Venice Resumed: A Refracted Image for the Living City

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VENICE RESUMED A R E FR A C TE D IMA G E FOR THE LIVING CITY MPHIL IN ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN T HESI S SUB M I SSIO N 2019 CA R O L YN SMITH



VENICE RESUMED A REFRACTED IMAGE FOR THE LIVING CITY March 2019

Carolyn Smith Queens’ College W ORD COUN T: 15 137 including footnotes and appendices excluding captions and bibliography This paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design University of Cambridge

With thanks to: Deborah Howard Ingrid Shröder Aram Moordian

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 I NTRODUCTION

BEWARE OF THE DOGE 001 METHODOLOGY & STRUCTURE 007 CHAPTER 1: READING BETWEEN THE LINES FUTURE FOUNDATIONS 011 THE DEATH[S] OF VENICE 013 LIFE AFTER DEATH 022 CHAPTER 2: REVIVING THE INTERNATIONAL EMPORIUM THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS 027 AN ANTIDOTE TO TOURISM 029 THE STUDENT IN THE CITY 040 CHAPTER 3: REIMAGINING THE CITY CONTINUITY, CREATIVITY, CURIOSITY 049 THE CIVIC UNIVERSITY 052 THE LEGACY OF TOURISM 061 CHAPTER 4: REINVENTING TRADITION SCUOLA, SYMBOL, SPECTACLE 069 THE CITY OF THE COLLECTIVE 074 BUILDING BRIDGES 083 CONCLUSION 089 APPENDIX: VEGA 094 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 096 LIST OF FIGURES 098 BIBLIOGRAPHY 102



GLOSSARY OF TERMS HEI - Higher Education Institution IUAV - Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia VIU - Venice International University VTP - Venezia Terminal Passeggeri Acqua alta - high water

Andata - the ducal procession

Campo - literally translated, it means ‘field’, but the campi are Venice’s public squares - there is only one Piazza in Venice: Piazza San Marco Campiello - a small, usually semi-private, campo Centro storico - historic centre Città storica - historic city

Cittadino - the citizen class of the Venetian Republic, without political power but only just below the patriciate Comune - the Municipality

Estuario - the islands within the Venetian lagoon (not including the centro storico)

Giardino - garden

Grandi navi - big ships, in a Venetian context this usually refers to the cruise ships

Guardian Grande - leader of the scuole grandi

La Serenissima - meaning ‘most serene’, a name for the Venetian Republic Listòn - Venetian dialect for the passeggiata

Mediocritas - ethos of balance and moderation

Passeggiata - Mediterranean ritual of the evening stroll Patriciate - the ruling class of the Venetian Republic Piano Regolatore - development plan

Scuole - literally translated, it means school, but it was also a form of confraternity during the medieval and Early Modern period Sestiere - the six districts of Venice

Terraferma - the mainland districts of the Municipality of Venice Venezianità - Venetian-ness

Vernissage - the preview of an art exhibition


The Municipality of Venice is often referred to simply as Venice, yet it is far larger than the historic city. The terms centro storico, terraferma, and estuario will be used to distinguish between the distinct components.

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. The city has never been self-sufficient: Venice has always been the apex of a much larger network of trade and territory.

ESTUARIO The other island settlements within the lagoon, the largest of which (in terms of population) is the Lido.


TESSERA FAVARO - VENETO TORCELLO BURANO

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GIARDINI PRIMARY BIENNALE LOCATION

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PIAZZA SAN MARCO MAIN TOURISM HOT SPOT

CURRENT CRUISE SHIP ROUTE MARITTIMA - ADRIATIC SAN SERVOLO HOME TO VIU


F IGU RE 3


INTRODUCTION BEWARE OF THE DOGE

Venice is a celebrity city trapped in its own self-image. Plagued by mass-tourism and shrouded in allegory, the city is caught between objective and imagined reality. The rich legacy of the Venetian Republic has, for too long, eclipsed the living city. While Venice’s image is captivating, the city is more than its physical form. Venice is constructed from layers of socio-political context as much as it is from stone and brick; its foundations find their footings in myth as much as they do the mud of the lagoon. This thesis addresses the identity crisis of the contemporary city and speculates on a future for the centro storico (historic centre) based on its ancient culture of innovation.

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V E NI CE ’ S M Y T H S & T H E M YT H OF VENICE It is easy to accept the central role of mythology in ancient civilisations but far harder to acknowledge the influence of myths today. Modern states, cities and institutions are all social constructs, made possible by ‘shared fictions’ or ‘common myths’. Contemporary myths are only distinguished from the shared fictions of antiquity by belief: we still collectively believe in the reality of the Italian nation state, while we no longer accept the existence of the Roman gods. These imagined realities are the basis of culture.1 “Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, [Homo] Sapiens have thus been living in a dual reality. On the one hand, the objective reality of rivers, trees and lions; and on the other hand, the imagined reality of gods, nations and corporations. As time went by, the imagined reality became ever more powerful, so that today the very survival of rivers, trees and lions depends on the grace of imagined entities such as the United States and Google.”2

Objective and imagined reality are not contradictory, but two sides of the same coin; the physical and imaginary cities we inhabit exist in symbiosis. This tapestry of myth infuses a city’s urban fabric with meaning and transforms a series of ‘spaces’ into the sequence of ‘places’ we call Venice.3 Over the centuries, the physical city of walls and water grew in response to and, in turn, shaped Venice’s resident community and enacted culture. This invisible, organic counterpart found confirmation of their identity in the stones and adjusted them to suit their needs.4 Venice’s isolation within the lagoon is the cornerstone upon which Venice’s traditional myths were founded and the source of the city’s peculiarities. The result [see Figure 4] was a unique socio-political dynamic which emphasised co-operative work, accepted centralised planning restrictions, valued cultural porosity, and honoured an extraordinary aesthetic culture. “Venice rhetorically exploited every aspect of its singularity”,5 but the pragmatic drive for survival, 1. Schaller & Crandall; Harari. 2. Harari, p. 36. Cognitive Revolution refers to ‘behavioural modernity’, which occurred around 50,000 years ago, not the 1950s intellectual movement. 3. While ‘space’ is understood as a geographical location relative to other physical spaces, ‘place’ is a cultural artefact, imbued with meaning; Muir & Weissman, p. 93. 4. Settis, 2014, pp. 14-16; Halbwachs, pp. 131-134. 5. Rosand, p. 6.

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FIGURE 4 - VENETI A, BRAUN & HO G ENBUR G , 1 5 7 2

The lagoon environment required constant intervention to permit habitation; the physical challenges of survival generated Venice’s famed collective sensibilities and ethos of mediocritas. The inability to independently sustain the city’s population in the lagoon engendered an enterprising reliance on mercantile trade. Life in the “physical kaleidoscope” of shifting reflections, refractions and sensory experiences on the watery plains cultivated a sensory-aesthetic dimension which became enshrined in Venetian culture.6

powered by innovation, has always been at the core of its culture. It was this drive which propelled the tenuous timber settlements of the fifth century to become one of the most famous and influential cities in the world. The Venetian Republic was once the longest-standing republic in history, a global entrepôt connecting East and West and one of the world’s great cultural capitals.7 One of La Serenissima’s most successful exports was the Myth of Venice. Although it drew on Venice’s traditional myths, the term refers to the republican ideology synthesised in the 1520s to sustain the city in the face of economic decline and recorded by the humanist writer Gasparo Contarini.8 6. De Maria pp. 3-7 (5); see also Muir & Weissman, p. 92. 7. Venice was supposedly founded in 421. After the first Doge was elected in 697 the Republic lasted a further 1100 years. 8. See Muir, p. 21; De Maria, p. 4.

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This “elaborate propaganda” survived the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 and took on a life of its own, as cuttings transplanted in foreign soils.9 The Myth’s international propagation was so successful in rooting Venice within the global imagination that these offshoots grew to overshadow the living city; from the late nineteenth century it was widely accepted that “Venice belonged to the world”.10 As a literary-artistic tradition, divorced from social and political realities, the mythic city of Venice became a sentimental metaphor; a symbol for the anti-modern, alternately idealised and vilified.11 The prominence of the city within global consciousness and the focus, since the late nineteenth century, on the preservation of Venice’s tangible heritage, has resulted in attempts to keep the city in stasis, reserved as a site for collective nostalgia.12 But culture is never static; the word itself means growth.13 While the visible city may bear striking resemblance to Venice in the eighteenth century, Venetian citizens live undeniably modern lives. The overbearing presence of the past has upset the delicate balance between the physical and imaginary city: unable to reshape its stones to reflect the modern identity of its citizens, Venice is obliged to parody a persona from the past.14 Constrained by the weight of global fascination, contemporary Venetians have lost control of their own narrative. “Whereas the group evolves, the external appearance of the city changes more slowly. Habits related to the specific physical setting resist the forces tending to change them. … The centre of the city shifts. Although older districts, encircled by newer and taller buildings, seem to perpetuate the life of former times, they convey only an image of decay, and were their former inhabitants to return, it is doubtful that they would even recognise them.”15

While it is tempting to equate international interest with a preoccupation for Venice’s republican past and local interests with a pragmatic focus on the future of the living city, the reality is more nuanced.16 The relative turbulence of Italian politics since the Second World War and the uncomfortable legacy of the Fascist political period have forced Venice to reach further back in time to find a secure foundation on which to build a modern identity.17 This historical soul-searching 9. Scappettone, p. 23. The international impact of the Myth of Venice is summarised by Standish pp. 46-49. 10. Plant, p. 228. 11. “The broken image of sympathy becomes a repaired image of sentiment”, Spuybroek, p. 169. See also Barnes; Martin & Romano.

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The large-scale relocation of Venice’s population to the terraferma, illustrated by the proportional population sizes of each urban pole in the diagram above, has shifted the city-region’s political centre of gravity. Venice remains the figurehead but is politically impotent. The current Mayor of Venice (Luigi Brugnaro) does not reside within the Municipality. FIGURE 5- 20 15 PRO PO RTI O NAL PO PULAT I O N O F V E N I C E C I T Y- R E G I O N -- S OURCES

Comune di Venezia, B02_T05_Quartieri 09

12. See Plant, p. 193. Most international interventions in the city are still aimed at conserving its heritage: Venice in Peril (English), Save Venice (American), Comité Francais pour la Sauvegarde de Venise (French), Arbeitskreis Venedig der Deutsche Unesco-Kommission (German), Pro Venezia (Sweden). 13. Just as laws (or customs) are being constantly refined, re-argued and amended, culture is constantly revised, renegotiated and adapted; Hobsbawm, pp. 2-3. 14. Pes, p. 2401; Halbwachs, pp. 131-134. 15. Author’s emphasis, Halbwachs, p. 133. 16. Even at the height of the conservation debate in the nineteenth century there were local and international voices on both sides; Plant, p. 223. 17. Lasansky, p. 267. In contrast to the mythic stability of La Serenissima, Italy has had more than 65 national governments in the last 70 years.

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has reinforced the emphasis on Venice’s past, at the expense of the city’s modern history and fortified the divide between the città antica (ancient city) and the modern world.18 Without a coherent modern identity to guide development, 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.19 Underfunded and caught in a web of conflicting national, regional and municipal politics, Venice has been subjected to an ad hoc approach to development which has failed to address the burgeoning tourism industry and adapt the city to the needs of its contemporary inhabitants.

18. It is only since the 1990s, two centuries after the fall of the Republic, that a critical mass of scholars have begun to address post-Republican material and approach the city from the present; Scappettone, p. 26. 19. OECD, pp. 24-25. 20. Barnes, p. 139. 21. Lasansky highlights the volatility of media-driven rhetoric, p. 268. 22. Pastor, interview by author; Tosi & Franzese, interview by author.

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M E THO D O L O G Y A N D S TRUCT URE While much has been written about Venice’s problems, there is little consensus as to how to solve them. Constrained within its physical form and overpowered by its myth, Venice has been unable to formulate a coherent modern identity. The city remains “an extraordinarily fluid and malleable symbol”,20 but influencing myth is a difficult and unpredictable exercise;21 positive change is far easier to implement in the physical city.22 Imaginative responses to Venice’s future are frustrated by self-reference.23 Previous attempts to offer a spatial vision for Venice’s future have been confused and inconsistent.24 While international committees, like UNESCO, largely focus on smaller-scale preservation efforts, Venice requires innovative, long-term interventions to address its issues; development initiatives have been consistently stymied by political instability.25 The MOSE project, which was supposed to ‘save the city’, has been utterly paralysed by the political climate of inertia, indecision and corruption.26 Despite devouring a third of the public funding allocated to protect and maintain Venice since 1986, the project has now been put on hold indefinitely and it’s unclear if it will ever function.27 This thesis overcomes the impasse via a hypothetical design project, which both steers the research direction and ensures its spatial application. Venice is conceived as the centre of a larger urban matrix [see Figures 1 & 6], but themes will only be explored insofar as they relate to the centro storico. The urban conglomeration of the Municipality is, more often than not referred to simply as ‘Venice’, despite being comprised of several distinct urban settlements; Mestre is a city in its own right. The primacy of the centro storico’s identity, and the ‘vicious circle’ of economic decline emanating from it, will continue to drain the surrounding areas until it is adequately addressed.28 23. During a week-long charette project at IUAV, entitled ‘Change or Ban: Exploring Alternatives to mass cruise tourism in Venice’, 16-21 September 2018, none of the groups questioned Venice’s reliance on tourism. Every submission substituted cruise tourism with alternative versions of the same industry. 24. Pes highlights the inability to consistently name the city in subsequent Piani Regolatori (Development Plans), see pp. 2395-2340. 25. Plant, p. 436. 26. A system of retractable floodgates designed to limit the influx of water into the lagoon during acqua alta. The project began in 1976 and was originally due to be operational by 1995 and cost €1.5 billion. It has, to date, cost €6.2 billion. Settis, 2014, pp. 171-173; Vitucci, La Nuova, 2019. 27. Kington, The Guardian, 2014; Turano & Vitucci, L’Espresso, 2017; Vitucci, La Nuova, 2018a, 2018b, 2019. 28. The ‘vicious circle’ phenomenon is addressed in Chapter 2.

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FIGURE 6 - TH E TW I N- CI TI ES The two cities of Venice and Mestre have been governed as a single municipality since 1926, despite their vastly different cultural, social, and economic structures. Their union has been subject to four separatist referendums so far; the pairing of the two cities hinders both. The centro storico retains iconic primacy and absorbs resources but has no political autonomy, while Mestre is reduced to a peripheral ‘non-place’.

