tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/venice-9539/articles
Venice – The Conversation
2023-11-14T13:26:24Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211995
2023-11-14T13:26:24Z
2023-11-14T13:26:24Z
Music painted on the wall of a Venetian orphanage will be heard again nearly 250 years later
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557160/original/file-20231101-23-zmwffr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C3024%2C2240&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The music room of the Ospedaletto is known for its remarkable acoustics.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marica S. Tacconi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine Lady Gaga or Elton John teaching at an orphanage or homeless shelter, offering daily music lessons. </p>
<p>That’s what took place at Venice’s four <a href="https://imagesofvenice.com/ospedali-grandi/">Ospedali Grandi</a>, which were charitable institutions that took in the needy – including orphaned and foundling girls – from the 16th century to the turn of the 19th century. Remarkably, all four Ospedali hired some of the greatest musicians and composers of the time, such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Vivaldi">Antonio Vivaldi</a> and <a href="https://guides.lib.fsu.edu/composerofthemonth">Nicola Porpora</a>, to provide the young women – known as the “putte” – with a superb music education.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2019, while in Venice on a research trip, I had the opportunity to visit the Ospedale di Santa Maria dei Derelitti, more commonly known as the Ospedaletto, or “Little Hospital,” because it was the smallest of the four Ospedali Grandi. </p>
<p>As a musicologist <a href="https://arts.psu.edu/faculty/marica-tacconi/">specializing in the music of early modern Venice</a>, I was especially excited to visit one of the hidden gems of the city: the <a href="https://www.gioiellinascostidivenezia.it/en/the-jewels/complesso-dell-ospedaletto/">Ospedaletto’s music room</a>, which was built in the mid-1770s.</p>
<p>I had heard about its beauty and perfect acoustics. So when a colleague and friend, classical singer <a href="https://venicemusicproject.it/en/liesl-odenweller/">Liesl Odenweller</a>, suggested we go together, I was delighted. I also secretly hoped Liesl would feel inclined to sing in the space, so I could experience the pure acoustics of the room. </p>
<p>Little did I know that I would encounter music that hasn’t been performed in nearly 250 years.</p>
<h2>Clues on the walls</h2>
<p>As we entered the stunning music room, I was immediately struck by its elegance and relatively small size. In my mind, I had envisioned a large concert hall; instead, the space is intimate, ellipse-shaped and richly decorated.</p>
<p>Overshadowed by <a href="https://www.exploreclassicalmusic.com/vivaldi-and-the-ospedale-della-piet">the more prominent Ospedale della Pietà</a>, not much is known about the music-making that took place for centuries behind the walls of the Ospedaletto. But one of the greatest clues to its venerable history as a music school is literally on one of its walls. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Colorful painting of women performing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552861/original/file-20231009-15-1jj80a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Jacopo Guarana’s fresco ‘Concert of the Putte’ (1776-77).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marica S.Tacconi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>A fresco on the far wall of the room, <a href="https://www.libreriauniversitaria.it/ospedaletto-sala-musica-favaro-tiziana/libro/9788885087071">painted in 1776-77 by Jacopo Guarana</a>, depicts a group of female musicians – likely portraits of some of the putte – at the feet of <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/apollo/">Apollo</a>, the Greek god of music. Some of them play string instruments; one, gazing toward the viewer, holds a page of sheet music.</p>
<p>Call it a professional quirk, but when I see a music score depicted in a painting, I have to get up close and try to read it. In this case, I was lucky: The music notation was quite legible, and the composer’s name was inscribed in the upper-right corner: “Sig. Anfossi.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A close-up of a painting of a sheet of music." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552862/original/file-20231009-29-54ha7a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The musical score depicted in Jacopo Guarana’s fresco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marica S. Tacconi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>I took several photos of the fresco. I wanted to learn as much as I could about that piece of music painted on the wall.</p>
<p>The sound of Liesl’s singing snapped me out of my music detective mode. As I had hoped, her beautiful soprano voice filled the space with a tone so pure that it sounded almost ethereal. I turned around, but my friend was no longer in the room. Where was her singing coming from? </p>
<p>Liesl, it turns out, was perched in the singing gallery. With the permission of a clerk, she had climbed up to this partially hidden loft and was singing through a grille. It was here that the putte of the Ospedaletto performed in public concerts, their features partially obscured from the prying glances of the male listeners below.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouette of woman singing from behind a cage above a grand room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552864/original/file-20231009-15-25i1yo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Liesl Odenweller sings from the gallery of the Ospedaletto’s music room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marica S. Tacconi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Women rally behind their beloved institution</h2>
