also includes: Fashion Design, Theatre Studies, and Digital Arts. 33. These include organisations such as PER and La Vida which operate in informal settings, usually outside. 34. For more information regarding historical Venetian construction techniques see Giorgio Gianighian & Paola Pavanini, Dietro I Palazzi (Venezia: Arsenale Editrice, 1984)
43
FIGURE 23 -IJ BURG WATERBUURT I N AM S T E R D A M The dwellings are connected to fixed jetties and pinned to steel mooring poles to stabilise the structures.
references not only the architecture of the vaporetto stops, but the historic piled timber foundations of the centro storico and uses IJburg in Amsterdam as a modern precedent for this construction method [see Figure 23].34 This will allow closer interaction with one of the most important elements of the centro storico: the water. Venice’s symbiotic relationship with the tidal lagoon is not only what makes the city so beautiful, but is also the source of Venetian creative culture.35 The necessity for innovation was originally driven by the need to stem the tides and survive in such an improbable place. The construction of this area of the site will allow engagement with this vital element and help the Institute, and Venice, realise its potential as a ‘cultural-intellectual’ city.36 35. This assertion is based on Hospers’ criteria for a ‘creative city’, which he defines as: ’concentration’, ‘diversity’ and ‘instability’. The latter is provided, in Venice, by the everchanging nature of the tidal lagoon. Gert-Jan Hospers, “Creative Cities: Breeding Places In The Knowledge Economy”, Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 16 (2003), p. 149. 36. As defined by Hospers, 2003, pp. 147-8.
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The Centre for Ageing Studies will be established during the third phase of the development. This is an interdisciplinary area of research at VIU and one that is particularly relevant in a Venetian context. Italy is renowned for the longevity of its residents, a phenomenon which is usually attributed to the Mediterranean diet but is still something of a scientific mystery.37 Even within Italy, Venice is exceptional, with the oldest population in Europe today.38 Contemporary depopulation is not entirely to blame: sixteenth-century writer Francesco Sansovino remarked upon the amazing of longevity of Venetian residents at the time.39 The Centre will be rooted within the urban fabric, closely connected to a retirement home, assisted living dwellings, a day centre for the elderly, medical facilities and a community centre (which will, in turn, be linked with a nursery). The research undertaken at the Centre will benefit hugely from the ‘soft’ effects created by its embedded location within this social and communal infrastructure, while the programmes supported within the day centre, and the medical treatments available, will benefit from the research undertaken at the Centre. The fourth phase will see the completion of the Marittima islet’s redevelopment and the addition of another pontoon area of the site. As with phase two, this area will be set much closer to the water level and its addition will complete the conversion of the Marittima basin into the Marittima Canal. The non-linear form reflects the maximum viewing distances of the Grand Canal and will allow significant boat traffic while retaining a characteristically Venetian sense of enclosure and human scale. This phase of construction will also see the implementation of the Institute for Cultural Heritage. The Institute will further the exploration into the meaning of cultural heritage in the age of globalisation, the philosophy of its ownership, and ideas regarding the future of conservation practice.
Cultural heritage
research is an established field of interdisciplinary study at VIU, and Architettura Construzione Conservazione (Architectural Conservation Construction) is the focus of one of IUAV’s three Departments. It is a subject area which is obviously
37. The Local, 2016. 38. Comune di Venezia, B01_T01_Movimento E Calcolo Della Popolazione Residente - Anno 2015, Popolazione Residente, 2015. 39. Francesco Sansovino, Venetia La Città Nobilissima et Singolare, Vol. 2 (Venezia: Verso, 1581)
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connected to Venice: a city famed for its built heritage around the world but one which also understands the need to find a balance between the preservation of living culture and its physical expression. Situating the Institute in the new urban quarter will provide an impartial meeting place for external actors, such as UNESCO, The Venetian Cluster and The Comitati Privati Internazionali. The Institutes’s position within the social fabric of the city will highlight living Venetian culture and stimulate a more open debate concerning the definitions and values of conservation practice. The fifth and final phase of the masterplan will develop the Tronchetto islet and establish the Global Challenge Centre. The Centre will be used to explore global themes, such as climate change and capitalism, in a truly inter-disciplinary way: combining the climate research from CMCC@Ca’Foscari (Centro EuroMeditteraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici) with economics, politics and philosophy. In Venice, the effects of climate change (in the form of rising sea levels) are felt acutely and are clearly visible due to the increasing acque alte. The city’s situation within the lagoon means that, unlike most cities, nature permeates the urban realm completely. This association has allowed climate science to become a leading area of research for the Municipality of Venice. The location of the Centre, on the far western edge of the centro storico, is a prominent location for all incoming traffic along the causeway; it is the final piece of the puzzle which allows a dialogue between old and new, lagoon and terraferma.