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This paper examines urban editing and civic spectacle as a method to craft a new modern identity for the centro storico, based on its higher education sector. A new urban quarter is proposed on the contentious Marittima-Tronchetto site, itself a microcosm of the city’s political and economic tensions. The design explored within this thesis is subject to an ongoing design project, which will be submitted in June 2019; as such it will be subject to further revision and development. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, not to explain or justify design decisions, but to use the design process to illuminate areas of enquiry and explore the following themes: READING BETWEEN THE LINES:

This chapter examines Venice’s contemporary myths and socio-political context to derive the foundations for the city’s modern identity. It argues that Venice’s future lies in its ancient culture of innovation. REVIVING THE INTERNATIONAL EMPORIUM:

The centro storico is simultaneously sustained and destroyed by tourism but a sustainable industry cannot emerge in a climate of economic decline. This chapter analyses the university sector as a viable antidote to Venice’s tourism monoculture and assesses the current spatial impediments to its growth. These limitations form the basis for the proposed development brief. REIMAGINING THE CITY:

Pressures on contemporary Venice are depleting the city’s capacity for cultural absorption in both objective and imagined reality. In addition, knowledge-driven developments are notorious for their spatial and socio-cultural isolation. This chapter explores design strategies for an embedded university development as they apply to the project masterplan. REINVENTING TRADITION:

The success of any physical addition to Venice hinges on its inclusion within the city’s imaginary realm. This chapter proposes a contemporary reinterpretation of the Venetian scuola grande to knit the proposed development into the sociocultural fabric of the existing city and address socio-economic polarisation.

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CHAPTER 1 READING

BETWEEN THE LINES F U T U R E F O U N D AT I O N S

Venice’s very foundations lie shrouded in myth. While many scholars have gone to great lengths to expose the gaps between the historical facts and fictions which surround our understanding of the city, attempts to address Venice’s contemporary issues by stripping away the layers of mythology are futile. The history of Venice is, at least in part, the history of its myths. These fictions were exercises in self-imaging and are the basis of the city’s collective identity; as such, they have had as much impact on the course of Venice’s history as the events which befell the city.1 Venice exists suspended between the practical and the symbolic; a potent mix of “utopian fantasy and pragmatic realism”.2

1. Rosand, p. 4. 2. Howard, 2004, p. 295.

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As the basis of culture, myths are fundamentally important, but they are capricious and volatile; susceptible to subversion. Venice has been associated with decadence, decay and death since the sixteenth century; these themes were elevated by the fall of the Republic, popularised by the works of Byron and Ruskin, and revived in the twentieth century by Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella Death in Venice. Today, the ‘Death of Venice’ is the city’s most dominant myth. This well-rehearsed prophecy hangs over the contemporary city; driving its decline, feeding an atmosphere of sensationalism and catering to the nostalgia of mass-tourism. This chapter builds an understanding of Venice’s contemporary myths and their relationship to the city’s socio-political context. A pathway towards a modern identity for the city is proposed from the themes which emerge.

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THE DE AT H [ S ] O F V E N I CE Venice can be said to have suffered a succession of deaths. As a global economic power, the Republic was dealt a significant blow when Vasco da Gama discovered the route to the Orient via the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. La Serenissima saw its demise as an independent political entity in 1797, at the hands of Napoleon. As an island nation, Venice capitulated with the construction of the causeway connecting the city to the terraferma in 1846. Today, the centro storico deteriorates a little more each day, poisoned by social, economic, and cultural decay. Myths concerning Venice’s demise have found different inflections over time; during Venice’s republican era it was the succession of plagues, floods and fires which highlighted the city’s vulnerability. The recent resurrection of the Death of Venice myth is, this time, based on scientific analysis: the contemporary “image of the Venetian apocalypse” is tied to the centro storico’s resident exodus, mass-tourism and acqua alta (the increasingly frequent high tide).3 Preoccupation with Venice’s physical form has curbed the city’s ability to adapt to the needs of its resident community; the result has been the depletion of the invisible city.4 While more visual aspects of physical decline have tended to captivate international public attention, Venice’s contemporary depopulation trends, and the fears they continue to generate, are a prominent theme in local academic discourse.5 The depletion of the centro storico’s resident population is occurring at an alarming rate [see Figures 8 & 9]. Dorigo recognised and wrote extensively about depopulation and the “decay of the city’s civic heart” in the 1960s; the population of the centro storico has since halved.6 The remaining population is demographically distorted: the centro storico has one of the oldest populations in Europe today.7 Pressures on housing and sharp rises in the cost of living, largely driven by the burgeoning tourism industry, have damaged the social equilibrium of the city. Venetian society has become increasingly socially polarised; the discrimination between property owners and non-owners is now the

3. Pes, p. 2428. 4. Stringent building regulations and convoluted planning procedures make achieving contemporary standards of living (e.g. daylight and accessibility) difficult and drive up maintenance costs. 5. Pes, p. 2428. 6. Dorigo quoted in Plant, p. 360; see also Settis, p. 8. 7. ISTAT.

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1951 RESIDENT POPULATION

174 808

The last 70 years have seen the loss of two thirds of the inhabitants of the Venetian centro storico; on average 2.6 residents leave every day.8 The 2015 census data numbers the residential population at only 55,589, a figure which dropped below 53,000 in February 2019. This is significantly below even the reduced population following the devastating plague of 1630 (98,000).

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1631 RESIDENT POPULATION

98 000

2015 RESIDENT POPULATION

55 589

Comune di Venezia, A01_T01_Serie storico popolazione 13 Comune di Venezia, B01_T01_Movimento e calcolo della popolazione residente - Anno 2015 Settis, 2014

Analysis of the population density illustrates not only the significant decrease from the average population density of 1951, but also that the areas which have managed to maintain their population density are set back from the main tourist sites, thoroughfares, and the Grand Canal. RESIDENTS / km 2

32 %

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FI G URE 8 - HI STO R I C R E S I D E N T I A L P O P U L AT I O N

0 - 800 800 - 4 400 2011 AVERAGE DENSITY

4 400 - 9 400 9 400 - 15 000

1951 AVERAGE DENSITY

15 000 - 22 000 22 000 - 85 000

FIGURE 9--- 2011 RESI DENTI AL PO PULATI O N D E N S I T Y SOURCE

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ISTAT, Censimento della popolazione e delle abitazioni


most prominent social division.9 As the socio-economic mass of the city thins, the costs generated by the tourism industry but borne by Venice’s residents become proportionally greater; it is estimated that the cruise industry alone results in a cost of €3,300 per capita for residents of the centro storico.10 The legal status of a Venetian cittadino (citizen) was once a socio-economic privilege reserved for the select few;11 contemporary Venetian residents are penalised for continuing to live in their own city. The link between the accelerated rate of depopulation in the centro storico and the rise of mass-tourism is undeniable [see Figures 10 & 11]. The ‘vicious circle’ [see Figure 12] of Venice’s unregulated, unsustainable tourism monoculture drives the economic decline of the centro storico.12 The “dictatorship of the tourist” consistently hinders efforts to foster a beneficial relationship between the city’s cultural resources and its economic development; it alienates Venice’s residents and threatens the plurality of the city.13 McCarthy’s assertion 40 years ago that “the tourist Venice is Venice” has only become more accurate; Settis goes so far as to argue that the plurality of the centro storico has already died.14 The grip of mass-tourism simultaneously sustains and destroys the city and prevents the centro storico from fully integrating with a thriving regional economy.15 The tourism monoculture is a prominent driver of the depletion of the working age demographic: in 1971 the centro storico accounted for 61 percent of jobs within the Municipality of Venice and 12 percent within the Veneto region; by 2001 these figures had fallen to 42 percent and 7 percent respectively.16 Venice’s tourism industry relies on an image of Venice in stasis; this persistently undermines attempts to redefine the identity of the city. 8. Settis, 2018. 9. For the results of the ‘second home phenomenon’ of the 1970s and -80s see Pes, pp. 2411-12. For the effects of recent regulatory changes and online platforms such as Air BnB see Da Mosto et al, p. 59. 10. Tattara, p. 34. 11. The cittadini class comprised eight percent of the population in the mid-sixteenth century. Situated below the ruling patrician class, citizen status bestowed prestige and economic benefits, but not political power; De Maria, p. 25. 12. The 1990s saw the large-scale transfer of commercial offices from the centro storico to Mestre and Padua and the loss of Venice’s remaining big businesses. See Plant, p. 433; Standish, p. 224. 13. Paolo Cacciari (former Minister for the Environment, not to be confused with the former mayors Massimo Cacciari and Paolo Costa) quoted in Davis & Marvin, p. 77. For relationship between Venice’s cultural resources and economic development see Russo & Sans, p. 166. For the effects of tourism on economic plurality see Tunbridge & Ashworth; Russo & Sans. 14. McCarthy, p. 177; Settis, p. 11. 15. Russo & Sans; Davis & Marvin. 16. Da Mosto et al, pp. 46-67.

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TOURISTS

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Comune di Venezia, A01_T01_Serie storico popolazione 13 Comune di Venezia, H01_T01_Movimento turistico nel Comune di Venezia

The Municipality’s recent, and relatively successful, attempts to spread the everincreasing tourist load beyond the primary tourist sites have inflamed tensions between Venice’s residents and visitors. The invasion of ‘local’ spaces has actively corroded the social fabric of the city. As the campi, the traditional centres of Venetian civic life, are overrun, the ritual of the passeggiata (evening stroll, taken for the purpose of socialising), or listòn (as it was commonly known in Venice), loses its significance and social value. The practice relies on familiarity to build a sense of community; swamped by the anonymous masses, the remaining residents of the centro storico lose not only their sense of ownership of their public social arena, but a vital tool for the cultivation of venezianità (Venetian-ness).17 These tensions, expressed by the present protest movements, have matured from general irritation to “open contempt”.18 The focus of this dissatisfaction has expanded: often ‘outsiders’ are equated with ‘tourists’; this includes all foreigners and even the residents of Venice’s terraferma districts.

This devaluation is

highly reductive; attempts to preserve the cultural identity of the city through the exclusion of ‘outsiders’ only serve to suffocate it further, destroying Venice’s cultural diversity and porosity. 17. Del Negro describes the complex ritual value of the passeggiata in modern Italian society. 18. Davis & Marvin, pp. 126-9. 19. Russo & Sans, p. 169.

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The residents of the centro storico are frequently outnumbered by the visiting tourists. Low quality ‘hit-and-run tourism’ drains the city’s resources for minimal returns: more than half will only visit Venice for the day and only 15% will spend the night in the centro storico.19 FIGURE 11 THE ASSEM BLED PO PULATI ON O F V E N I C E SOURCES

263 445

COSES, Rappor to 141.0 Foscar i

VISITORS DURING +120 000 PEAK FESTIVITIES ----------

COMMUTERS (STUDY)

6 360

COMMUTERS (WORK)

14 295

63 735 SECOND HOMES

4 730

STUDENTS

3 415

RESIDENTS

55 590

TOURISTS

96 490

20 655

14 760

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75 835

32 195

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DAY TRIPPERS

166 955

143 445

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B CONGESTION INCREASES ONLY CENTRAL ATTRACTIONS ARE VISITED

DOWNGRADING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN CULTURAL AND SERVICE SECTORS

A SHORTER VISITS

C POOR RETURNS

INCREASED SHARE OF DAY-TRIPPERS

DIVERGENCE BETWEEN AREA OF COSTS AND AREA OF BENEFITS INCREASES

D TOURIST REGION EXPANDS FIGURE 12 -THE VI CI O US CI RCLE O F TO U R I S M D E V E L O P M E N T SOURCE

Russo, p. 169.

The ‘vicious circle’ of tourism development when the growth of the tourism industry outstrips the capacity of a city’s physical resources. This begins a cycle of decline. Shorter visits result in increased congestion in primary sites; the quality of services decreases along with repeat custom and prices rise to compensate for increasing costs. This increases the area of tourist accommodation and depletes the attraction of the centre, which in turn shortens visits. This spatioeconomic dynamic illustrates the link between the expansion of tourism and economic decline.20 The tendency for tourism to block other productive activities, coupled with its seasonal volatility, has created unemployment, extreme tensions around jobs and “an exploited underworld without precedent”.21

Venice remains divided, its identity confused, while the tides lap higher against the city’s stones and increasing numbers flock to the city before its (supposedly) inevitable demise.

The image of Venice and the lagoon as mortal enemies,

pitted against one another, is a fiction perpetuated by the singularity of the city: Venice and its lagoon are two parts of a single, delicate ecosystem. Ruskin and Byron initiated the myth of Venice’s sinking.22 The centro storico is subject to general continental subsidence of around 0.5mm a year.23 In contrast, the major seaport city of Ravenna experiences subsidence at five times the rate of Venice, yet it is not subject to the same levels of hysteria and large-scale protective

20. Russo, pp. 167-169 21. Pes, p. 2426; Russo. 22. Standish, pp. 63-66. Perhaps perversely, the primary concern during the Renaissance was that the lagoon would silt up; grounding the city, leaving it vulnerable to invading forces and halting trade; Elgin, p. 200. 23. This rate increased in the mid-twentieth century due to the industrial activities at Porto Marghera, which have been subsequently addressed. Even accounting for this, the centro storico has only ‘sunk’ 20cm in the last century; Fletcher & Da Mosto, p. 34.

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FIGURE 13 - PI AZZA SAN M ARCO , 18 O CTOB E R 2 0 1 8 The acqua alta on the 29th of October 2018 was Venice’s fourth highest recorded flooding event; water reached 1.55m. Despite the relatively low impact in the centro storico (four lives were lost on the mainland while the centro storico recovered very quickly), the director of one of Venice’s luxury hotels suffered cancellations stretching into December worth approximately €50,000 as a result and estimated the total loss in city revenues associated with the over-reaction to be around €1 million.24

measures.25 The centro storico has a long history of flooding, dating back to the sixth century.26 While extreme flooding events are damaging and inconvenient, if viewed in context, they exhibit Venice’s resilience, rather than its vulnerability [see Figures 14 & 15].27 Even in the context of rising global sea levels, Venice remains far more adaptable than many cities; the enclosure of the lagoon makes

24. Da Mosto, interview by author. 25. Standish, p. 12. 26. Zucchetta, pp. 88-109; Sixteenth century diarists document episodes of extreme flooding, produced by a combination of spring tides, southern wind and heavy rain, Standish, pp. 8-13. 27. Unlike mainland flooding events, the tidal nature of the lagoon provides respite during low tide.

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FIGURE 14 -VENI CE RI ALTO , 4 NO VEM BER 1 9 6 6

FIGURE 15 -FLO RENCE BAPTI STRY, 4 NO V E M B E R 1 9 6 6 The 4th of November 1966 saw Venice’s worst flooding event in recorded history, with water reaching 1.94m above mean tide level. The damage was significant; the media response even more-so. The flood led to the founding of various international committees for the restoration of the city and initiated UNESCO’s involvement in the protection of the city. Florence was flooded on the same day - water reached 6m above street level and 90 died - and this was not the worst flood that the city has experienced (1557 was worse), yet the danger posed to the city by the river Arno has not been captured with the same media sensationalism experienced in Venice.