<p>Armed with those clues on the wall, I continued my research in the days following the visit to the Ospedaletto. I learned that the music by “Signor Anfossi” shown in the fresco was drawn from the opera “Antigono,” composed by <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095412866">Pasquale Anfossi</a> (1727-97) on a libretto by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pietro-Metastasio">Pietro Metastasio</a>. The work premiered in Venice at the <a href="https://www.artnet.com/artists/francesco-guardi/the-interior-of-the-teatro-san-benedetto-venice-1UqjxTVRZT2LyYjJdQa0cg2">Teatro San Benedetto</a> in 1773.</p>
<p>The text of the solo song – known in opera <a href="https://www.operacolorado.org/blog/opera-explained-what-is-an-aria/">as an aria</a> – is legible in the excerpt on the wall. It reads, “Contro il destin che freme, combatteremo insieme” – “Against quivering destiny, we shall battle together.” </p>
<p>Like many works from the 17th and 18th centuries, the entire opera is lost. I was determined to find out, however, if that particular aria had survived. Sometimes, the “hit tunes” of an opera were copied or printed separately and performed as “arie staccate” – arias that were “detached” from the rest of the work. </p>
<p>Luck was on my side: To my delight, I found <a href="https://www.internetculturale.it/jmms/iccuviewer/iccu.jsp?id=oai%3Awww.internetculturale.sbn.it%2FTeca%3A20%3ANT0000%3AFR0084-01A07_04d&mode=all&teca=MagTeca+-+ICCU">a copy of the aria in a library in Montecassino</a>, a small town southeast of Rome. Why was that particular excerpt chosen to be displayed so prominently on the wall? </p>
<p>Like other institutions in Venice, the Ospedaletto faced financial hardship in the 1770s. Evidence suggests that <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nel_regno_dei_poveri/ojgtAQAAIAAJ?hl=en">the putte of the Ospedaletto were likely involved in raising the funds</a> for the decoration of the music room. The new hall enabled them to give performances for special guests and benefactors, which brought in substantial donations. Together with Pasquale Anfossi, who was their music teacher from 1773 to 1777, they rallied behind their beloved institution, saving it – at least temporarily – from financial destitution. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two girls, one holding music, the other depicted in a side profile, and a man holding sheets of music gazing down at them from behind." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557295/original/file-20231102-29-c3sj0z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1007&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Italian composer Pasquale Anfossi, holding rolled up sheets of music, makes an appearance in the fresco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marica S. Tacconi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>“Against quivering destiny, we shall battle together” may well have served as a rallying cry for the putte of the Ospedaletto, who literally “battled together” to preserve their splendid music conservatory.</p>
<p>Incidentally, the putte may also have wanted to honor their teacher, as Pasquale Anfossi, too, is portrayed in Guarana’s fresco, directly behind the young woman holding up his music. </p>
<h2>From wall to concert hall</h2>
<p>One of the aspects I find most rewarding about the study of older music is the process of discovering a work that has been neglected and unheard for hundreds of years and bringing it back to modern audiences.</p>
<p>Inspired by the Ospedaletto’s music room, Liesl Odenweller and I have embarked on a collaborative project that brings back not only the aria on the wall but also other music from the institution that has gone unheard for centuries. Thanks to a generous grant from the <a href="https://www.delmas.org/grantees-venetian-program">Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation</a>, the <a href="https://venicemusicproject.it/en/">Venice Music Project</a> – the ensemble Liesl co-founded in 2013 – will perform this music in a <a href="https://venicemusicproject.it/en/concert/hidden-treasures-of-the-ospedaletto/">concert in Venice on Dec. 2, 2023</a>.</p>
<p>Our program will include “Contro il destin” as well as other excerpts from “Antigono” – essentially, all that survives from that opera. In addition, we will include works by Tommaso Traetta (1727-79) and Antonio Sacchini (1730-86) who, like Anfossi, taught the young women, in some cases launching their international music careers.</p>
<p>Because the music of the past was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/musical-notation/Evolution-of-Western-staff-notation">written in a notation</a> that’s different from that used today, it’s necessary to translate and input every mark of the original score – notes, dynamics and other expressive marks – into a music notation software to produce a modern score that can be easily read by today’s musicians.</p>
<p>By performing on period instruments and using a historically informed approach, the musicians of the Venice Music Project and I are excited to revive this remarkably beautiful and meaningful music. Its neglect is certainly not a reflection of its artistic quality but rather likely the result of other composers, such as Vivaldi and Mozart, taking over the spotlight and overshadowing the works of other masters. </p>
<p>This music deserves to be heard – as does the story of the young women of the Ospedaletto.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This project received funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.</span></em></p>
On the wall of an orphanage in Venice, a musicologist encountered a fresco featuring an aria written for an opera. She’s since embarked on a project to bring this forgotten music back.