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EPILOGUE THE MYTH OF VENICE
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Venice is more than a tourist magnet, declining regional figurehead and crumbling relic of former glory. However to remain a living city, Venice must change. The fixation with Venice’s singularity, and the weight of global fascination with its built heritage, have caused us to forget that it is a modern city. Everyday, people work, live and die in Venice, as they do anywhere else; Venice cannot remain in stasis for the benefit of tourists who have yet to consume it. Despite the economic emphasis on tourism, there is significant innovation occurring in Venice. New knowledge-related industries, and the light-weight infrastructure they require, are perfectly suited to the city’s dense urban fabric, which is no longer a constraint to new industrial growth, but an asset. This hypothetical project imagines an expansion of the Venetian higher education sector, as a viable and sustainable alternative to the present tourism monoculture. However, the Myth of Venice is as pervasive today as it ever was; the rhetoric which surrounds the city is often more important than the reality. But rhetoric can be changed. By illustrating an alternative shape for the future of Venice, this project aims to show that there is more to the city than its iconic mask of heritage.
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APPENDIX: VEGA THE VENICE GATEWAY
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MARCO POLO AIRPORT
MESTRE
VEGA
PORTO MARGHERA CENTRO STORICO
FIGURE 24 -V EG A SI TE LO CATI O N PLAN
The VEGA Science and Technology Park was the first step in the regeneration and re-industrialisation of the Porto Marghera area. The vision was to convert the old industrial sector in the first attempt to foster bridged activities between Venetian universities, research centres and production: Venice’s gateway to the innovation sector. The initial phase began in 1993 but was constantly stalled by conflicting interests within the VEGA S.c.a.r.l. consortium, and between the design team and external organisations. The project architects were drawing in pen and ink, rather than using CAD software, which further slowed the process and exacerbated the effects of the frequent design changes. Costs could not be re-calculated in real time and, as a result, spiralled out of control. Attempts to mediate these issues
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VEGA 1 VEGA 2 VEGA 3 VEGA 4 MESTRE CITY CENTRE TERRAFERMA RAILWAY AXIS MOTORWAY TO VENICE SECONDARY MOTORWAY
The VEGA development was divided into four phases. However the project stalled during the first phase. FIGURE 25 -V EG A SI TE PLAN HI G HLI G HTIN G P H A S I N G
and regain control of the development costs resulted in mediocre architecture and buildings almost entirely without thermal insulation. Subsequent attempts, in the following decade, to address these initial design flaws were of limited success and resulted the financial mismanagement which threatens the development today.40 The media’s tendency to describe the project as a ‘failure’ is somewhat unwarranted. Despite the financial difficulties, the main aim of the development (to regenerate unused, polluted land) has been realised and it has successfully catalysed further regeneration in the area. The site is populated by 2,000 workers and currently houses 100 highly specialised enterprises. A second wave of regeneration is now underway which addresses VEGA’s poor infrastructural links: at present, it is easier to access VEGA internationally (via Marco Polo airport) than it is to travel from VEGA to Mestre. By 2022 the park will have a direct link to
40. Cozza, 2016, pp. 149-150. 41. Tosi & Franzese, 2018. 42. Castells & Hall, 1994, p. 230. 43. Tosi & Franzese, 2018. 44. Castells & Hall, 1994, p. 230.
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Forte Marghera and the San Giuliano park, and its own train station.41 In Technopoles of the World, Castells & Hall emphasise that the amount of time necessary to achieve a successful science park is much longer than a private enterprise would usually allow before an investment becomes profitable. VEGA can be expected to take even longer, as it aimed to re-industrialise the area, rather than capitalise on industries which were already present in the locality. Castells & Hall specifically stress the need to insulate projects against “premature accusations of failure”; it is this which has been most damaging to the project.42 The negative rhetoric which surrounds VEGA has stalled its second phase of regeneration. Despite the best efforts of the Vice President and the availability of the necessary funding from the EU, the Municipality will not support further remedial works. Even relatively simple interventions, such as setting up a popup food market to populate a public area, cannot find businesses to support them.43 The current attempt by VEGA S.c.a.r.l. to avoid bankruptcy via the sale of all publicly owned buildings on the VEGA site, could seal the fate of the project. If the buildings are sold and the park is permitted to “degenerate into a pure office park” then it will cease to be an innovative hub altogether.44
FIGURE 26 -V EG A 1 PLAN W I TH AREA CUR R E N T LY F O R S A L E H I G H L I G H T E D
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LIST OF FIGURES
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Figure 1:
Author’s own.