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preventative measures feasible, in the right political climate. Venice is far more likely to survive than the long stretches of coastline which will disappear around the globe, submerging swathes of Shanghai, Osaka and Miami.28 The acqua alta on the 4th of November 1966 provided a flashpoint around which the Death of Venice myth could coalesce in global popular culture; subsequent exceptional flooding events have cemented Venice’s association with environmental issues in the global imagination; the early environmentalism of the 1960s has matured to become one of the most pressing international concerns. Far from signalling a premonition of its death, this association represents a lifeline for Venice: the amphibious city is the symbolic canary in the coal mine for global environmental consciousness today. This expands the scope of the historic city beyond a place of memory, to become a scenario of the world’s contemporary conflicts; a paradigm of the postmodern condition. Each of these challenges subverts the soul of the city; combined they form a destructive matrix which will be difficult to address. But survival in the Venetian lagoon has always required constant innovation. The true death of Venice lies not in the challenges faced by the contemporary city but in the pervasive fixation with an idealised representation of its past, which stifles the imagination necessary to overcome these hurdles. If left unchecked, the city’s stones will become an embodiment of Venice’s epitaph. To survive, Venice as we know it must die again. The idealised city, which parodies its mythic counterpart, must give way to allow living Venice to be reborn as a modern city.

28. Holder et al, The Guardian, 2017

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LI FE A F T E R D E AT H Venice’s physical segregation from the mainland, its unique urban form and its preeminent status within the global imaginary mean it is often viewed in isolation. However, this lack of context feeds a self-referential tendency which exaggerates general trends into apocalyptic scenarios. Beneath the layers of sensationalism, and in contrast to the bleak prognoses, the challenges faced by Venice should not be seen as the end of the city’s history, but its continuation.29 “The fragility of both the city and the lagoon have been a cause of local and international concern on a regular basis since 1797. It is hard to say whether the islands in the lagoon and their patrimony are any more at risk [today] than they were at the time of Napoleon.”30

The world has changed dramatically since the eighteenth century; so has Venice. The widely held belief that Venice’s physical fabric remains largely unchanged since the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 is, in itself, something of a myth [see Figure 16]. Despite its singularity, none of the problems that Venice faces are unique. Tensions between globalisation and local identities, the challenges of increased residential mobility, growing environmental awareness and issues surrounding heritage and tourism are concerns which characterise the postmodern age. These are exacerbated by Venice’s peculiarities but, in many ways, the city can be seen as the non-typical paradigm for the postmodern city. “If Venice seems at first glance a museum, what it places on display is the continuous work of tempo—which can be translated as both ‘time’ and ‘weather’ - on the precarious reality of all human construction.”31

The centro storico’s population decline is symptomatic of general trends: real estate speculation, suburbanisation, ageing demographics, and political mismanagement affect many historic European cities. When analysing Venice’s

29. Pes, p. 2428; Standish; Settis; Gianighian. 30. Plant, p. 460. 31. Scappettone, p, 19.

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FIGURE 16 - ACCADEM I A BRI DG E

There have been significant alterations and additions since the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. These include the creation of Strada Nova, the widespread infilling of canals and the construction of both the Ala Napoleonica wing of the Procuratie on Piazza San Marco and the Accademia bridge.

contemporary population trends, it is important to acknowledge that the figures from the 1950s are not a desirable baseline: the living standards then did not meet contemporary standards.32 In his analysis of Venice’s recent history, Pes situates the centro storico’s residential exodus within the context of a series of major transformations in Italy and argues that it is highly unlikely that the city will ever become entirely depopulated.33 While increased residential mobility is a global trend, Venice has supported high levels of residential mobility since the thirteenth century.34 Venice has always been a city of immigrants, from its early refugee settlers in the fifth century, to the city’s most famous immigrant: Venice’s patron, Saint Mark, whose body was relocated to the city in 828.35 A theatrical culture requires an audience; the presence of outsiders has always been fundamental to Venetian modus operandi: visiting pilgrims were central to the Corpus Christi rituals, foreign merchants occupied prominent spatial locations within the urban fabric of the city, and our understanding of Venice’s ritual culture comes largely from accounts recorded by “professional eyewitnesses, the viaggiatori”.36 To flatten the cultural identity of contemporary Venice to include only its permanent

32. In a 1957 Municipal survey 66 percent of housing was in need of restoration, 74 percent had no bathroom, 24 percent was overcrowded; Pes, p. 2410. 33. Pes, p. 2407, 2428. 34. Muir & Weissman, p. 91. 35. De Maria. 36. Brown, p. 165.

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inhabitants - and perceive visitors as an imposition or opportunity for economic gain - would be as destructive as its abandonment to tourism; contemporary Venetian culture would be reduced to “residues of original venezianità.”37 Tourism is a major economic resource in the modern world; Venice is a world leader in this market. To look only at the negative aspects of the industry is to ignore the significant progress that has been made. The weight of masstourism was felt most acutely in the 1970s and -80s due to the strain on Venice’s infrastructure.38 Since then, significant development has almost doubled the Tourism Carrying Capacity of the centro storico [see Figure 17]. Venice’s global prescience and desirability offers an answer to its present socio-economic issues: immigrant populations are widely seen as a viable solution to the socioFI G URE 17 TO U R I S M C A R RY I N G C A PA C I T Y SO U R C ES

22 000

SUSTAINABLE TCC 1988

C os ta & Van der Bor g, 1988 Ente Bilaterale Turismo, Le Dinamiche Del Turismo Van der Bor g, 2018, Inter v i ew

‘Tourism Carrying Capacity’ is defined by the World Tourism Organisation as “The maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction.” Venice was calculated to have a TCC of 22,000 visitors in 1988; revised figures from 2018 now give a TCC of 50,000. Venice currently hosts an average of 60,000 visitors a day.

50 000

SUSTAINABLE TCC 2018

60 000

AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAILY VISITORS TO VENICE

024

1000


economic consequences of an ageing demographic,39 while the inherent sociocultural diversity stimulated by these populations increases a city’s innovative production capacity.40 Since the exceptional acqua alta of 1966, the number of “legitimate participants” in the discussion surrounding Venice’s issues has increased significantly, broadening to include not only the resident population and their representatives but international public opinion.41 While international contributions have largely influenced decisions conservatively, as contemporary problems are foregrounded more often and in more detail, sentimentality has begun to give way to sympathy; international urban conservation policies, which prioritised The Stones of Venice above the living city, have been revised.42 It is generally agreed that many of the issues Venice faces could be mitigated by a competent and benevolent government: with coherent leadership and adequate regulation, the rampant tourism industry could be managed and a cohesive modern identity for the city could coalesce. In the current climate of “chronic government incompetence”,43 Venice’s global prominence could provide the stability necessary for its image to weather local political inconsistency. If Venice can pair its ancient culture of innovation with its postmodern associations, the city could become a showcase for solutions to contemporary global issues. The foundations for this modern incarnation of the city already exist, obscured beneath the mire of nostalgia.

37. Pes, p. 2429. 38. Ibid, p. 2425. 39. Dustman et al; Harper. 40. Krätke, p. 77; Pilon & DeBresson, p. 30. 41. Pes, p. 2402. 42. Bandarin & Van Oers. 43. Settis, p. 109.

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026

F IGU RE 1 8


CHAPTER 2 REVIVING THE

I N T E R N AT I O N A L E M P O R I U M THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

Venice may be an island, but it cannot exist in isolation. The city is situated within one of the largest and most prosperous regions in Italy.1 The centro storico is traditionally the focal point for the so-called ‘Pa-Tre-Ve’ city-region, but the image of tourism-submerged Venice is disconnected from the innovative economic identity of the surrounding region. This imbalance, combined with the climate of economic decline in the centro storico, is problematic for regional economic development: without a true ‘downtown’, the multi-centred city-region lacks a spatial environment for the transfer of ideas across diverse sectors.2

1. OECD, p. 28. 2. The tertiary sector requires a ‘downtown’ to pool talented professionals; OECD, p. 78.

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Faced with a residential exodus, the rigidity of its physical form, environmental fragility, and a price system rigged to reflect tourist demand, Venice’s centro storico has been largely abandoned by economic enterprises unrelated to either tourism or the maintenance of the city’s heritage.3 Diversity is vital for economic resilience; the potential for the Venetian knowledge economy to provide a sustainable future for the city has been consistently cited since the destructive impact of tourism first became apparent.4 However, the absence of a clear spatial strategy for the economic shift, coupled with the constant need to counterbalance the ‘vicious circle’ devaluing services in the centro storico, has impeded progress.5 In place of proactive and responsive state involvement, Venice largely relies on private interests to stimulate development projects; this approach largely favours the spontaneous market forces which have fostered the present tourism industry. Proactive and forward-looking development is further disadvantaged by the lack of accessible and up-to-date information on the economic conditions of the contemporary city.6 This chapter examines the potential for Venice’s university sector to act as a socio-economic catalyst for change, enabling the city to negotiate its place within the prosperous Veneto region and resolve its relationship with global mass tourism. There are contrasting arguments regarding the spatial dynamics of knowledge-based development.7 The debates are complex; for clarity, this thesis only touches on key themes insofar as they apply to Venice’s centro storico. This chapter proposes a new, university-led urban quarter for Venice to refresh the city’s urban realm, rebalance Venice’s demographic diversity and rejuvenate the identity of the centro storico; allowing Venice to embrace its ancient culture of innovation as an alternative to selling its past.

3. Russo & Sans; Musu. 4. UNESCO 1969; De Rita 1993, see Plant, p. 435; Benevolo 1996; Musu 2000; Settis 2017; Bortoluzzi 2017, in Vitucci, La Nuova, 2017. 5. See Figure 13 in Chapter 1; Russo; Musu. 6. COSES, the research and statistics office for the Municipality, was disbanded in 2012, and the literature on Venice’s contemporary issues is falling rapidly out of date: the last comprehensive study, The Venice Report, was published in 2009. Air BnB was founded in 2008. 7. Florida’s theory of the “creative class” underpins most conceptions of knowledge-driven development. For critique of this theory see Peck; Krätke. It has been linked to neoliberalism, gentrification, social polarisation, and transience; see Krätke; Sennet, 1998. The related spatial theory of the Creative City is defined by Hospers; addressed by Benneworth & Hospers; critiqued by Waitt & Gibson.

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A N A NT I D O T E TO TO U RISM Venice is one of the few cities in the world where visitors are regularly surprised to discover a living community.8 The image of crumbling, flooded and besieged Venice is entirely at odds with the identity of the surrounding city-region, which is “among the most dynamic and productive cities in Europe.” Instead of competing internally, these ‘industrial metaclusters’ form a matrix of complementary specialisms.9 At present, Venice is recognised for cultural heritage, tourism and environmental sustainable development research,10 but the city is also a highly desirable location for service industries, conferences and meetings, due to its prestige and exposure: “Venice multiplies the value of things”.11 The university sector is well-established within the centro storico; despite the overbearing emphasis on tourism, there is significant innovation occurring in the ancient city. Venice hosts a myriad of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) [see Figure 18]; its local institutions are the last remaining large enterprises within the city.12

The

trend for foreign HEIs to set up offices and research institutes in the centro storico is evidence of Venice’s appeal to the sector: Columbia University, the University of Virginia run their own summer schools in the centro storico; the University of Warwick has run its autumn History of Art semester in Venice since 1967. Universities are well documented sub-national economic development mechanisms; the sector is ideally suited to address the city’s economic issues.13 If Venice can use its celebrity status to build on the international reputation of its local universities, it will be able to develop an embedded knowledge economy which fosters the city’s existing institutional infrastructure.14 In contrast to the degenerative ‘vicious circle’ of downgrading services produced by tourism, knowledge-driven development stimulates a ‘virtuous cycle’ which systematically upgrades urban amenities.15 Venice’s university sector can counterbalance the

8. Minca & Oakes. 9. OECD, p. 11, 43-46; Waitt & Gibson. 10. OECD, p. 46. 11. Damien Hirst explaining his decision to exhibit in the city in Corriere, 2018. 12. Van den Berg & Russo; Russo & Sans 13. Lawton Smith; Goddard & Vallance. Educated young people are the core of the ‘creative class’; academic communities are a strategic resource in knowledge-driven development and, due to ‘knowledge spillover’, the sector has a wider impact on local growth than private R&D departments. See Jacobs, 1970; Russo & Sans; Amin & Thrift; Lang & Weik. 14. This will mitigate the potential transience of knowledge-related development highlighted by Sennet, 1998. 15. Jacobs, 1970; Russo & Sans; Russo.

029


PRIMARY UNIVERSITY LOCATION SECONDARY UNIVERSITY LOCATION 0

250

FIGURE 19

030

500m

UNI VERSI TI ES I N THE CENTR O S T O R I C O SOURCES

Van den Berg & Russo IUAV, Sedi dell’Ateneo Ca’ Foscari, Mappe Unive


The largest of Venice’s HEIs are Ca’ Foscari, Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) and Venice International University (VIU).

CA’ FOSCARI Ca’ Foscari is Venice’s largest and oldest university, named after the historic palazzo Ca’ Foscari which houses its administrative centre. Today, Ca’ Foscari has around 15,000 students and is networked regionally, with schools and departments on the terraferma in Mestre, Treviso, Oriago and Roncade.

IUAV IUAV is a world-renowned architecture school with around 9,000 students. Its former staff include the prominent modernist architect Carlo Scarpa, two mayors of Venice, and the current Vice President of the VEGA project.

VIU VIU is a new university model, formed in 1995 as a consortium of 17 partner institutions from around the world. It hosts 270 students a year for interdisciplinary study programmes and research projects but, unlike a more traditional university, cannot certify qualifications independently. This allows it to be more flexible and responsive to changing global challenges and its local context.

OTHER The Accademia di Belle Arti and Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello are also particularly renowned, despite their smaller size.

031


negative effects of tourism and integrate the centro storico within the innovative regional identity, embracing its role as an international emporium, regional downtown and global focal point for pertinent research initiatives. Embedded within their locality,16 the Venetian universities are powerful catalysts for urban and cultural renewal: in addition to the institutional restoration of postindustrial buildings, the student population provides a ‘wedge’ between local and international cultures and generates an alternative image of the city.17 These developments not only stimulate the attractiveness of the city as an innovation centre, but generate what Russo & Sans term ‘landscapes of creativity’.18 Due to their pattens of city-use, these student-driven cultural landscapes begin to reverse the degenerative cycle associated with mass tourism by appealing to the small, but economically significant, ‘post-tourist’ demographic. This tourist sub-set seeks ‘authentic’ experience via meaningful interaction with local social fabrics, rather than consumption through the idealised tourist gaze.19 This ‘posttourist’ demographic is small (comprising 10 percent of visitors) but significant given the longer period of time these tourists spend in the centro storico and their contributions to the socio-economic life of the city. As such, the demographic and socio-economic changes inherent within the growing student population cultivate a more sustainable tourist identity which deconstructs and actively negates the nostalgic tourist image of the city.20 The growth of the Venetian university sector in the weakened social fabric of the centro storico has not been without friction; the regeneration potential of Venice’s HEIs was overshadowed for decades by the absence of a consistent spatial strategy and a substantial lack of support from the Municipality. The student population was falsely blamed for the centro storico’s residential exodus and the Municipality treated any expansion of the sector as a problem rather than a potential lifeline until the mid-1990s.21 The subsequent Piano Regolatore of 1996 [see Figure 21] sparked a significant burst of university-based development and reorganisation within the Municipality.22 As the most recent, large-scale, ‘knowledge-focused’ development in the Municipality, the VEGA Science and 16. Van den Berg & Russo highlight the embedded nature of Venetian institutions. 17. Student populations bring about cultural change and social innovation; Chatterton; van den Berg & Russo. 18. See Mommaas for links between student populations and the conditions for creative clusters. 19. Russo & Sans, pp. 165, 169. Ashworth & Tunbridge expand on the tourist gaze and the perceived authenticity of heritage. 20. Minca & Oakes; Russo & Sans, p. 170.