Marica S. Tacconi, Distinguished Professor of Musicology and Art History, Penn State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214890
2023-10-05T08:56:06Z
2023-10-05T08:56:06Z
Don’t Look Now: moving, tender, haunting – and one of the best horror films of the last 50 years
<p>Grief-stricken by the death of their daughter in a drowning accident, John Baxter (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000661/">Donald Sutherland</a>) and his wife Laura (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001046/">Julie Christie</a>) relocate temporarily to a wintry Venice, where he has been commissioned to restore the crumbling church of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli.</p>
<p>In a restaurant one day, melancholy Laura meets two sisters (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0556739/">Hilary Mason</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0558089/">Clelia Matania</a>). One of them is a blind clairvoyant and claims to be able to see and communicate with her dead daughter, Christine. John is outwardly dismissive, even though he keeps catching sight of a child wearing a red coat similar to his daughter’s disappearing around corners and down alleyways across the misty, shadowy city.</p>
<p>At the same time, Venice has a killer on the loose. When their son has an accident at his English boarding school and Laura travels home to be with him, John is left behind to succumb to his delusions.</p>
<p>Adapted from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daphne-du-Maurier">Daphne du Marier’s</a> supernatural short story and directed by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001676/">Nicolas Roeg</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/05/dont-look-now-review-roeg-horror-julie-christie-donald-sutherland">Don’t Look Now</a> is a moving and tender portrait of marriage and parental grief, as well as a haunting – and occasionally terrifying – horror film.</p>
<p>Fifty years on from its release in 1973, the film is a fixture in several “best of” lists: <a href="https://www.timeout.com/film/100-best-british-films">Best British film</a>, <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-horror-movies/">best horror film</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/100-best-movies-of-the-1970s-1234675927/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-1234707588/">best film of the 1970s</a>, even <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time">best film</a>, period.</p>
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<h2>Venice sets the scene</h2>
<p>Even those who haven’t seen Don’t Look Now will likely be familiar with its most striking images. The drowned little girl in the red mackintosh hauled from the pond by her father at the film’s beginning, the intimate and tender sex scene between John and Laura inter-cut with scenes of them getting ready for dinner afterwards – and its truly shocking ending.</p>
<p>There is also the sophisticated manner in which the film’s visual language melds seamlessly with its overarching tone. Off-season Venice functions as a bleak, grey canvas on which splashes of vivid red recur throughout – washing on a line, a glass candle holder, a painted door – reminding us constantly of Christine’s tragic death. </p>
<p>Consistent with the style of some of <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/critics-notebook-nicolas-roegs-brilliant-visuals-editing-revolutionized-cinema-1163690/">Roeg’s other films</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0166625/">Graeme Clifford’s</a> editing transports us back and forth in time, often within the same sequence. This lends the film a disorientating quality akin to John’s journey through the city in pursuit of the child in the red coat.</p>
<p>There are portents of doom throughout. John nearly falls from the scaffolding to his death while inspecting a church mosaic and the candle Laura lights for Christine in the church blows out. John watches as a murdered woman – who has more than a passing resemblance to his wife – is pulled from the canal. He then later sees Laura with the two strange sisters, dressed in black on a funeral barge, even when we know she is on her way back to England. The water all around Venice reminds us of the tragedy that hangs over proceedings.</p>
<h2>Creeping sense of dread</h2>
<p>Does all this account for Don’t Look Now’s continued resonance with audiences and critics 50 years on? Perhaps. But it is also worth considering the film’s relationship to the horror genre.</p>
<p>Don’t Look Now was released in the same year as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/28/the-exorcist-review-friedkins-head-swivelling-horror-is-still-diabolically-inspired">The Exorcist</a>. Though the two have similarities, notably in their preoccupation with religious themes and iconography, The Exorcist became a more popular cultural phenomenon.</p>