Figure 2:
Author’s own.
Figure 3:
Data from: Leonardo Benevolo, Venezia: Il Nuovo Piano Urbanistico (Roma: Laterza, 1996); Leo van den Berg & Antonio Russo, The Student City: Strategic Planning For Student Communities In EU Cities (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017) <http://idiscover.lib. cam.ac.uk> [Accessed 11 July 2018]; Ca’ Foscari, “Mappe Unive”, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, 2018 <https://apps.unive.it/mappe/?> [Accessed 2 October 2018]; IUAV, ”Sedi Dell’ateneo”, IUAV, 2018 <http://www.iuav.it/sedi> [Accessed 2 October 2018]. Drawing is author’s own.
Figure 4:
Author’s own.
Figure 5:
Data from: Porto di Venezia, “Domanio Marittimo”, Porto Di Venezia - Dove La Terra Gira Intorno Al Mare, 2018 <https://www.port.venice.it/it/domanio-marittimo.html> [Accessed 7 September 2018]. Drawing is author’s own
Figure 6:
Author’s own.
Figure 7:
Author’s own.
Figure 8:
Author’s own.
Figure 9:
Author’s own.
Figure 10:
Author’s own.
Figure 11:
Author’s Own.
Figure 12:
Author’s own.
Figure 13:
Author’s own.
Figure 14:
Author’s own.
Figure 15:
Author’s own.
Figure 16:
Data from: Venice Project Center, “Venice Project Center 2.5”, Venice Project Centre, 2018 <http://veniceprojectcenter.org> [Accessed 5 December 2017]. Drawing is author’s own.
Figure 17:
Giorgio Bellavitis & Giandomenico Romanelli, Venezia: La Città Nella Storia D’italia (Roma: Laterza, 1985)
Figure 18:
AECOM Design and Planning, Site Wide Phasing Plan, North West Cambridge Development (Cambridge: South Cambridgeshire District Council, 2013) <http://www. nwcambridge.co.uk/files/condition_5_site-wide_phasing_plan.pdf> [Accessed 16 July 2018], p. 4.
Figure 19:
Daniel Kemp, “North West Cambridge: The Greenest New Town In Britain?”, Construction News, 2017 <https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/companies/ sustainable-business/north-west-cambridge-the-greenest-new-town-inbritain/10024484.article> [Accessed 5 August 2018]
Figure 20:
Gruppo Interconstruzioni, Isola artificiale del Tronchetto, 1960 <http://www. intercostruzioni.eu/in-cantiere/item/29-isola-artificiale-del-tronchetto> [Accessed 11 January 2018]
Figure 21:
Giorgio Bellavitis & Giandomenico Romanelli, Venezia: La Città Nella Storia D’italia (Bari: Laterza, 1985), p. 32.
Figure 22:
Giorgio Bellavitis & Giandomenico Romanelli, Venezia: La Città Nella Storia D’italia (Bari: Laterza, 1985), p. 33.
Figure 23:
Marcel van der Burg, “Floating Houses In Ijburg”, Archdaily, 2011 <https://www. archdaily.com/120238/floating-houses-in-ijburg-architectenbureau-marlies-rohmer> [Accessed 6 October 2018]
Figure 25:
Data from: COSES, DOC.869.0 Il Ruolo Delle Aree Dismesse Nell’Evoluzione Del Dibattito Urbanistico Italiano, Sezione Tematica Per La Rivista Urbanistica e Informazione (Venezia: COSES, 2007) <http://coses.comune.venezia.it/download/ Doc869.pdf> [Accessed 17 September 2018], p. 27. Drawing is author’s own.
Figure 26:
Adapted from: Michael Cozza, “VEGA - VEnice GAteway For Science And Technology Park”, in Knowledge-Creating Milieus In Europe (Berlin: Springer, 2016), p. 147.
Figure 27:
Data from: VEGA Parco Scientifico Tecnologico di Venezia, Venice Waterfront: An Urban Transformation Process In The Metropolitan Area Of Venice (VEGA Parco Scientifico Tecnologico di Venezia, 2015), p. 22. Drawing is author’s own.
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