032


FIGURE 20

PO ST- I NDUSTRI AL CO TO NI FI C I O R E S TO R E D A N D U S E D B Y I U AV

Technology Park in the district of Marghera has been an influential case study for this project [see Appendix]. The significant investments in the university sector successfully concentrated the university amenities in the west of the centro storico, simplifying mobility between the facilities and generating a vibrant student-based cultural atmosphere.23 However, this consolidation coincided with the spontaneous explosion of the mass-tourism industry, driven by the birth of the internet, the magnitude of which could not have been foreseen; the Venetian HEIs were incapable of undertaking the necessary scale jump to match the accelerated pace of globalised market forces. 21. The student population was viewed by residents as a colonising force akin to tourism in its replacement of local activities with imported, ephemeral ones. The 1995 report (by Bonifacio & Vassallo) illustrated the highly segmented nature of the Venetian housing market and effectively resolved this conflict by identifying it as a ‘false problem’. Russo & Sans, p. 167; Van den Berg & Russo. 22. Benevolo. See also Plant, p. 430-2. 23. Russo & Sans, p. 169.

033


SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

6

3

1

1995

VIU FACILITIES, SAN SERVOLO

2

1996

COTONIFICIO IUAV, SANTA MARTA

3

1996

VEGA, MARGHERA

4

2003

MAGAZZINI IUAV, SANTA MARTA

5

2014

CA’ FOSCARI SAN GIOBBE, CANNAREGIO

6

2018

CA’ FOSCARI CMCC, MARGHERA

The 1996 Piano Regolatore represented the first coherent attempt to assess the spatial implications of prioritising new industries and plan university settlements according to a vision. The economic weight of the Municipality was reorganised around either end of the causeway connecting Venice to the terraferma, which eases transport between the economic poles. The Marittima-Tronchetto site is ideally located to form an additional pole within the centro storico.

034


ECONOMICS

5

4

2

HUMAN SCIENCES & LITERATURE

MAJOR RECENT RESTORATION PROJECTS

1

LOCAL UNIVERSITY LOCATIONS 0

1

2 km

FIGURE 2 1 THE PI ANO REG O LATO RE AND V E N E T I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S

S OURCES

Benevolo Van den Berg & Russo IUAV, Sedi dell’Ateneo Ca’ Foscari, Mappe Unive

035


The project presented in this paper explores an expansion of Venice’s university sector, to counterbalance the burgeoning tourism industry and fulfil its potential for the cultural regeneration of the city. The masterplan relates to a specific site of symbolic and pragmatic significance: the Marittima-Tronchetto area of Santa Marta. The contentious location is a microcosm of Venetian economic and political tensions. The two islands are the site of Venice’s former commercial port; they now 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.24 Following years of protests and heightened tensions within the city, it was agreed in 2017 that cruise liners should no longer dock within the centro storico, due to their damaging impact on the lagoon and Venice’s historic fabric. By 2022, the cruise ships will no longer dock at the Marittima, but there is little consensus as to how this will be achieved: while the decision came from Rome, its execution must be handled by the Municipal and regional governments.25 When it is enacted, relocation of the cruise industry will signal a shift in Venice’s relationship with mass-tourism and allow for the positive redevelopment of the Marittima-Tronchetto site. The project masterplan speculates on a future for the area, driven by the needs of Venice’s university sector. The cultivation of a new student landscape on the site will overcome its association with tourism and rekindle the site’s history as an international emporium; this time as a global marketplace for ideas. The university sector is the ideal mediator for a city caught between global interests and the needs of its local population.26 To overcome the current climate of diplomatic inertia, the development consortium will be university-led, with the three main Venetian HEIs as the majority stakeholders.27 While the primary model for urban regeneration is partnership between city governments and private developers, the proposed development will benefit from a wealth of expertise, cutting-edge research and a measure of political impartiality. This will allow the development to span a far longer timescale than a single electoral cycle and avoid the political interference which derailed the VEGA project [see Appendix].28

24. Commercial shipping activities relocated to Marghera in 1917. 25. De Marco, interviewed by author. See also Settis, pp. 128-144; Fersuoch; Tattara. 26. Goddard & Vallance, p. 156; Benneworth & Hospers. 27. The specifics of the project procurement was the subject of a previous submission, see Project Implementation Report. 28. Logan & Molotch; Russo & Sans. Castles & Hall highlight the length of time necessary to incubate a successful innovation centre is, at minimum, 10-15 years; p. 230.

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FIGURE 22

CRUI SE SHI PS USED TO PAS S D O WN T H E G R A N D C A N A L

FIGURE 23

CRUI SE SHI PS DO CKED AT T H E M A R I T T I M A S I T E

Cruise ship tourism only accounts for two percent of the visitors to Venice; as such it cannot be blamed for Venice’s unsustainable relationship with ‘hit-and-run’ tourists. It is, however, the most visible and the most environmentally damaging form of tourism, which is why it has been subject to significant protests.

037


FISH MARKET FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET

NEW TERMINAL BUILDINGS FERRY TERMINAL

FERRY ROUTE FUSINA - LIDO

VAPORETTO LINE 2 / N 0

0.25

0.5 km

VAPORETTO LINES 4.1 / 4.2 & 5.1 / 5.2 RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE PEOPLE MOVER ROADS EXISTING UNIVERSITY FACILITIES LAND LEASED BY THE PORT AUTHORITY

FIGURE 24 -SI TE PLAN AS EXI STI NG The Marittima-Tronchetto site is on the transport axis to the terraferma (and the VEGA campus), connected to the student area in Santa Marta and easily accessible from the economics campus in San Giobbe, making it an ideal position for a new innovation pole.

038


In-depth political involvement is not necessary to secure the success of the development, provided the Municipality does not actively block the development proposals. In Technopoles of the World, Castells & Hall point out that Cambridge has successfully transformed 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.29 In contrast, the development of the university sector in Venice’s centro storico is in accordance with both regional development policy and the Piano Regolatore. The project imagines a prominent role for Venice International University (VIU) in the development. This new university model [see Figure 19], lacks the rigidity of a more traditional, disciplinary-based institution. As such, VIU can address the limitations of Venice’s traditional HEIs and act as a responsive, intermediate body which bridges the needs of the contemporary city and its knowledge-based innovation activities, accelerating the rate of change in the sector.30 At present, VIU is located on the island of San Servolo; its campus is highly beneficial for its intensive programmes but presents a major challenge to its expansion and continuing relevance to the socio-cultural fabric of the centro storico. The island lacks basic service amenities (such as a grocery shop and evening leisure facilities) and is poorly connected to the rest of the city: boats to the island are relatively infrequent and do not run throughout the night. Longer-term students are already opting to reside in the centro storico and commute to the island for classes.31 The pressures from tourism are felt acutely on San Servolo: in the last five years it has become increasingly difficult for the university to reserve accommodation on the island. While VIU’s academic spaces are leased from the Municipality, the accommodation on the island is managed by a service company which is increasingly renting the rooms for higher prices on booking. com. VIU’s 30 year lease for its academic facilities expires in 2025; the university is actively considering its future options beyond this point.32 This paper imagines a future for VIU within the centro storico. The proposed masterplan will provide the scale jump necessary for VIU to step confidently into the city and oppose the primacy of tourism. 29. Cambridge has only been a global centre for innovation and technology industries since the 1970s. Castells & Hall, pp. 99-100. 30. Goddard & Vallance argue for an ‘intermediary body’ which can mediate between more traditional university frameworks and their local socio-economic context; pp.151-2. 31. Giupponi & McLaughlin, interviewed by author. 32. Ibid.

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THE S TU D E N T I N T H E C IT Y Higher education was conceived as a primary economic function of the centro storico in the late nineteenth century and today represents “one of the city’s most vital assets, producing revenues, jobs and other intangible benefits.”33 Venice’s dense urban fabric was not suited to the heavy industrial processes which characterised the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but the nature of industry has now changed; the city is ideally suited to this place-, rather than cost- and material-driven, economic model.34

When analysed according to Hospers’

criteria for a Creative City - ‘concentration’, ‘diversity’, and ‘instability’ - it is clear to see why Venice has been such an historically productive and innovative city: the centro storico provides dense urban fabric with a high concentration of educational and cultural institutions, metropolitan diversity, and the dynamic instability of its tidal lagoon environment.35 The street intimacy of the pedestrian city offers an unparalleled academic urban environment. However, while Venice holds enviable global prominence, the dominance of the city’s brochure-ready tourist image, combined with its inflated accommodation costs and limited employment opportunities, have limited the international reach and desirability of the city as an innovation hub.36 This is most clearly illustrated by the student statistics: the vast majority of students attending Venice’s universities come from within the Veneto region [see Figure 25]. The large-scale redevelopment of the Marittima-Tronchetto site offers an opportunity to address the international image of the city directly. The proposed development will provide the necessary services and cost-appropriate accommodation, signal a vote of confidence in a ‘modern’ Venice and allow the city to transcend the local sphere and mature into a globally recognised ‘marketplace of ideas’. A competitive student city cannot be sustained without a stable community. The high prices, low availability and poor quality of housing in the centro storico have long been a significant driver of contemporary depopulation trends. The lack of student accommodation is consistently highlighted as the most pressing restriction on the growth of Venice’s university sector.37 This sector is particularly 33. Van den Berg & Russo. 34. Florida; Adelaja et al. 35. Hospers pp. 149-151. The concept of the Creative City, outlined by Hospers, has been subject to critique, largely due to the resultant normative approach to city planning, see Wait & Gibson. 36. Hospers highlights the importance of city identity and marketing in the creation of a Creative City; pp. 152-3. 37. Da Mosto et al; Van den Berg & Russo; Russo & Sans.

040


CA’ FOSCARI STUDENTS 79.6 %

ITALIAN

18.5 %

INTERNATIONAL

1.9 %

INTERNATIONAL

3.3 %

ITALIAN

27.3 %

VENETO REGION

69.4 %

7 700

7 300

VENETO REGION

FUORI SEDI STUDENTS

17 400

IUAV STUDENTS

FIGURE 25

O RI G I NS AND FUO RI SEDI ST U D E N T S SOURCES

Van den Berg & Russo Da Mosto et al

As a result of high accommodation costs and the restricted availability of suitable accommodation, the majority of Venetian students commute from within the Veneto region; only 29 percent are fuori sedi students: those who live independently within the city for the duration of their studies. Addressing this is a key factor in the Ca’ Foscari Strategic Development Plan, which aims to increase its international student body and intake from beyond Veneto to 10 and 40 percent respectively by 2020.38

vulnerable to pressures from tourism: the recent regulatory changes and birth of internet booking platforms, like Air BnB, have had a significant impact on the availability and cost of student housing in the last twenty years [see Figure 26]. The most recent comprehensive study, undertaken in 2004, found that although 8,000 students wanted to live in Venice, more than 50 percent were unable to find suitable or affordable accommodation.39 This unmet demand is significant. 38. Ca’Foscari, 2016. 39. Da Mosto et al, p. 18.

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Regional Law L. 431/98 allowed private owners to rent to the tourist market. This successfully reduced the dereliction of the centro storico but caused property prices to more than double between 2000 and 2010, effectively accelerating the process of depopulation. Renting to students was once attractive to landlords but this policy change had a profound effect on the student housing market.40 While only one of many tourist rental sites, analysis of Air BnB data clearly illustrates how the tourism industry is inflating the real estate market in Venice. The listings illustrated only include those which are classes as having ‘high availability’ (more than 90 days a year). Addressing the lack of student accommodation is central to Ca’ Foscari’s development plan; they aim to provide 1,000 new bedspaces by 2020 and are currently constructing two new accommodation complexes (in Santa Marta and San Giobbe) which will provide 800 bedspaces.41

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Venice’s universities will be unable to attract increasing numbers of fuori sede students (those who move to, and live temporarily in, Venice for a period of study) until the city can accommodate them.42 In the meantime, those attending the Venetian universities from the regional hinterlands are forced to commute and are therefore unable to gain the same benefits from the city, in terms of library use, access to institutional facilities and the attendance of cultural and sporting events. This not only limits the cultural regeneration capacity of the student population, as commuting students don’t have time to engage in cultural activities, but adversely affects their university performance. In The Student City, Van den Berg & Russo stress the key role of student experience in the cultivation of a successful student city image; integral to this is the extent to which students feel supported and integrated within the cultural identity.43 Venice’s ‘attraction capacity’ is waning, with regional students preferring the new alternative faculties in Padua, Verona and Udine.44 The masterplan [see Figure 27] seeks to redress this deficit through the provision of 4,000 new student bedspaces on the Marittima-Tronchetto site. A significant growth in the ‘forever young’ fuori sede student population would rebalance the ageing demographic of the centro storico and rejuvenate the culture of the city. However, the retention of graduates is key to the long-term sustainability of the sector. The outflow of students from a city after graduation represents a significant cost to the local community: permanent residents bear the initial costs for the university infrastructure and then fail to profit from the return in human capital.45 In Venice, increased graduate retention would serve to sustainably address contemporary depopulation trends with a less fluid, and more embedded population. The three main factors which determine students’ choices following graduation are: their experience of the city during their studies, local job prospects and viable housing options.46 The proposed increase in suitable student accommodation will successfully integrate the student community within

40. See Van den Berg & Russo; Da Mosto et al, p. 59. 41. Ca’ Foscari, 2016; Giupponi & McLaughlin, interviewed by author. 42. This is the student demographic which has the highest impact on the cultural landscapes of the city. 43. The main criteria to be considered when developing a student city are as follows: student attraction (city marketing), student assistance (services which aid students during their period of study), student housing, empowering the students (providing a sense of citizenship for the student community), student integration (providing opportunities for contact between the student and host communities), graduate retention (maintaining graduates within the city after their studies); Van den Berg & Russo. 44. Van den Berg & Russo.