<p>It spawned two sequels, a prequel, a television series and, starting this week with the release of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2023/10/03/inside-the-exorcist-believer-and-how-director-david-gordon-green-raised-hell/">The Exorcist: Believer (2023)</a>, a potential <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/the-exorcist-believer-release-date-cast-trailer.html">new trilogy of films</a> that pick up from where the original left off. They can both reasonably claim to be (great) horror films, except The Exorcist was a blockbuster that spawned a franchise, and Don’t Look Now is an arthouse film that now stands on a pedestal of its own.</p>
<p>It’s helpful to consider Don’t Look Now’s enduring reputation in relation to a critical category that has become ubiquitous in recent years: <a href="https://euppublishingblog.com/2021/10/29/what-is-post-horror-a-qa-with-david-church-author-of-post-horror-art-genre-and-cultural-elevation/">“post-horror” films</a>. Such films dispense with the jump scares and visceral gore generally associated with the genre to offer instead explorations of trauma and a creeping sense of dread that (supposedly) plays to more thoughtful and discerning viewers.</p>
<p>Post-horror films also don’t tend to spawn sequels or endless franchises, an aspect of the wider genre that has contributed to its status as one of the most commercially resilient but critically derided.</p>
<p>To describe a film as post-horror is to acknowledge the hierarchy that has long existed within the genre. This reveals the select few films deemed by critics to be worthy of their position alongside cinema’s other great works, and the apparent vast wasteland of repetitive, gory schlock traditionally associated with the genre.</p>
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<p>Don’t Look Now is certainly worthy of its place in the pantheon of cinema’s great works. But it is always worth asking when it appears on a “best of” list, what broader factors are at stake in its largely unchallenged position as one of the great works in film history. While Roeg’s film enjoys an elevated critical reputation, it is safe to say that the genre with which it most often identified certainly does not.</p>
<p>However, it is possible to leave aside concerns about the art house treatment of the horror genre when appraising Don’t Look Now. From the tragic opening, to the unshowy, emotional (and explicit) sex scene, to the brutal ending, it is not surprising the film still holds a significant place in the critical imagination 50 years on. Beautiful, haunting and tragic, it stays with the viewer long after the credits roll.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Frame does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A sinister and slow-building sense of dread ensures Nic Roeg’s supernatural horror lingers in the mind long after the credits have rolled.
Gregory Frame, Teaching Associate in Film and Television Studies, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213703
2023-09-26T09:38:42Z
2023-09-26T09:38:42Z
An entry fee may not be enough to save Venice from 20 million tourists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549843/original/file-20230923-19-ikfguo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C39%2C3778%2C2488&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A bridge too far?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/venice-italy-may-18-2012-tourists-573537337">Bumble Dee/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Venice’s history, art and architecture attract an estimated <a href="https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/overtourism-in-venice">20 million</a> visitors every year. The city, a <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=ac36ced945412121372dc892cc31498fb268247c">Unesco World Heritage site</a>, is often crammed with tourists in search of special <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mar.21665">memories</a>. </p>
<p>But for the people who actually live there, this level of tourism has become unsustainable. So from 2024, day-trippers will be charged a €5 (£4.31) fee as part of an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/europe/venice-tourist-fee-italy.html#:%7E:text=The%20City%20Council%20passed%20an,popular%20but%20equally%20fragile%20place.&text=Starting%20next%20spring%2C%20day%2Dtrippers,5%20euros%20for%20the%20privilege.">attempt</a> to better manage the flow of visitors. </p>
<p>The city’s mayor has <a href="https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/controversial-e5-venice-tourist-tax-finally-approved">described the charge</a> – which will be implemented on 30 particularly busy days in the spring and summer – as an attempt to “protect the city from mass tourism”. It comes after cruise ships were banned from entering the fragile Venice lagoon in 2021.</p>
<p>Both policies are designed to respond to the particular problem facing Venice, which is that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/02/venice-day-trippers-will-have-to-make-reservations-and-pay-fee">around 80%</a> of its tourists come just for the day. Research has shown that such a high proportion of day-trippers – who tend to spend little – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0160738395000658">pushes</a> a tourist destination <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1980.tb00970.x">towards decline</a>. </p>
<p>So from next year, all travellers to Venice will have to register their visit in advance and obtain a QR code online. Day trippers will then have to pay the fee; visitors staying overnight will not. </p>
