Venice in Environmental Peril?

Myth and Reality

By (author) Dominic Standish

Publication date:

14 December 2011

Length of book:

306 pages

Publisher

UPA

ISBN-13: 9780761856641

Venice and its environment are perceived to be in peril due to rising sea levels, tourism, and modern development. Are these threats myths or reality? This book explores Venice’s environmental risks based on interviews with Venetian environmental campaigners and draws on the mythology of the Venetian Republic. Campaigners’ opinions about the mobile dams nearing completion to protect the city reveal that Venice now represents an environmentally-threatened retreat from modernity. This reputation has been established as sustainable development and climate change policies have risen to the top of political agendas in many cities and countries. The book investigates how environmentalism has been transformed from a theory underpinning counter-cultural movements to part of a dominant holistic culture in Western societies. Rather than constraining Venice in search of a mythical harmony with nature, this book offers a ten-point proposal to modernize the city while preserving its ancient heritage.

Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Foreword by John Eglin

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Venice Problem and a Proposed Solution

PART ONE – VENICE’S MYTHICAL TRADITIONS

Chapter One: Founding Myths of the Venetian Republic

Chapter Two: Cultural Myths

PART TWO – FROM CONSERVATIONISM TO ENVIRONMENTALISM

Chapter Three: The Triumph of Conservationism

Chapter Four: Transforming Conservationism into Environmentalism

PART THREE – CLAIMS-MAKING ABOUT VENICE’S MOBILE DAMS

Chapter Five: Environmentalists Challenge Venice’s Mobile Dams

Chapter Six: Environmental Claims about Venice’s Mobile Dams

Chapter Seven: Myths about Venice’s Mobile Dams

PART FOUR – MYTHS ABOUT MODERNIZATION

Chapter Eight: Modernization and Environmentalism

Chapter Nine: Modernizing or Sustaining Venice?

Conclusion: The Reconstitution of the Venetian Metaphor

Appendix A: Profiles of Venetian Environmentalists Interviewed

Appendix B: List of Non-Governmental Organizations

Appendix C: List and Abbreviations of Political Parties

Appendix D: Glossary of Terminology

Chronology: Venice and its Protection

Bibliography

Index

Venice is a glory of human achievement, and this book is the human-centered defense that the city deserves.