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the social fabric of the city and therefore improve students’ experience while studying in Venice. The construction of the new district, and its use thereafter, will provide a range of employment opportunities in a variety of sectors. The masterplan delivers a wealth of commercial office space, at a variety of different scales, and five new research centres.47 These new facilities will dramatically increase the number of research-orientated positions and provide suitable spaces for associated start-up initiatives within the centro storico, producing a range of longer-term employment opportunities for graduates. Attempts to address Venice’s shortage of housing have, to date, largely been centred on ATER and efforts to increase the number of student bedspaces.48 These strategies fail to address the lack of low cost accommodation for the lower-income middle class, which includes recent graduates, who do not qualify for social housing but still find the rapidly increasing accommodation prices in the centro storico prohibitive. The masterplan responds to the shortage of affordable housing with the provision of 600 subsidised dwellings for recent graduates. The cost of these units will be offset by the profits accrued from the construction of 1,500 marketrate dwellings. Venice’s reputation as a international centre for research cannot be constructed without world-class academics. The relatively low salaries in Italian academia have so far limited the international competitiveness of Venice’s higher education sector.49 Venice’s prominence and desirability make holding a position in the city an attractive prospect, but such positions must be supported by viable salaries, practical facilities and suitable accommodation options. The adaptable framework of the VIU model allows for greater flexibility in employment policies; many academics hold dual positions, subsidising the available pay.

The

aforementioned housing shortages also affect the wider academic community: Venice’s universities cannot attract leading international academics without a stable base of accommodation. The new district provides 750 subsidised residential units for key academic workers. These constitute a mix of dwelling types: from homes for relocating families to rooms for those who will split their time between the centro storico and other cities around the world. 45. Felsenstein. 46. Van den Berg & Russo. 47. See Chapter 3. 48. ATER largely provides social housing. 49. Low salaries are the result of chronic underfunding and low tuition fees: in contrast to the almost standard £9,250 course fees per annum for undergraduates in the UK, an EU undergraduate at Ca’ Foscari pays only €1,844 per year; a masters student pays €2,061. Ca’ Foscari, 2019.

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SCUOLA GRANDE MARITTIMA NURSERIES INTERNATIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL POLICE STATION SPORTS FACILITIES HEALTHCARE FACILITY NIGHT CLUB PUBLIC PARK AND GARDENS IMPROVED TRANSPORT CIRCULATION AND ACCESS

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INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT

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F IGU RE 2 8


CHAPTER 3 REIMAGINING THE CITY C O N T I N U I T Y,

C R E A T I V I T Y,

CURIOSITY

Venice’s history is one of multiculturalism; the cultural porosity of the Venetian Republic is rendered in the patchwork of architectural motifs expressed in its stones.1 Contemporary Venice has lost this capacity for cultural absorption in its physical realm;2 the rigidity of the city’s built form has resulted in a static self-image, resistant to external influences.

Overwhelmed by the cultural

appropriation of mass-tourism, contemporary Venice is losing its capability for cultural inclusivity.3 “Diversity produces segregation, physical and social, rather than commonalities. Yet a city that is to function effectively and efficiently needs some degree of cohesion.”4

1. De Maria, p. 3. 2. UNESCO, 1969, p. 103. Today, this can be seen in the loss of confidence in contemporary additions to the city, highlighted in Goffi’s analysis of the ‘apologetic prosthetics’ which adorn Venice’s monuments. 3. Halbwachs, pp. 131-134; Casarini argues that Venice’s historical inheritance has resulted in an ethos of ‘neutral ethnocentrism’ in the resident population. 4. Blokland et al, p. 125.

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In a globalised world, diversity is a reality of contemporary life. Venice’s aptitude for cultural cohesion, and its ability to cultivate an ‘open’ city image, is vital to its success as a competitive, globally renowned innovation centre. ‘Open’ cities are not only receptive to inflows of technology, skills and knowledge, but are attractive to foreign talent; the growth of Venice’s immigrant population is necessary to counteract contemporary depopulation trends, provide skilled knowledge workers and stimulate a diverse and creative atmosphere.5 The previous chapter assessed the programmatic requirements for a new district which will revitalise Venice’s built environment and address the spatial limitations which currently restrict the growth of the city’s university sector. To be successful, this addition must become integrated within the socio-cultural make-up of the existing city. The spatial and social isolation of knowledge-driven developments is a prominent theme in academic discourse.6 Cambridge is a prime example of a flourishing knowledge economy that has resulted in extreme demographic and social polarisation: it is currently Britain’s most ‘unequal city’.7 Venice is too famous, and the tourist image of the city too pervasive, for a new, distinct identity to flourish: Venice’s image can only be addressed if the new socio-economic identity is woven into the existing cultural fabric of the city. This chapter formulates a series of design considerations and strategies which will govern the implementation of the Marittima-Tronchetto development, merging its innovative identity with the image of the city and embedding the new facilities and student community within Venice’s socio-cultural fabric. A sensitive design approach has been formulated according to Berry’s acculturation theory and in response to Venice’s contemporary socio-political context.8 Acculturation is a two-way interaction between socio-cultural groups which requires ‘mutual accommodation’; the communication of reciprocal benefits between parties is essential to ensure receptive attitudes.9 The creation of a cohesive cultural identity is not a reductive exercise.

In the nineteenth century, Venice was

simultaneously the ‘playground of Europe’ - capital of the Grand Tour, den of sensuous frivolity and vice - and the centre of European publishing, home to 5. 6. 7. 8.

Krätke, pp. 77-78. ‘Town and gown’ is explored by McGirr et al; Bruning et al; Gumprecht. Ferguson, The Guardian, 2018. Acculturation is “the fundamental issue of how collectivities, be they empires, nation states, communities or institutions, work out how to relate to each other, ideally through a process of negotiation in order to avoid conflict.” Berry, 2005, p. 698. 9. Berry, 1997, p. 28.

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some of the greatest thinkers and architects of the Enlightenment. Venice’s tourist industry is as much a part of the answer to the city’s issues as it is the source of its problems. This chapter explores the Biennale as a mechanism to rehabilitate Venice’s tourist image and use it to re-establish the centro storico’s capacity for cultural absorption in its physical fabric.

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THE CI V I C U N I V E R S I T Y The large-scale, knowledge-based developments of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries are generally science parks, situated on urban peripheries. While this trend seemed to make economic sense, the resulting environments have tended to lack the density of social interaction engendered by humanscale design and have little, if any, intercommunication with local communities.10 The relationship between these isolated developments and ‘place’ is limited; they are therefore more transient. This disconnect with the local socio-cultural context increases the potential for conflicts with the ‘host’ community, who see increased competition on land use and bear the costs of the infrastructure, but perceive little benefit.11 As the limitations of science parks have become increasingly apparent, knowledge-based development trends have taken an ‘urban turn’.12 The conflicts inherent in the growth of a university sector can be eased by embedding facilities within city fabrics; creating ‘civic universities’, as defined by Goddard & Vallance.13 These institutions provide mutual benefits for the student population and local community, and effectively communicate these values.14 The Venetian universities have always had strong community ties and these have only strengthened in the last 30 years.15 The masterplan proposes new research facilities for VIU, embedded within a mixed-use, demographically diverse community. The design approach has been carefully considered to ensure the accessibility of the new facilities to a range of user groups and avoid the development’s isolation. While spatial proximity to, and dispersal within, the urban fabric of a city is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of an embedded institution, it is not sufficient in and of itself. Studies have shown that student demographics have distinct patterns of social behaviour. While science students tend to be more introverted, with student activity centred around laboratories and benefitting from campus life, humanities students are far more active in the local socio-cultural environment and are therefore more likely to become embedded within local social fabrics.16 As such, the new district complements the existing science campus in Marghera 10. VEGA [see Appendix] & H-Farm are key examples within the region. 11. Van den Berg & Russo. 12. Russo & Sans, p. 164. 13. A ‘civic university’ is an institution which is engaged with its surrounding urban entity and generates public benefits for society rather than merely profit; Goddard & Vallance, p. 6. 14. In accordance with Berry’s theory, see 1997, p. 28; see also Bruning et al. 15. See Van den Berg & Russo.

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SITE NEWCASTLE CITY CENTRE URBAN AREA

FIGURE 29

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and focuses instead on the humanities student demographic and areas of interdisciplinary study. The value of living in Venice for these students is selfevident; the increase in humanities students will make productive use of Venice’s cultural assets, beyond their visual consumption by tourism. There are plenty of examples of metropolitan universities which provide vibrant cultural facilities within larger cities.17 As an embedded, urban HEI expansion in a medium-sized city,18 Newcastle University’s Helix development has been a key case study for the project [see Figure 29]. The off-campus location and interdisciplinary focus assists interactions with external actors (like the NHS) and the community.19 Goddard & Vallance highlight the importance of crossdisciplinary research fields in the creation of a civic university: the researchers form a connection between internal and external structures and have distinct behaviour patterns within the academic community.20 The institutions selected for the Marittima-Tronchetto development reflect strong, commercially viable areas of interdisciplinary study at VIU [see Figure 30]. These areas of research are all relevant to Venice; this association feeds the competitive desirability of the institutions and heightens awareness of Venice’s contemporary issues, while actively working to research solutions. A ‘hard’ presence within the centro storico will focus and promote VIU’s interdisciplinary research but, perhaps 16. Ibid. 17. The University of Greenwich and the University of Westminster, in London, are two good examples. 18. Both Venice and Newcastle are classed as medium-sized cities: the Municipality of Venice has a population of 261,905; the population of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is 268,064; (2018). 19. Goddard & Vallance, pp. 95-7. 20. Ibid, p. 151.

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THE NEW RESEARCH I NSTI T U T E S


more importantly, the institutions’ situation within a mixed-use urban quarter will provide a more permeable interface for interaction between the institutions, private business actors 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 science park environment. It would be inappropriate, and entirely unrealistic, to attempt to implement the masterplan in a single phase. The imposition of such a large development would sit strangely in Venice’s urban fabric, which has been incrementally added to, altered and adapted over the centuries [see Figure 31]. In addition, the recent tendency for ambitious, large-scale projects within the Municipality of Venice to stall during their first phase of work has made an incremental phasing strategy, which provides future flexibility, a primary concern for the Marittima-Tronchetto development.21 As such, the masterplan is phased so as to “design the rug not the picnic”;22 to avoid stagnation of the project if later phases are significantly delayed or fail to materialise. The design takes inspiration from the phasing of the university-led, mixed-use development Cambridge North West. Due to its

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The growth of Venice as we it see today can be loosely categorised into four phases: the initial nuclear development pattern centred on church institutions and the campo; the fourteenth century linear additions to the north and west of the city; the significant nineteenth century alterations; and the large-scale reclamations from the beginning of the twentieth century.

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peripheral location, the initial phase of this 150 hectare development established a community (now completed and dubbed Eddington) which has sufficient civic infrastructure to be populated independently of later development phases [see Figure 32 & 33]. This permits flexibility in the subsequent 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.23

The

Marittima-Tronchetto development is designed to be implemented over a period of 50-100 years. This extended timescale allows for a multiplicity of designers, guided by a clear but flexible set of agreed design parameters, to add to the site incrementally, echoing the many-authored appeal of the historic city. The initial phase of the Marittima-Tronchetto development is university-led and will be largely financed with EU funding.24 It establishes the new research institutions and a diverse, critical mass community. This first phase provides the necessary infrastructure and is sufficiently connected to the rest of the centro storico to be populated independently of later additions [see Figure 34]; creating a thriving new research district for Venice. Design plays an important role in public accessibility: allocating ‘public space’ adjacent to institutional buildings does little to engage with a variety of user groups.25 Boyer analyses the changing role of the public realm in contemporary cities and the impact of gentrification, arguing that a better understanding of how ‘spaces’ link to communities and existing ‘places’ is necessary to create a truly integrated public realm.26 Analysis of Newcastle Helix, lauded in theory by Goddard & Vallance,27 illustrates some potential design pitfalls. The development has struggled to engage with the residents of Newcastle’s deprived west-end, even though this was a core aim of the project. In part, this is a programmatic issue. While the interdisciplinary research centres engage with local business actors and public institutions, the lack of community infrastructure and gentrification of the site give west-end residents little reason to engage with the development;

21. See VEGA Appendix; MOSE is another example. 22. Beigel & Christou, p. 28. 23. North West Cambridge Development, 2018. 24. The funding and procurement of the project has been the subject of a previous submission, see Project Implementation Report. 25. Massey. 26. Boyer, pp. 9-11. 27. The development is referenced throughout The University and the City but was still under construction when the book was published. 28. John Tomaney, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at UCL, interview by Tom Ardron (Newcastle: 17 November 2018)

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FIGURE 32 - CAM 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

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PHASE 1: THE CRI TI CAL M AS S C O M M U N I T Y


those who do are often followed by security officers until they leave.28 While there are residential and commercial elements to the development, the contrast between Helix and the vibrant atmosphere of the Newcastle Life science centre nearby - which combines academic research spaces with a science museum, a variety of activity sessions for a range of ages, a 4D cinema, and a selection of cafes - is particularly telling. Helix’s design aesthetic is also a factor [see Figures 35 - 37]. There is a fine line to be walked when designing a knowledge-based development, which fulfils certain expectations of an innovation centre, without

FIGURE 35 & 36 - NEW CASTLE HELI X PUB L I C R E A L M

The public realm is generous spatially but lacks shops and cafes to populate it.

FIGURE 37 -NEW CASTLE HELI X URBAN S C I E N C E S B U I L D I N G

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creating buildings which feel like elements from a science park that just happen to be situated in an urban context. The corporate feel of the buildings does little to invite interaction from passersby. The accessibility of VIU’s new research centres has been a primary design consideration for the Marittima-Tronchetto development. The two institutions which engage directly with the neighbourhood established in the first phase - the Centre for Ageing Studies and the Institute of Creativity, Innovation and Design were selected for their potential for interaction with the local community. Those facilities which don’t require, or lend themselves so easily towards, community interaction will be absorbed into the district’s urban fabric at a slower pace. The Centre for Ageing Studies will adjoin a care home; a day centre will connect the two and host a cafe for residents of the home, researchers and visiting members of the public. The Institute of Creativity, Innovation and Design will contain a new theatre which will be used for lectures but will also host a series of talks, film screenings and performances in the evenings which are open to the general public. Maintaining the human-scale townscape of the city will be a primary design objective for the project moving forward. The design of threshold spaces which mediate between the industrial scale of the existing warehouse buildings and the finer grain of the residential fabric will be carefully considered. In some places, these thresholds will be dissolved: it will be possible to access the Centre for Ageing from the care home directly via internal circulation routes, blurring the boundary between the university and the city.

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THE LE G A C Y O F TO U R ISM The lengthy implementation timeline of the proposed project makes an intermediate landscaping strategy vital to avoid its stagnation. Once the first phase has established the critical mass community, university facilities, and public access to and across the site; the tourism behemoth, La Biennale di Venezia, will be enlisted to manage the remaining area. The Biennale has been a global cultural event for over 120 years and regularly draws over half a million visitors to Venice. The sheer scale of the event and its ‘high-brow’ appeal mean that those visiting the Biennale should be distinguished from the ‘hit-and-run’ tourist demographic which is so damaging to the city: Biennale visitors tend to stay longer, spend more money and actively engage with Venice’s culture.29 The institution is representative of the more sustainable form of tourism, which contributes to and enriches the local economy and culture. Despite this, the Biennale is not without its detractors; involvement in the Marittima-Tronchetto project will allow the institution to address certain criticisms. The Biennale’s international outlook, contemporary cultural focus and educational inflection make it the ideal associate for the new innovation district; the partnership will utilise Venice’s tourism industry to cultivate the growth of the city’s innovation sector. In this way, the industry will contribute to the future of the living city, regenerate a site synonymous with harmful mass-tourism, and rejuvinate the creative and curious side of contemporary Venice. At present, the area of the site to be taken on by the Biennale is owned by the state government and managed by the national Port Authority. The Biennale has a history of regenerating previously state-owned sites of historic maritime importance (in its renovation of the Arsenale) and is a well-oiled mechanism for restoration within the centro storico. While the first phase of the development will be largely financed with EU funding, the Biennale is supported by its revenues and grants from the national government. The current President of the organisation has advocated a policy of expansion which has spread the Biennale far beyond the confines of the Giardini and Arsenale [see Figure 38].30 These advances 29. Da Mosto, interviewed by author; Van der Borg, interviewed by author. 30. President Barratta (1998-2001, 2008-today).