<p>Other exemptions include children under 14, as well as people who travel to the city for work and study, or to visit family members. To enforce the policy, the municipal police and authorised inspectors will carry out random checks. Anyone without the proper QR code will face a fine of up to €300 (£261). </p>
<p>But some have expressed doubts about whether the €5 fee – the price of a coffee or an ice cream – will be enough to dissuade tourists from travelling to this iconic ancient city. One city politician <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/europe/venice-tourist-fee-italy.html">commented</a> that the charge means Venice has become “a theme park, a Disneyland,” where “you get in by paying an entrance fee.”</p>
<p>Certainly the charge is a lot less than Bhutan’s (recently reduced) “sustainable development fee” of <a href="https://globetrender.com/2023/09/17/bhutan-woos-more-tourists-reduced-entry-tax/">US$100 (£82) per night</a>, which applies to all tourists, and was introduced to encourage “high value, low impact” tourism. Research also indicates that strategies aiming at persuading tourists to come at less crowded times <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780080436746/seasonality-in-tourism">do not reduce numbers</a> at peak periods, but actually end up increasing overall demand.</p>
<h2>‘Veniceland’</h2>
<p>But Venice has to try something. For <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6937">researchers</a>, Venice is the embodiment of <a href="https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/book/10.1079/9781786399823.0000">overtourism</a>, and residents clearly suffer from the consequences – living with the congestion, environmental damage and affects on their lifestyle and culture that 20 million visitors can cause. </p>
<p>This can then lead to a negative response, known as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348605007_Overtourism_and_Tourismphobia_A_Journey_Through_Five_Decades_of_Tourism_Development_Planning_and_Local_Concerns">tourismphobia</a>”.Another term, “<a href="https://dokufest.com/en/festival/2013/cities-beyond-borders/das-venedig-prinzip-the-venice-syndrome#:%7E:text=The%20film%20shows%20what%20remains,municipal%20council%20with%20scorn%3B%20a">Venice Syndrome</a>” has been used to describe the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275123001816#:%7E:text=It%20explains%20the%20data%2Dgathering,between%20urban%20form%20conditions%20and">decline of the city’s</a> permanent population, as citizens feel forced to leave. </p>
<p>Venice’s population is around 50,000 and has been consistently falling, from a peak of <a href="https://www.blueguides.com/venice-in-peril/">175,000</a>. If the population falls below 40,000, there is concern that Venice will cease to be a <a href="https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/overtourism-in-venice">viable living city</a>. </p>
<p>Those who remain have often expressed their discontent. Well publicised protests have included the “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venice-funeral-idUKTRE5AD1DQ20091114">Funeral of Venice</a>” in 2009, a mock funeral to mourn the sharp drop in population, and “<a href="https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&context=anthro_theses">Welcome to Veniceland</a>” in 2010, which claimed that Venice was becoming more of a theme park.</p>
<p>And while “tourist taxes” <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2019.1669070">remain popular strategies</a> to address overtourism, their effectiveness remains debatable. Instead, research suggests that a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14616688.2019.1669070">combination</a> of specific economic measures (like fees and variable pricing) and non-economic policies (such as educating visitors) is the best option.</p>
<p>That combination needs to be specially designed for each destination. There can be no one-size-fits-all solution. A <a href="https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284420070">report</a> by the World Tourism Organisation on overtourism identifies 11 different strategies and 68 measures to manage visitors’ growth in urban destinations. </p>
<p>Barcelona, often seen as a city which has done well in handling mass tourism, has successfully used a <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/216242/1/CESifo-Forum-2019-03-p20-24.pdf">well targeted approach</a>. This has included harnessing new technology to develop a data driven management system to control visitor flows and overcrowding. It also deliberately engaged with the public when deciding on policies, and came up with specific strategies like limiting the number of new souvenir shops. </p>
<p>But it did not resort to charging an entrance fee. Venice will be the first city in the world to do so – and other locations struggling with mass tourism will be keeping a close eye on whether such a bold move turns out to be a success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sameer Hosany does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The lagoon city needs to stem the flow of visitors.
