Re-imaging Venice through its Binaries: An Alternative Itinerary Entwining Space and Culture

Re-imaging Venice through its Binaries: An Alternative Itinerary Entwining Space and Culture Mariam Amer

Project Background Today, Venice is at risk of depletion of its own identity as the economy shifts towards touristic businesses at the expense of local trade leading residents to migrate the historic centre. The aim of this project is to propose a solution to the above challenges through an intervention within Venice urban fabric promoting, an alternative form of tourism, i.e. ‘ethno-tourism,’ where the primarily focus is celebrating and learning about locals’ traditions and lifestyle *. Not only does this provide tourists with an alternative itinerary to explore the city from a local’s perspective, but more importantly it prioritizes the residents’ connection with the historic centre allowing them to re-appropriate, re-vitalize and preserve the unique traditions and crafts the city is known for.

Alternative Itinerary The campi with direct access to the canals are chosen. Space Syntax Normalized Integration Analysis of the streets and canal networks for a local and global radii were conducted and overlapped to help identify the routes and the campi where locals and tourists cross path. From these campi, the busiest touristic ones were eliminated using the highest value of Normalized Global Choice. The selection is further narrowed down to the districts with higher local activities. For the proposed intervention, two campi associated with local festivities inside Dorsoduro were selected. The district unites Venetians, tourists, and students. It also encompasses high density of artistic cultural attractions , traditional boatyards and local crafts ateliers.

Ceremonial Life of Venice The Venetian festivals play an important role in celebrating local traditions and lifestyle. Not only do festivities such as the carnival and the Vogalonga bring locals and tourists together, but also ceremonial events such as the Regata Historica and Festa della Sensa are modern re-enactment and celebration of the past. Analyzing Venice’s ceremonial life accentuated the importance of the Venetian campo as the heart of the city’s social and civic life especially during festivals where it hosts performances, competitions, charity events, outdoor theatres, markets, etc. Ultimately, a path through selected campi accross Venice is proposed where interventions supporting alternative touristic experience of the city are created.

Intervention Details The programme for the Intervention is based two facets of ethno-tourism: engaging with viewing and entertainment activities during festivals as well as serving as a temporary artisan school supporting local craftsmen in sharing their experience with tourists and young locals. An adaptable modular structure inspired from wooden terraces and temporary installations throughout the city is created. The structure is either elevated or floating preventing disturbance to movement flow , accommodating larger amount of people and responding to the environmental pressures of the Aqua Alta phenomena. The structure of the installation plays an important role in its ability to be moved and replicated in different forms across the created path.

*Note Ethno-tourism definition is based on: Bolnick, S., (2003). Promoting the culture sector through job creation and small enterprise development in SADC countries: the ethno-tourism industry. ILO, Geneva.

3 Mariam Amer

Streets and Canal Network with the Highest Normalised Integration NAIN r=n & NAIN r=800m Intelligible Campi(Squares) / Co-presence between Locals and Tourists Campi (Squares) With NAIN r=n & NAIN r=800m >1.04

Campi (Squares) With NAIN r=800m >1.058

Campi (Squares) With NAIN r=n >1.04

Note: All the Campi / Squares Selected have direct access and view of the canals

4 Mariam Amer

Narrowing down the selection of the campi / Squares according to the Normalised Choice (NACH r=n ) and the Polpulation density

A diagram showing the alternative path, selected campi and overlapped with fesivals and crafts

ASSOCIATED LOCAL FESTIVALS

Festa della Salute Regata Historica

Chosen Intervention Sites

5 Mariam Amer

Representational Collage of the Proposed Intervention at Campo della Salute

6 Mariam Amer

Campo della Salute

Visualisation of the Project Intervention in Campo della Salute

Campo S

an Vio

Visualisation of the Project Intervention in Campo San Vio

7 Mariam Amer

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Re-imaging Venice through its Binaries: An Alternative Itinerary Entwining Space and Culture

Published on Dec 21, 2020

Mariam Amer

In recent years, Venice’s identity has been threatened by the shift towards touristic businesses at the expense of local trade leading residents to emigrate from the historic centre. The aim of this project is to propose a solution to the above challenges through an intervention within the city’s urban fabric, specifically its squares, known as campi (plural) or campo (singular). The intervention will help revive the role of the campo as the heart of the city’s social and civic life and promote an alternative form of tourism, i.e. ‘ethno-tourism,’ where the primary focus is celebrating locals’ traditions and lifestyle. Spatial analysis was used to help pinpoint the campi where locals and tourists cross path and where the intervention will be of great value. This project was done under the Emerging Design Research Module at the Bartlett School of Architecture.