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SITES OCCUPIED BY THE BIENNALE INDEFINITELY BUILDINGS OCCUPIED BY THE BIENNALE INDEFINITELY EXTERNAL SITES USED IN 2017 & 2018 EXTERNAL SITES USED IN 2017 EXTERNAL SITES USED IN 2018 BIENNALE HQ USED SINCE 2010 0

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CORDERIE

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Owned by the state and largely derelict, the Arsenale was once the beating heart of the Venetian Republic; home to the shipyards and armouries which provided the Republic’s naval power. Restoration efforts by the Biennale have seen the renovation of the Teatro alle Tese (2000), Teatro Piccolo Arsenale (2000) and the Giardino delle Vergini (2009). In 2013, the Italian state gifted two-thirds of the Arsenale site to the city of Venice; the southern half of this new area was given to the Biennale. It has continued its restoration works and opened the first section of the Sale d’Armi to the public in 2015. As more and more of the Arsenale is restored, more of this significant historic site is opened to the public for the first time in Venice’s history.

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have allowed pavilions to engage with the local community and opened hidden corners of the city to the public.31 But this expansion is a source of tension: in a city which is already choked by unregulated tourism, there is an air of resentment towards an institution whose dominance tends to block less seasonal, and nontourism related, forms of productive activity. With the main (Art and Architecture) events spanning more than six months of every year, some feel as though the city is constantly either hosting or preparing to host the next display-based cultural activity.32 The Biennale may be actively restoring sites of historic significance, but these spaces remain held in stasis for exhibition use, contributing to the ‘museumification’ of the city. The Biennale’s expansion onto the Marittima-Tronchetto site will provide flexible opportunities for interaction with the local community, while taking on a site which (due to its significant scale) does not lend itself to alternative intermediate uses without considerable and unrealistic investment from the Municipality in construction and management. The Marittima area is currently inaccessible to the public; its use by the Biennale will allow the public to engage with this phase in Venice’s history, an important part of the city’s recent maritime past.33 Unlike the Giardini, most of the parkland will be open throughout the year; public access will be ensured by making entrance tickets to the site annual. This will make little difference to tourists visiting the Biennale, but will allow the local community to use the site casually as a place to walk dogs and for children to play. The masterplan is divided into a sequence of development plots [see Figure 39] so areas can be incrementally released from the Biennale, and redeveloped as the funding is secured and the need for further amenities arises. This strategy reverses the contemporary museumification of the city: instead of preserving buildings and removing them from local usage, the exhibition spaces will be appropriated by the local community as the development grows. Expo architecture is renowned for its high levels of material consumption and mixed legacies.34 While some architectural pieces have been successfully retained or reused in Venice following the Biennale [see Figure 40], the bureaucracy involved 31. Recent examples include the Caserma Pepe former barracks on the Lido (French pavilion) and the courtyard at Palazzo Zenobio (Scottish pavilion) during the 2018 Architecture Biennale. 32. Pastor, interviewed by author; Da Mosto, interviewed by author. 33. Commercial shipping was originally based on the Riva degli Schiavoni, which acted as the city’s port from 600-1880. The expansion of the shipping industry resulted in the construction of the Marittima area, which hosted Venice’s commercial port from 1880-1917. 34. Cull, p. 100-1.

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MARINA INFILL HOUSING TO BE CONSTRUCTED AS IJBURG, AMSTERDAM (SEE IMPLEMENTATION REPORT)

BIENNALE PARKLAND PERMANENT PAVILIONS DEVELOPMENT PLOT BOUNDARIES

EXISTING BRICK WAREHOUSE TO BE RESTORED AND USED FOR BIENNALE

FIGURE 3 9 THE BI ENNALE AND FUTURE D E V E L O P M E N T P L O T S The plots have been designed to maximise the uninterrupted Biennale site use for as long as possible.

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FIGURE 4 0 - T HE BI ENNALE I N THE CI TY

Massimo Scolaris’ ‘wing’ sculpture from the 1991 Biennale was relocated to the roof of the IUAV Cotonificio.

is prohibitive and limiting.35 The new Biennale parkland will feature both temporary and permanent architectural and landscape elements; these will be maintained by the money raised from ticketing. Leading architects will be commissioned to design pavilions within the landscape; these architectural contributions will secure global media attention and, therefore, private funding streams for the future of the development. To reflect the original, multi-centred morphology of the historic city, these permanent pavilions will become the churches and community centres within the later phases of the development. While it remains flexible in detail, the masterplan will ensure that permanent features (pavilions and trees) are focused on the areas which will later become the campi, campielli and giardini of the future public realm. The Biennale legacy on the site will thus be one of architectural and landscape features, scattered throughout the new district and incorporated into the city’s physical fabric. In this way, Venice’s capacity for cultural absorption will be restored by these architectural elements, references and traces.

35. See We Are Here Venice; Fior, interviewed by author; Da Mosto, interviewed by author.

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F IGU RE 4 1


CHAPTER 4 REINVENTING TRADITION S C U O L A , S Y M B O L , S P E C TA C L E

Venice is a city divided: the accelerated pace of globalisation within the historic city, borne in on the tide of mass tourism, has provoked friction between residents and ‘outsiders’. Social divisions are not inherently negative,1 but social bonds which connect across these primary groups are critical to avoid polarisation.2 A cohesive sense of collective identity connects individuals with a wider community and binds communities to ‘place’. It is also a vital component of economic prosperity: cross-cutting networks increase individuals’ access to information and opportunities, while a strong civic identity increases the socio-economic desirability of a city and stimulates positive, concerted investment.

1. Primary social groups are fundamental to individual identity and the building blocks of society, Tajfel & Turner. 2. Narayan, p. 59-61.

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Social bonds are forged via exposure; ‘social infrastructure’ provides the opportunities for bonds to form.3 In comparison to many cities, Venice has an impressive system of social infrastructure, formed by its dense matrix of campi and abundance of public institutions. “People forge bonds in places that have healthy social infrastructures - not because they set out to build community, but because when people engage in sustained, recurrent interaction, particularly while doing things they enjoy, relationships inevitably grow.”4

The bonds formed by casual, repeated exposure to individuals in the public realm develop slowly and rely on a relatively static population. In the context of increasing residential mobility, and as the public realm in Venice becomes a progressively contested space,5 the value of intermediate semi-public spaces and institutions within the city grows.

These provide critical nodes where

stronger ties are forged via concentrated processes of interchange and shared experience.6 While the previous chapter addressed the mechanisms that will generate and embed the new university facilities within the city, the success of any physical addition to Venice hinges on its inclusion within the city’s imaginary realm. Failure to reconcile these two parts will result in a disconnect similar to that of the centro storico and the terraferma districts: excluded from the narrative of the historic city, the identity of Mestre is separate but entirely subservient to Venice. The result is a ‘non-place’ and competition for resources, residents and recognition.7 The proposed development is not an enclave for ‘modernity’ on the edge of the historic city, but a continuation of the centro storico’s morphology of gradual adaptation and addition.

As such, this chapter proposes a contemporary

reinterpretation of the Venetian scuola grande to be situated within the MarittimaTronchetto development.

This new institution references Venice’s cultural

heritage to anchor the new district, and the community it houses, to the sociocultural fabric of the existing city. Through their practices of civic ritual and 3. ‘Social infrastructure’ is described as the physical conditions and spatial networks which allow interpersonal relationships to develop; Klinenburg. 4. Ibid. 5. See Chapter 1. 6. Amin, p. 9; Blokland et al, pp. 127-8. 7. Pes, pp. 2395-2397; see Introduction, Figure 6.

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charitable efforts the scuole grandi were essential intermediaries in the Venetian Republic’s matrix of social infrastructure. The new scuola will adapt this role to meet contemporary needs, counterbalancing the socio-economic polarisation of Venice and fostering a positive, inclusive, civic identity for the modern city.

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SCUOLA PICCOLA SCUOLA GRANDE 0

250

FIGURE 42

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500m

THE SCUO LE O F VENI CE SOURCE

Gramigna


The scuole piccole were small groups with specific, defined interests. These largely fell into three distinguishable categories of representation:

DEVOTIONI Religious sects

ARTI E MESTIERI Artisanal trade guilds

STRANIERI Foreign communities Often foreign communities would form separate trade guilds for their nationality - for example a scuola of German shoemakers.8 It is impossible to calculate exactly how many scuole existed as they came in and out of being over time and would exist informally until they became sufficiently significant to be recognised. Vio documents archival evidence to support a total of 925 scuole piccole during the entire republican period, though the actual figure may be much higher. An official statistic from 1732 gives a snapshot of how many existed at the same time, alluding to 357 recognised associations.9

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THE CI T Y O F T H E C O L LECT IVE The urban and social fabric of La Serenissima was permeated by a dense network of confraternities, known as scuole [see Figure 42]. The scuole were ‘artificial families’, providing social, financial and religious support networks for Venice’s diverse population; they used religious ceremonies, charitable activities and communal dining to cement ties between members.10 Elevated above the myriad of smaller scuole, or scuole piccole, were the scuole grandi, which began as ascetic flagellant cults in the thirteenth century but evolved into a form of corporate self-government for the cittadino class. As the centuries passed, the religious aspects of the scuole grandi decreased and their socio-civic duties developed, along with their expanding membership. The scuole grandi were exclusive institutions - at the height of their popularity, ten percent of the city were members of the scuole grandi - but their prominent role in the ceremonial culture of the Republic, coupled with their spatial distribution throughout the city, extended their influence far beyond their membership.11 These vital components within the political, social and ceremonial matrix of the Venetian Republic were instrumental in the city’s cohesive civic identity and infamous stability. There are striking similarities between the practices of the scuole and Venice’s contemporary social societies. Even in the context of contemporary depopulation, a vibrant web of intermediate social infrastructure permeates the urban fabric of the centro storico and some localised events have changed very little: in San Pietro di Castello communal dining events are still held in the campo. A plethora of small associations, sports clubs and societies provide critical nodes for interaction based on common interests; these semi-exclusive groups are not dissimilar from the scuole piccole. Institutions such as the Circolo Italo Britannica and the Ateneo Veneto host regular lectures and events, while sports clubs, like the Settemari, continue the competitive rivalry of the scuole and host dinners to cement ties between members.12 Many former scuola piccola meeting houses have been converted into small public libraries, which are well-used and still serve as focal points for a variety of social activities, book launches and dinners. 8. Howard & Fabbri, p. 6. 9. Pullan, 1971, p. 34. 10. Pullan, 1994, p. 15. 11. Most sections of respectable society were represented, but office was reserved for the cittadini. The patriciate could only hold honorary positions. Pullan, 1971, p. 99; 75; 98; Sohm, p. 2. 12. Sohm and Brown emphasise the competitive nature of the scuole. 13. Pullan, 1994, p.21.

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These social nodes provide critical counterpoints to Venice’s public campi and enrich the social life of the city, but despite the dynamic society they sustain, their inward inflection does little to address Venice’s nostalgic external image. The scuole grandi were differentiated from the scuole piccole by their size, public outlook and emphasis on display.13 The public processions of the scuole grandi provided a sense of shared identity, privilege and belonging amongst the scuole’s diverse brotherhood; they disseminated political ideas to Venetian citizens, and promoted the Myth of Venice to visitors to the city.14 In this sense, parallels can perhaps be drawn between the practices of the scuole grandi and the current activist movements in Venice: these groups use theatrical demonstration to convey messages to the wider public and media; they are relatively exclusive and focus on a clearly defined mission, and collaboration between groups is uneasy due to their competing aims and objectives [see Figures 43 - 48].15 The self-conscious cityscape of the centro storico - its human scale, density, porous facades and overlapping circulation - imbues a sense of exposure and theatricality, which is just as relevant now as it was in the sixteenth century. But the inflection of civic ritual has changed significantly since the eighteenth century.16 The main conceptual distinction between the scuole grandi and the present activist movement is their relationship to the state: the scuole grandi were modelled in the image of the Republic, fostering continuity and stability, while the current activist groups are engaged against the state, fighting for change. This shift is due to the democratisation of politics; the result is an image of Venice defined negatively against contemporary issues, rather than a shared, collective vision for its long-term future.17 In lieu of a shared history, which is usually the basis for collective identity, an inclusive sense of commonality can be confirmed via active participation. Ritualistic practices and voluntary organisation were used to cement the collective identity of another famed population of immigrants: the United States of America. Unlike European nationals, this population was American not by birth but by choice.18 For Venice to capitalise on the contributions of not only 14. See Howard & Fabbri, p. 80; Brown; Muir; Sohm, p. 152. 15. Brown details the fights which broke out between the brotherhoods as they jostled for positions within ritual processions; p. 168. Interviews conducted by the author highlighted the difficulties faced in coordinating comtemporary activist groups; Da Mosto; Pastor. 16. Hobsbawm, p. 304-5. 17. Ibid, p. 305; Boyer, p. 480. 18. Klinenburg; Hobsbawm, pp. 269-280.

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FIGURE 43

PRO CESSI O N I N CAM PO SAN L I O , M A N S U E T I 1 4 9 4

FIGURE 44 & 45

CO NTEM PO RARY PRO T E S T D E M O N S T R AT I O N S

The processions of the scuole brought the arteries of the pedestrian city to life and disseminated key political and religious ideas to the wider populace. Contemporary protest demonstrations use similar methods to raise awareness of contemporary issues and garner media attention.

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FIGURE 46

SCUO LA G RANDE DI SAN RO C C O F E A S T, C A N A L E T TO 1 7 3 5

FIGURE 47 & 48

CO M M UNAL DI NI NG EVE N T S O R G A N I S E D B Y A C T I V I S T S

Feast days were used to mark dates of religious or political importance and cement bonds between members. The activist groups also use communal dining in the campo to take ownership of the public realm and foster ties in the local community.