Sameer Hosany, Professor of Marketing, Royal Holloway University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/191798
2022-10-16T15:29:44Z
2022-10-16T15:29:44Z
Climate change must be a catalyst for reform of the World Heritage system
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489563/original/file-20221013-11-omsint.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2204%2C1352&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Switzerland's Great Aletsch Glacier is 23km long and located in the World Heritage site Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch. It leads the list of glaciers in the European Alps in terms of length and size, yet since the mid-19th century, it has lost more than 25% of its volume.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Great_Aletsch_Glacier.jpg">Jo in Riederalp/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last few years, many parts of the world have been devastated by <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-how-climate-change-affects-extreme-weather-around-the-world/">extreme droughts, floods, wild fires and heatwaves linked to climate change</a>. But climate change is not only influencing our weather: it also poses an existential threat to the outstanding universal value (OUV) of many of the world’s most precious sites on UNESCO’s <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/">World Heritage List</a>, and potentially to the World Heritage system itself.</p>
<p>This year is the 50th anniversary of the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/">World Heritage Convention</a>, one of the most successful international conventions. It was adopted in 1972 to protect globally significant heritage places as a common heritage of humankind. Renowned World Heritage sites include the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, Yellowstone National Park and the Galápagos. The convention has been signed by 194 countries (known as states parties). More than 1,150 sites in 167 countries have been inscribed on the World Heritage List for their cultural and/or natural values. On average, around 25 more sites are added to the list at each of the annual meetings of the World Heritage Committee, even as existing sites come under threat from climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The increasing number of World Heritage sites and their increasing exposure to greenhouse gases causing climate change" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/487752/original/file-20221003-16-qm218l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rise is the number of World Heritage sites and their increasing exposure to greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg Terrill/UNESCO</span>, <span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Climate change is now the most significant threat to many World Heritage sites, especially those inscribed for their natural values. Short- and long-term climate-related impacts are increasing. For example, by 2100 and depending on the emissions scenario used, complete glacier extinction is predicted for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF001139">8 to 21 World Heritage sites</a>, within which glaciers are an attribute of their universal value. The number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01280-1">African coastal heritage sites at risk</a> from a 100-year extreme flooding and coastal-erosion event, including the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/599/">Stone Town of Zanzibar</a> and <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/599/">Mozambique Island</a>, is projected to more than triple by 2050 under a moderate emissions scenario.</p>
<p>Impacts are cumulative and some will persist for centuries after the world achieves net-zero emissions. Climate change is a threat multiplier, exacerbating existing threats, impacting sites in increasingly complex ways, and demanding further resources for management and adaptation. Food insecurity, social stresses and the displacement of populations as a consequence of climate change will further increase pressures on World Heritage sites.</p>
<p>The concept of outstanding universal value is fundamental to the World Heritage Convention and its processes. OUV has generally been interpreted assuming that the environment is largely stationary, something that climate change has proved incorrect. It will ultimately be impossible to maintain the outstanding universal value for which many sites were inscribed, even if effective global and local mitigation strategies and local adaptation strategies are implemented.</p>
<p>[<em>Nearly 80,000 readers look to The Conversation France’s newsletter for expert insights into the world’s most pressing issues</em>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/newsletters/la-newsletter-quotidienne-5?utm_source=inline-70ksignup">Sign up now</a>]</p>
<p>In Venice, the effectiveness of massive retractable barriers constructed at the entrance to the lagoon will be tested by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2643-2021">projected sea-level rise</a> of anywhere from 17cm to 120cm by 2100 that will bring increasingly frequent, longer-lasting and potentially permanent flooding. A <a href="https://gbrrestoration.org/">restoration and adaptation program</a> is attempting to develop a suite of safe, acceptable interventions to help the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154/">Great Barrier Reef</a> resist, adapt to, and recover from the impacts of climate change. However, it will be challenging to operationalise interventions at scale across this large World Heritage Area.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Venice flooding, 2010" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C2048%2C1140&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489426/original/file-20221012-14-i7ulul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flooding has long been a threat in Venice, Italy, but with a projected sea-level rise of anywhere from 17cm to 120cm by 2100, higher water levels will be more frequent, longer-lasting and potentially permanent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23748404@N00/5265451716">A. Currell/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Substantive reforms are necessary for the World Heritage system to address these challenges. Although amending international conventions is notoriously difficult, the convention is a treaty where many important matters are dealt with in subsidiary documents, especially its <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/">operational guidelines</a>, which are much easier to change than the convention, if state parties so wish.</p>
