2G: Venice Lagoon Park

Venice, Italy

Venice occupies the EDGE. It is the edge between land and sea. It is the edge between city and theme park. It is the edge between citizen and tourist. Today, it is on the edge of turning an unfortunate corner and losing its legitimate place as one of the great cities of the world. Venice must embrace the future development of tourism to remain a functioning community for its citizens.

The goal of the recolonization of the lagoon necessitates planning for large, temporary influxes of people (tourists) as well as a permanent base population (citizens). To facilitate this, new development needs to respond to the needs of a contemporary city in this unique location through a variety of means. This project proposes the recolonization of the Venice lagoon through the reestablishment of the population beginning with the development of the island of Sacca San Mattia. The site will, over time, become established as the new neighborhood of Sant’ Antonio Abate through the creation of a Museum District and Venice Stadium. These create the needed commerce, organized tourism, and patriotism to support residential and support services development phases.