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FIGURE 50

SCUO LA G RANDE DI SAN M A R C O

its international and student communities, but the residents of the Municipality’s terraferma districts, the definition of what it means to ‘be Venetian’ must be expanded, beyond Venetian ancestry or a residency card. The system of scuole was once of particular importance to immigrant groups, offering support and an opportunity to contribute to the socio-cultural vitality of the city;19 it can be again. To choose to be Venetian is to understand and actively participate in the unique social and cultural life of the amphibious city; the scuola provides an avenue by which ‘outsiders’ can be interwoven into the reformulated image of the city. The masterplan proposes the Scuola Grande Marittima, which will sit within the community established in the first phase of the development. This new scuola grande will help Venice’s social associations to thrive in the face of resistance from the Municipality, providing a platform which can mediate between state ministries and local societies. The Scuola will harness the desire for collective 19. Pullan, 1994, p. 15. The management of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco was dominated by naturalised Venetian citizens. In this role, these immigrants not only managed a significant social institution, but contributed to Venice’s built heritage; De Maria.

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1300 SCUOLA DELLA CARITÀ ELEVATED TO GRANDE

1258 1260 1261

SCUOLA DI SAN TEODORO FOUNDED SCUOLA DELLA CARITÀ FOUNDED SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN MARCO FOUNDED SCUOLA GRANDE DI MISERICORDIA FOUNDED SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN GIOVANNI EVANGELISTA FOUNDED

1459

SCUOLA DI SAN FANTIN FOUNDED

1478

SCUOLA DI SAN ROCCO FOUNDED

1573 1594

SCUOLA DELLA BEATA VERGINE DEL SANTISSIMO ROSARIO FOUNDED SCUOLA DEI CARMINI FOUNDED

1806

SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO REFORMED

1960

SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN TEODORO REFORMED

2025

SCUOLA GRANDE MARITTIMA FOUNDED

1344

1400

SCUOLA DI SAN ROCCO ELEVATED TO GRANDE

1489

1500 SCUOLA DI SAN FANTIN ELEVATED TO GRANDE

1533

SCUOLA DI SAN TEODORO ELEVATED TO GRANDE

1552

1600

1700 SCUOLA DELLA BEATA VERGINE DEL SANTISSIMO ROSARIO ELEVATED TO GRANDE SCUOLA DEI CARMINI ELEVATED TO GRANDE

1800

SCUOLE DISBANDED BY NAPOLEON

1765 1767 1806

1900

2000

FIGURE 51

SCUO LE G RANDI TI M ELI NE SOURCES

Gramigna Sohm Vio

The term scuola grandi is usually associated with the first five which were founded and elevated to grande status during the medieval period. These institutions were differentiated from the smaller scuole by their size and influence and defined the architectural typology. To qualify as a scuola grandi, the confraternities had to apply to the state to be allowed to admit more than 500 members and were subject to increased vigilance. As subsequent scuole reached this threshold, a further four scuole were elevated to grande status.

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activity evident in the activist movement, but direct it to create a positive, inclusive vision for Venice’s future, consolidating the community on the basis of commonality, rather than difference.20 The intention is not to replace the activist groups, which are vital to press for the changes the centro storico urgently requires, but to counterbalance the overwhelmingly negative rhetoric by publicly celebrating and showcasing Venice’s innovative and inclusive collective identity. This will address the atmosphere of nostalgia which surrounds the centro storico and allow the city’s community to regain control of their own narrative. The Scuola’s meeting house will draw on the clear architectural typology of the scuole grandi to become a physical symbol of continuity which links Venice’s history, its urban realm and the culture of spectacle. The Marittima-Tronchetto development heals a wound in the urban fabric of the centro storico; regenerating a site synonymous with exploitative mass-tourism. The Scuola Grande Marittima will host a programme of events and festivities designed to engage with the local community and provide a platform for Venice’s innovation activities. Included within the calendar of events will be an annual festival.

Just as the civic ceremonies and processions of La Serenissima

chronicled the contemporary history of the Republic,21 the new Festa will celebrate the inauguration of a new phase in Venice’s history: a rebirth, and the repopulation, of the city. Like the traditional civic processions, the Festa will provide an opportunity for the confraternity to come together, while publicly addressing both the local population and an international audience. The Festa will be timed to coincide with the first Saturday of the vernissage week of the Biennale, a time when Venice is flooded with international visitors. The timing will capitalise on the presence of the international media to showcase the city as a centre for innovation and the sala terrena (ground floor hall) of the Scuola will feature an exhibition to highlight the ongoing research of Venice’s university sector. Unlike the vernissage events, which are exclusively for the cultural elite, the Festa will be designed to attract a wide audience from the local population and welcome them into the new district of their city. The central tenet of the 20. Connections form between individuals on the basis of commonality; Blokland et al, pp. 126-128. 21. Muir.

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FIGURE 52

THE SCUO LA G RANDE DI M I S E R I C O R D I A S A L A T E R R E N A

Festa will be the initiation ceremony for new members, which will occur within the Scuola’s sala capitolare (Chapter Room), but the main event will take place in the adjoining campo. The campo will host a fête, with food stalls and a rollerskating rink (rollerskating is a popular pastime for children in the campi). A treasure hunt throughout the new development and institutional facilities will invite local children and families to explore the new district and university facilities, adding the area to their mental map of the city. The masterplan will take shape over many years; each year there will be something new to explore or discover. The Scuola Grande Marittima will extend Venice’s network of cultural heritage into the new district to foster a sense of the collective who will build a future for Venice together: the new and existing communities combined.

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FIGURE 53

082

THE SCUO LA G RANDE DI SA N G I O VA N N I E VA N G E L I S TA SALA CAPI TO LARE


B UI LDI N G B R I D G E S The early religious brotherhoods, which later became the scuole grandi, were founded on the principle of Charity. Over the centuries, this focus survived their transformation into large, lay confraternities.22 The scuole guaranteed their continuing relevance by adapting to Venice’s contemporary needs: initially the scuole grandi ensured brothers were buried and mourned; they then extended their remit to construct alms houses, hospices and provide medical assistance; later they provided dowry contributions for members’ daughters.23 As their charity became more organised and focused increasingly inwards, the recognition of societal inequality was crucial to their transformation into philanthropic institutions.24 The Scuola acted as a “transmission system” to channel a proportion of the riches of the wealthy members to the poor, relieving the hardship of the poorer brothers and insulating the wealthier cittadini against the fickle nature of mercantile commerce.25 By the sixteenth century, the scuole grandi were “small welfare states” but, despite their charitable focus, the scuole did not aim to be “levelling institutions”: they preserved rather than dissolved the social stratification of the city.26 The Scuola Grande Marittima will retain this “sense of brotherhood and mutual responsibility”,27 but adapt its role for the contemporary city. The scuole were always more than individual buildings, with networks of facilities, business connections and social circles permeating both the physical and invisible cities. The new Scuola will manage a network of community infrastructure throughout the new district and will extend its influence into the existing city over time. Scuola membership will provide a foothold in the city for those who are not legally classed as residents of the centro storico, but are, nonetheless, invested in the future of the city.28 The new Scuola will use its diverse network of members and its international outlook to act as a ‘bridging’ institution for Venice’s innovation sector, providing links between the centro storico’s universities, the Municipality, international private business and the local community.29 These connections will 22. Sohm, p. 2. 23. See Pullan, 1971, pp. 76-63; Pullan 1994, pp. 19-21. 24. Pullan, 1971, p. 76. 25. Ibid, pp. 82-83, (83). 26. Sohm, p. 2; Pullan, 1971, p. 82. 27. Pullan, 1971, p. 63. 28. Members of the international community, student body and residents of the terraferma districts. 29. See ‘quadruple helix model’ in Goddard & Vallance, pp. 148-9; OECD, p. 18.

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foster the hybrid public-private projects which help to subsidise experimental collaboration and allow the new research facilities to function as a ‘civic university’.30 Goddard & Vallance stress the benefits of locating these cooperative efforts around a physical ‘hub’:31 the Scuola Grande Marittima’s meeting house will provide an anchor point around which its activities can centre. This building will form the administrative centre and symbolic focus of the Scuola’s activities and host a variety of events and activities designed to foster the social cohesion of its community. Rather than reinforcing social divisions, the Scuola Grande Marittima will run a series of classes and workshops to challenge socio-economic disadvantages and build a sense of commonality between members through collaboration.32

FIGURE 54

THE SCUO LA G RANDE DI SA N M A R C O A L B E R G O

The albergo was the administrative centre of the Scuola, housing the Banca. In the Scuola Grande Marittima, the albergo will house the Scuola’s permanent members of staff; this is where members will sign up for classes and voluntary roles. 30. Russo & Sans, p. 167; see Chapter 3 for ‘civic university’ definition. 31. Goddard & Vallance, pp. 148-9. 32. Transactional activities can be used to create areas of commonality between diverse groups, forming stronger social ties due to the mutually beneficial nature of the interaction; Blokland et al, p. 128. 33. OECD p. 108.

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SCUOLA GRANDE MARITTIMA SCUOLA MANAGED COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE SCUOLA SPONSORED TEACHING SPACES BIENNALE TRACES IN THE CITY

FIGURE 5 5 THE SCUO LA G RANDE M ARI T T I M A N E T WO R K The Scuola will manage a network of community infrastructure throughout the new district, inclusing nurseries, cafes, small libraries and bars. It will also sponsor a series of teaching spaces in the new research institutions, which it can use at a discounted rate for its larger classes and workshops.

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The Scuola will be partially supported via membership fees, but these will be tiered to avoid discrimination against those with less disposable income: while membership will be a privilege, the emphasis is on active participation; it’s not necessarily the social elite who have the most to contribute. In recognition of the value of knowledge, experience and, above all, time, the structure of the Scuola will allow members to trade voluntary work to subsidise their membership fee and attendance of classes and events. The matrix of social and demographic division in contemporary Venice is nuanced, with boundaries drawn across the overlapping lines of class, age, educational attainment and provenance. The Scuola’s series of classes and programmes will be largely run by the membership, forming an internal ‘transmission system’ of skills and knowledge and providing opportunities for social bonds to grow across demographic boundaries. The birth of technology has accelerated the pace of change, leaving some older members of the community isolated or ill-prepared for the modern job market. Evening classes and drop-in skills sessions will cover a range of topics: beginner technology sessions will help older members access online libraries and use email communication; classes in Excel, QuickBooks and Project Management will build members’ employability and business acumen. The inclusion of the academic and international communities within Venice’s civic image has been the focus of much of this thesis. While students will not be able to gain full membership, they can apply for Associate positions and undertake paid work. These roles will knit the student demographic into the local social fabric and prove mutually beneficial: the local community will benefit from the students’ energy, knowledge and skills, while involvement in the Scuola will provide access to employment networks across the globe for this more transitory demographic. Members of the academic community will be invited to give seminars; these stimulating learning opportunities will communicate the value of the university to the local community by sharing their insights beyond the confines of academia. One of the main challenges faced by international immigrants to Italy is the cumbersome bureaucratic procedure involved in recognising foreign qualifications.33 The Scuola will subsidise equivalence exams to help qualified 33. OECD p. 108.

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international workers contribute meaningfully to the local economy, while language courses in Italian, English and Venetian dialect will provide invaluable opportunities for cultural exchange and ease the acculturation of international demographics. The nurseries run by the Scuola will help parents to balance family life with employment and provide opportunities for social contact between families. Instead of the traditional alms, the Scuola will run a series of outreach programmes, which engage with the general public and local schools and enable the local community to take ownership of the future of their city. Just as the repeated republican ceremonies provided a sense of historic continuity, while their ephemerality allowed content to respond to the changing needs of each generation, the role of the Scuola Grande Marittima will adapt to the needs of the contemporary city. More than a piece of architectural design, the Scuola designs opportunity: for social interaction and cohesion. The implementation of the Scuola meeting house, in the first phase of the development, plants a symbolic seed within the new urban fabric, bridging the centro storico’s past and present and providing a critical node connecting the local community, the public innovation sector and private business.

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088

F IGU RE 5 6


CONCLUSION “Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi” [If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change] Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Il Gattopardo

Venice is not dying; in fact the city is incredibly resilient. None of the issues facing Venice are unique, but the complexity of the historic city makes the combination of challenges and their effects all the more apparent. As the pressures of climate change begin to be felt around the world, Venice is at the forefront: the increases in global sea levels are felt most acutely in a city whose urban form is permeated by water and subject to the tides. The Venetian lagoon today is the result of careful human intervention since the fifteenth century and, as such, the boundary between ‘natural’ and ‘manmade’ is blurred to the point where it is indistinguishable.1

1. Other tidal lagoons in the upper Adriatic, such as that of Ravenna, were lost to silting centuries ago.

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“Venice is not in peril from sinking, rising sea levels or tourism. … These myths can be compared with the ancient myth of St Mark, which was created to provide the city with wider meaning… The real danger for Venice… is the sinking of human ambition, courage and resilience. Robustness, resourcefulness, redundancy and rapidity need to replace vulnerability in response to Venice’s challenges.”2

The problems facing Venice shouldn’t be seen as insurmountable: it is, and always has been, a city which defies the odds stacked against it. In the past millennia, the city’s residents have proven time and again that just because the city shouldn’t exist, doesn’t mean it can’t. Venice’s persistence has not been easily won: it is the result of a strong culture of innovation and the constant, conscious management of interrelating physical, human and natural factors within the lagoon system. The future of the centro storico requires imagination; it is only once the contemporary city is freed from the grip of nostalgia that it might approach the future with the same ingenuity that defined its past. As the focus shifts slowly from Venice’s past and the city is approached from the present, a coherent vision for its future is necessary for meaningful change to occur. The answers to Venice’s challenges lie dormant in the contemporary city, evident in the existing institutional and economic structures, waiting to be reimagined and aligned to create a refracted image for the city. This thesis utilises a hypothetical masterplan to explore the relationship between Venice’s built form and its identity. Every effort has been made to ensure that the proposal is theoretically viable and appropriate but, as the MOSE and VEGA projects have so clearly illustrated, Venice’s current political climate makes largescale developments within the Municipality difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. The masterplan is, therefore, not a literal proposition for the city’s future, but a methodology which connects research questions across disparate fields and an imaginative response which cultivates an alternative image for the city.

2. Standish pp. 271-2.

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The findings from this paper are valid beyond the scope of the masterplan. Venice’s university sector could provide a sustainable alternative to the present tourism monoculture; the limitations on its growth are largely spatial and could be addressed by a series of interventions within the historic fabric of the city. Tourism is as much part of the answer to Venice’s problems as it is the cause: with the impending retirement of President Baratta, the Biennale is primed to reconsider its legacy within the city. This paper explores the regeneration potential of the Biennale in response to a specific site, but these mechanisms of restoration and release could be applied throughout the historic city. Venice’s cultural heritage must be used to continue the city’s narrative, rather than simply idealise its past.