<p>An open-ended working group is working to finalise a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/archive/2021/whc21-23GA-inf11-en.pdf">policy document on climate action for World Heritage</a> and to develop an implementation plan. The document outlines high-level directives but says little about the operational reforms required to address the scale and complexity of the challenges. Meaningful operational reforms are likely to be highly contested because of the differing priorities of various states parties. For example, African nations are very concerned about the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2441">under-representation of African sites</a> on the World Heritage List and the perceived over-representation of African sites on the list of World Heritage in Danger.</p>
<p>In 2021, the Australian Academy of Science bought together 18 experts – in climate science, climate vulnerability assessment, IPCC processes, cultural, natural and Indigenous heritage, outlook reporting, site management, World Heritage system processes, environmental law, international law and diplomacy – in a roundtable on reforms to the convention to address the consequences of climate change. Their <a href="https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/support/reports-and-plans/2022/climate-change-world-heritage-roundtable-report.pdf">ideas for change</a> focused on three key areas:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>identification of climate-related threats to World Heritage sites;</p></li>
<li><p>the processes for state party reporting to the World Heritage Committee;</p></li>
<li><p>responses to climate impacts to outstanding universal value.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Identification of climate-related threats</h2>
<p>Introducing a requirement for World Heritage nominations to include a standardised vulnerability assessment could provide a baseline against which climate-related impacts to its potential OUV could be monitored. Currently there is no agreed standard: several methods have been applied to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5070/P536146384">individual sites</a> and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2022.100538">thematic approach</a> has also been used, assessing comparable sites or groups of sites facing similar risks. Clear guidelines around the requirements for such assessments need to be discussed and developed so that assessments are systematic, useful and comparable.</p>
<p>The World Heritage Committee responds to threats to outstanding universal value through complex and resource-hungry reporting processes – these include state-of-conservation reporting, reactive monitoring and a six-year cycle of periodic reporting based on geography. These processes are already under strain due to the large number of sites in the reporting cycle. In 2021, less than 20% of the state-of conservation reports were discussed by the committee. Given the anticipated increase in the number and severity of threats as a result of climate change, the reporting processes need reconsideration. Such change cannot take place without considerable discussion.</p>
<h2>Responding to climate impacts</h2>
<p>As climate change accelerates, the outstanding universal value of some World Heritage sites will be severely or permanently impacted. In others, the changes may be milder. Limits of acceptable change could be developed for each property to identify the amount or nature of change that each property’s attributes can sustain without irretrievable loss of OUV. Accepting that change is inevitable, improved methods are needed to assess significant and minor changes to each site’s statement of OUV as well as clearer guidelines and thresholds for including a site on the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/danger/">List of World Heritage in Danger</a> or delisting it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489570/original/file-20221013-18-adrgad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arlington Reef, located in Queensland, is part of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Developing a set of safe interventions to help this fragile World Heritage site minimise and adapt to the impacts of climate change is essential.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Luka Peternel/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These reforms could result in more systematic and comparable evidence for climate impacts as a basis for realistic adaptation strategies and greater transparency and objectivity in decision-making by the World Heritage Committee.</p>
<p>Substantive reform of the operational guidelines would be a fitting project to commence in 2022, the 50th anniversary of the convention. We hope this article will stimulate widespread discussion about these matters, which are existential to the future of the Convention and its capacity to protect the world’s most precious heritage places in the face of climate change.</p>
<p><em>The authors gratefully acknowledge Greg Terrill for his ideas and comments and for Figure 1.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485372/original/file-20220919-20-pguqfq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/next50/">50th anniversary of the World Heritage Convention</a> (16 November 2022): World Heritage as a source of resilience, humanity and innovation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Rising temperatures and extreme weather pose an existential threat to many UNESCO World Heritage sites, but widespread discussion is needed for meaningful change.
