Amphibious Islands: Decay, Ecology, and the Future of the Venetian Lagoon

Abstract

Venice, Italy is a city of constant fluctuations, existing amphibiously between fixed states, of past and present, fact and fiction, restored and ruin. For centuries, Venice, its peoples, and its lagoon have formed a symbiosis of mutual respect, able to adapt to their changing needs throughout time. Currently, Venice is in a state of crisis, no longer able to support its human and non-human residents due to its commodification, ecological degradation, flooding, and vanished inter-island network. Through focusing on its rich history and unique ecological systems, this thesis will reclaim spaces for Venice’s various inhabitants by transforming four abandoned islands, embracing the eventuality that they will become flooded within the next century. This facilitates the inhabitation of these islands by the Venetian people now, and in 100 years, the inhabitation by Venice’s plant and animal species once the islands flood and we must let go.