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092

F IGU RE 5 7


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APPENDIX:

VEGA

T H E V E N I C E G AT E WAY

MARCO POLO AIRPORT

MESTRE

VEGA

PORTO MARGHERA CENTRO STORICO

FIGURE 58 -VEG A SI TE LO CATI O N PLAN

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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 and foster bridged activities between Venetian universities, research centres and production: Venice’s gateway to the innovation sector. The implementation of VEGA has not been without its difficulties and, despite currently housing 200 firms and 2000 workers, the project is often portrayed in the media as an abject failure. The development was consistently stalled by conflicting interests within the VEGA S.c.a.r.l consortium (led by the Municipality of Venice), and between the design team and external organisations. The result was spiralling costs, financial mismanagement and poor infrastructural links to the park’s locality: at present, it is easier to access VEGA internationally (via Marco Polo airport) than it is to travel from VEGA to Mestre.1 Despite its location within the Municipality of Venice, VEGA was insufficient to address Venice’s associations with tourism and nostalgic image; it therefore became a victim of the self-fulfilling prophecy of negative rhetoric. Castells & Hall highlight the need to insulate projects against crippling “premature accusations of failure” as the length of time (10-15 years minimum) necessary to incubate a successful ‘technopole’ is far longer than traditional, market-driven industries would allow.2 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 pop-up food market to populate a public area, cannot find businesses to support them.3 Just as the pervasive association with mass tourism remains a limiting factor in the economic development of the region, the historical weight of the centro storico drains efficacy from Venice’s terraferma districts; it could be argued that the perceived ‘failure’ of VEGA is, in reality, a consequence of the unresolved identity of the centro storico. The Marghera development may still prove fruitful, but until the ‘problem area’ of the centro storico is adequately addressed, it will remain a limiting factor on the economic development of its surroundings. 1. Cozza, pp. 149-150. 2. Castells & Hall, p. 230. 3. Tosi & Franzese, interviewed by author.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While this paper has focused on the present tensions in Venice, my experience living and learning in the centro storico was one defined by open and welcoming people who made getting to grips with this beautiful city a pleasure. Thank you to Carlo Giupponi, Orla McLaughlin and Luca Pes at VIU; to Carlo Federico dall’Omo, Alessia Franzese and Maria Chiara Tosi at IUAV; to Jan van der Borg and Nicola Camatti at Ca’ Foscari. Thank you to those who helped me at the Archivio di Stato di Venzia, the Biblioteca del Museo Correr and the Biblioteca Querini Stampalia; to the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro for letting me in behind the scenes; to my wonderful teachers at the Instituto Venezia. To those who took part in my walking study - Cosimo, Pierangelo, Eleonora, Carlotta, Marco, Elizabetta, Giovanna, Francesco, Donatella, Inge and Rita - I’m sorry that it didn’t make the cut for this paper, it will feature in the coming Project Design Report. Your insights into the daily rhythms of life in the centro storico were invaluable in developing both a design ethos and understanding the city’s contemporary culture. Giorgio Gianighian, Philip Tabor and Richard Goy, thank you for lending me your ears, wisdom and (in Richard’s case) so many books. Thank you Babu, from Bar al Canton, for the increasing discounts on the cappuccini which fuelled my research efforts. This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance and insight of Deborah Howard: thank you for your unwavering kindness and support, it has been a pleasure to get to know and to work with you. Thank you also to Ingrid Shröder, Aram Moordian and James Pockson for your design input, I look forward to working with you more over the coming months. There were three women, in particular, who had an immeasurable impact on my fieldwork in Venice and inspired me beyond the scope of this project: Jane da Mosto, Elizabetta Battistel and Inge Sterzinger-Vidoni. I worked with Jane as a research collaborator for We Are Here Venice and her wealth of knowledge regarding the the city’s environmental and socio-political context really opened my eyes to the realities of attempting to implement change in the centro storico. The current activist groups are at the forefront of Venice’s contemporary challenges and their activities are bringing the sleepy city back to life: for the few

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remaining residents apathy is no longer an option. Elizabetta, the joy you take from the beauty of the city, and life in general, is an inspiration. Thank you for opening the door onto Venetian life, for your openness and your kindness. Last but not least, a most heartfelt thank you to Inge. It was a joy to live with you for so long. Thank you for showing me that youth is merely a state of mind and for teaching me so many things I could never learn from books: your insights into how the centro storico has changed over the last 60 years have been invaluable in my understanding of the city. Most of all, thank you for welcoming me into your family. A presto, il Lido aspetta.

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LIST OF FIGURES

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Figure 1:

Author’s own, Municipality Reference Map.

Figure 2:

Author’s own, Centro Storico Reference Map.

Figure 3:

Bordone, Paris, The Presentation Of The Ring (Venice: 1534) <https://www.wga.hu/ html_m/b/bordone/presring.html> [Accessed 4 March 2019] Edited by author.

Figure 4:

Braun & Hogenburg, Venetia (Cologne, Sanderus Maps: 1572) <https://www. sanderusmaps.com/detail.cfm?c=10323> [Accessed 4 March 2019]

Figure 5:

Author’s own, Proportional Population of Venice City-Region. Data from: Comune di Venezia, B02_T05_Quartieri 09.

Figure 6:

Figure 6 - Author’s own, The Twin Cities.

Figure 7:

Venezia Unica, Rialto e gondola, (Venice, Instagram: 2015 <https://www.instagram. com/p/-EnVOtKYpo/> [Accessed 29 March 2018].

Figure 8:

Author’s own, Historic Residential Population. Data from: Comune di Venezia, A01_ T01_Serie storico popolazione 13; Comune di Venezia, B01_T01_Movimento e calcolo della popolazione residente - Anno 2015; Settis, 2014.

Figure 9:

Author’s own, 2011 Residential Population Density. Data from: ISTAT, Censimento della popolazione e delle abitazioni.

Figure 10:

Author’s own, Comparison of Resident and Tourist Numbers. Data from: Comune di Venezia, A01_T01_Serie storico popolazione 13; Comune di Venezia, H01_T01_ Movimento turistico nel Comune di Venezia.

Figure 11:

Author’s own, The Assembled Population of Venice. Data from: COSES, Rapporto 141.0; Foscari.

Figure 12:

Adapted from: Russo, p. 169.

Figure 13:

Stefano Mazzola, Acqua Alta Piazza San Marco (Venice, The Guardian: 2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/oct/29/venice-flooded-by-high-tidein-pictures> [Accessed 19 October 2018]

Figure 14:

Comune di Venezia, Rialto 1966 (Venice, Venezia Autentica: 2017) <https:// veneziaautentica.com/aqua-granda-venice/> [Accessed 3 March 2018]

Figure 15:

Gregory Luce, Florence Flooded 1966 (Florence, Timeline Florence: 1966) <http:// timelineflorence.com/flood-november-1966/> [Accessed 2 October 2018]

Figure 16:

Stephan Venter, Accademia Bridge (Venice, Upix: 2017) <https://www. upixphotography.com/media/d00da389-098d-45f0-97ea-ba780139017d-view-of-theaccademia-bridge-along-the-grand-canal-venice> [Accessed 10 March 2019]


Figure 17:

Author’s own, Tourism Carrying Capacity. Data from: Costa & Van der Borg, 1988; Van der Borg, Interview 2018.

Figure 18:

Author’s own.

Figure 19:

Author’s own, Universities in the centro storico.

Figure 20:

Anonimo, IUAV Cotonificio (Venezia: Venezia Today, 2017) <http://www.veneziatoday. it/cronaca/universita-iuav-venezia-corsi-laurea-iscrizioni-2017-2018.html> [Accessed 10 March 2019]

Figure 21:

Author’s own, The Piano Regolatore and Venetian Universities. Data from: Benevolo; Van den Berg & Russo; IUAV, Sedi dell’Ateneo; Ca’ Foscari, Mappe Unive. Anonimo, Turistico (Venezia, Venezia Autentica: 2015) <https://www.cntraveler.com/ story/how-venices-artisans-are-working-to-save-the-city> [Accessed 1 November 2017]

Figure 22:

Figure 23:

Unknown, Cruise Ships in the Marittima, 2013 <http://bimag.it/imprese/innovazione/ venezia-terminal_958/> [Accessed 29 November 2017]

Figure 24:

Author’s own, Site Plan As Existing.

Figure 25:

Author’s own, Origins and Fuori Sedi Students. Data from: Van den Borg & Russo; Da Mosto et al, p. 17.

Figure 26:

Author’s own, Air BnB in Venice. Data from: Inside AirBnB.

Figure 27:

Author’s own.

Figure 28:

Author’s own, Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio (Venice: 2018)

Figure 29:

AECOM Design and Planning, Aerial View in Design Access and Landscape Statement, p. 3.

Figure 30:

Author’s own.

Figure 31:

Author’s own, The Morphology of the Centro Storico. Data from: Gianighian (Beijing: 2018)

Figure 32: Figure 33:

AECOM Design and Planning, Phasing Visualisations in Site Wide Phasing Plan, p. 4. 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 34:

Author’s own.

Figure 35:

Author’s own (Newcastle: 2018)

Figure 36:

Author’s own (Newcastle: 2018)

Figure 37:

Author’s own (Newcastle: 2018)

099


100

Figure 38:

Author’s own, The Biennale in the City. Data from: La Biennale di Venezia.

Figure 39:

Author’s own.

Figure 40:

Andrzej Otrębski, IUAV University of Architecture (Venice, Wikimedia Commons: 2016) <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venezia_IUAV.jpg> [Accessed 11 March 2019]

Figure 41:

Giuseppe Borsato, Doge Visits the Scuola Grande di San Marco (Venice, Scuola Grande di San Rocco: 1801) <https://www.teggelaar.com/en/venice-day-2continuation-4/> [Accessed 13 March 2019]

Figure 42:

Author’s own, The Scuole of Venice. Data from: Gramigna, p. 5.

Figure 43:

Giovanni Mansueti, Miracolo della reliquia della Santa Croce in Campo San Lio (Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia: 1494)

Figure 44:

La Vida, Nostra Città (Venice, La Vida: 2018) <https://www.facebook.com/pg/AnticoTeatro-di-Anatomia-di-Venezia-1808190519410218/photos/?ref=page_internal> [Accessed 10 October 2018]

Figure 45:

Manuel Silvestri, My future is Venice (Venice, Reuters: 2017) <https://www.irishtimes. com/news/world/europe/holidaying-in-europe-watch-out-for-the-anti-tourismmarches-1.3182600> [Accessed 10 October 2018]

Figure 46:

Canaletto, The Feast Day of Saint Roch (Venice, The National Gallery: 1735) <https:// www.teggelaar.com/en/venice-day-2-continuation-4/> [Accessed 11 March 2019]

Figure 47:

Figure 47 - La Vida, Cena per La Vida (Venice, La Vida: 2018) <https://www.facebook. com/pg/Antico-Teatro-di-Anatomia-di-Venezia-1808190519410218/photos/?ref=page_ internal> [Accessed 10 October 2018]

Figure 48:

Figure 48 - La Vida, Cena per La Vida (Venice, La Vida: 2018) <https://www.facebook. com/pg/Antico-Teatro-di-Anatomia-di-Venezia-1808190519410218/photos/?ref=page_ internal> [Accessed 10 October 2018]

Figure 49: Figure 50:

Author’s own, Scuole Grandi Timeline. Data from: Gramigna; Sohm; Vio. Giovanni Buora, Esterno Scuola Grande di San Marco (Venezia, Venezia.net: 2011) <http://en.venezia.net/venice-scuola-grande-di-san-marco.html> [Accessed 6 March 2018]

Figure 51:

Author’s own.

Figure 52:

Author’s own, Sala Terrena of the Scuola Grande di Misericordia (Venice: 2018)

Figure 53:

Author’s own, Sala Capitolare of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (Venice: 2018)

Figure 54:

Author’s own, Albergo of the Scuola Grande di San Marco (Venice: 2018)

Figure 55:

Author’s own.


Figure 56:

Author’s own, Palazzo Moro (Venice: 2018)

Figure 57:

Mirka Rallo, One Day In Venezia, (Venice: 2017) <https://www.onedayinvenezia.com/ the-winners/> [Accessed 29 March 2018]

Figure 58:

Author’s own.

101


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WEBSITES ATER - https://www.atervenezia.it Atlante Della Laguna - http://www.atlantedellalaguna.it Ca’ Foscari - https://www.unive.it Cambridge North West Development - http://www.nwcambridge.co.uk Campaign for a Living Venice - https://campaignforalivingvenice.org Città Metropolitana di Venezia - https://www.cittametropolitana.ve.itC omune di Venezia - https://www.comune.venezia.it Forum Futuro Arsenale - https://futuroarsenale.org Inside Air BnB - http://insideairbnb.com IUAV - http://www.iuav.it Generazione 90 - http://generazione90venezia.it La Biennale di Venezia - https://www.labiennale.org Newcastle City Council https://www.newcastle.gov.uk Newcastle Helix - https://newcastlehelix.com Newcastle Life Centre https://www.life.org.uk No Grandi Navi - http://www.nograndinavi.it MOSE - https://www.mosevenezia.eu Porto di Venezia - https://www.port.venice.it Scuola Grande dei Carmini - http://www.scuolagrandecarmini.it Scuola Grande della Misericordia - http://www.misericordiadivenezia.it Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista - https://www.scuolasangiovanni.it Scuola Grande di San Marco - http://www.scuolagrandesanmarco.it Scuola Grande di San Rocco - http://www.scuolagrandesanrocco.org Scuola Grande di San Teodoro - http://www.scuolagrandesanteodoro.it UNESCO, Venice - https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/394 VEGA - https://www.vegapark.ve.it Venice Project Centre -http://veniceprojectcenter.org VIU - http://www.univiu.org We Are Here Venice - https://weareherevenice.org

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INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY AUTHOR Jane da Mosto, Executive Director of We Are Here Venice (Venice: 14 May 2018, 10 October 2018) Galliano de Marco, Managing Director of VTP (Venice: 17 October 2018) Lisa Fior, Co-founder of We Are Here Venice, architect and former curator of the British Pavilion 2010 (Venice: 12 September 2018) Caroline Fletcher, Author and former Fellow at Cambridge Coastal Research Unit (Cambridge, 9 September 2018) Giorgio Gianighian, Professor at IUAV, Heritage Consultant, architect and author (Venice: 31 October 2018) Carlo Giupponi & Orla McLaughlin, Dean of VIU; Executive Director of Academic Programs at VIU (San Servolo: 18 October 2018 )Richard Goy, Author and architect (Cambridge: 6 March 2018, 7 August 2018) Francesca Larosa, Ca’ Foscari Doctoral candidate in Climate Sciences (Mestre: 2 October 2018) Barbara Pastor, Co-founder of Forum Futuro Arsenale and architect (Venice: 7 June 2018) Luca Pes, Vice Dean of VIU and contemporary Venetian historian (San Servolo: 3 December 2018) Marco Scurati, Economist (Venice: 23 May 2018, 10 October 2018) Philip Tabor, former Director of the Bartlett School of Architecture and co-founder of the Interaction Design Programme at IUAV, (Venice: 2 June 2018) Maria Chiara Tosi & Alessia Franzese, Professor of Urban Design at IUAV and Vice President of VEGA; IUAV Doctoral candidate on the VEGA regeneration project (Venice: 5 June 2018) Jan van der Borg, Professor of Economics at Ca’ Foscari (Venice: 8 June 2018) Giulia Zanon, University of Leeds Doctoral candidate on the Venetian Scuole (Venice: 1 November 2018)

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