S1721 Listening to the Lagoon City. Lost Islands (Sustainable Development Sp. Track)
Cipriani Laura
The islands and borders of the Venice lagoon have been overlooked for a long time. On one hand, the city of Venice absorbs and concentrates tourist flows and economic resources, on the other, with few exceptions, the islands are poorly known as a result of limited transport connections and the insular character that sets them apart.
Starting from a theoretical apparatus, the course intends to explain the urban, landscape and environmental issues of the Venice lagoon with a focus on the abandoned lagoon islands as points of human-nature interface, and opportunities for tourism and culture.
In the second part of the course, students will be actively involved in reading the landscape from a theoretical and practical perspective. The perspectives of the tourist, the flâneur, the detective, the somnambulist and the bricoleur will help students listen to the landscape in order to achieve multiple and intercultural perspectives on the physical environment.
Students will also be asked to discuss the readings and will be required to produce an assignment on a Venice lagoon island.
The course is structured in three main parts:
A. The lagoon city
B. Listening to the landscape
C. Lost islands
THE LAGOON CITY (lectures)
In this introductory part, students will gain a general perspective and theoretical background on the Venice lagoon and islands from an urban, landscape and environmental perspective.
In particular, lectures will present the concept of island, islandness and archipelagos; the Venice lagoon as a dynamic landscape; the shaping of the lagoon down the centuries and water management issues;
the birth of Venice on water and marshland; the borders of the lagoon with a special focus on the industrial hinterland of Mestre and Marghera; the taxonomy of the islands of Venice; the flooding risk and climate change challenge for Venice and its lagoon.
In this phase, students will start preparing the material for the research paper on one or more lagoon islands in agreement with the professor.
LISTENING TO THE LANDSCAPE (lectures, readings, and student presentations)
In this second part, the course will focus on how to read the landscape from multiple and intercultural perspectives adopting comparative approaches. The tourist, the flâneur, the detective, the somnambulist and the bricoleur will be the different eyes through which to look and interpret the islands in the Venice lagoon.
In each lesson, the instructor will introduce the urban theoretical background, then students will be expected to discuss the topic according to the readings presented in the syllabus. Specific readings will be provided to students and class and group discussions will be facilitated.
Students are also expected to hold weekly group presentations of their work on lost islands (see part 3 Lost islands).
LOST ISLANDS (student presentations and final paper due)
Students are expected to observe and study one or more lagoon islands in agreement with the professor.
This practical phase will be undertaken in parallel to the “Listening to the city” theoretical background.
Starting from mid-semester, students are expected to prepare oral and PowerPoint presentations on the research topic assuming multiple urban perspectives and one final research paper and PowerPoint presentation of their work at the end of the course.
Oral presentations and assignments should ideally be done in small groups of participants, preferably of different nationalities, each speaking for approximately 15 minutes. Research papers must include bibliographical and image references.
Learning Outcomes Of The Course:
- Students will become familiar with today’s Venice lagoon from an urban, landscape and environmental perspective, together with some interdisciplinary literature on urban theory.
- Students will gain the ability to “read” and interpret the landscape from multiple and intercultural perspectives adopting comparative approaches.
- Students will acquire practical and theoretical skills thanks to field trips to the Venetian islands.
- Students will work across disciplines (Urbanism, Environmental issues, Humanities and Social sciences).
Evaluation
Reading