Helene Marsh, Emeritus Professor, Environmental Science, James Cook University
Anita Smith, Associate professor, Archaeology and Heritage, La Trobe University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145214
2020-11-13T13:40:09Z
2020-11-13T13:40:09Z
Preserving cultural and historic treasures in a changing climate may mean transforming them
<p>With global travel curtailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are finding comfort in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/travel/future-travel-bucket-list-coronavirus.html">planning future trips</a>. But imagine that you finally arrive in Venice and the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/travel/venice-flooding.html">floating city” is flooded</a>. Would you stay anyway, walking through St. Mark’s Square on makeshift catwalks or elevated wooden passages – even if you couldn’t enter the Basilica or the Doge’s Palace? Or would you leave and hope to visit sometime in the future?</p>
<p>The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/">reported</a> that over the next 30 years flooding in Venice will increase. With the Adriatic Sea rising a few millimeters each year, severe flooding that once happened every 100 years is predicted to happen every six years by 2050, and every five months by 2100.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.veniceinperil.org/pdf/The-Science-of-Saving-Venice.pdf">Venice</a> is just one example of the challenges of preserving iconic landmarks that are threatened by the effects of climate change, such as rising seas and recurrent, intensifying droughts, storms and wildfires. In my research as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=foTLj_oAAAAJ&hl=en">social scientist</a>, I help heritage managers make tough decisions prioritizing which sites to save when funds, time or both are limited. </p>
<p>That includes planning for threatened <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/">World Heritage sites</a> designated as cultural or natural treasures by the <a href="https://en.unesco.org/">United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization</a>. Many U.S. national parks <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/index.htm">are also at risk</a>. And as I see it, success will require new thinking about what preservation means.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jjrAIrlROug?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Cultural heritage sites threatened by climate change include cities, towns and national parks.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ways of adapting</h2>
<p>Across the globe, innumerable cultural sites face <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06645-9">storm-related flooding, erosion and inundation from rising seas</a>. They include many in the U.S., such as <a href="https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/a-short-history-of-jamestown.htm">Jamestown Island in Virginia</a>, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm">New York’s Statue of Liberty</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/places/charleston-sc.htm">Charleston, South Carolina’s Historic District</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.icomos.org/en/about-icomos/mission-and-vision/mission-and-vision">Experts in cultural preservation worldwide</a> agree that it is <a href="https://indd.adobe.com/view/a9a551e3-3b23-4127-99fd-a7a80d91a29e">impossible to protect all of these places</a> forever. Many would require constant restoration. Others will need defenses like sea walls and flood gates – but those defenses might not be effective for long.</p>
<p>Some sites could be protected in ways that visibly alter them – for example, elevating or moving buildings, or allowing them to be damaged or removed from the landscape. Such steps go beyond restoration, which can conflict with mandates to preserve sites and structures in perpetuity.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 shut down New York’s Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island immigration museum for months.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Saving historic North Carolina buildings</h2>
<p>An early test of this approach occurred in 1999, when relentless erosion of the North Carolina shoreline forced the National Park Service to move the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/chls.htm#:%7E:text=In%201999%2C%20after%20years%20of,original%20distance%20from%20the%20sea">Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and Keeper’s Quarters</a> about a half-mile inland. Relocating these mid-19th-century structures cost $US11.8 million and sparked debate about how to deal with other imperiled historic buildings.</p>
<p>In 2015, managers at North Carolina’s <a href="https://www.nps.gov/calo/index.htm">Cape Lookout National Seashore</a> realized that buildings in Portsmouth Village and Cape Lookout Village, two maritime historic districts on barrier islands, were endangered by storm-related flooding and rising seas. Portsmouth Village, which dates to 1753, served as a thriving port town during colonial settlement, while Cape Lookout Village provided navigational support with construction of a lighthouse in 1812 that was replaced in 1859. </p>
<p>These buildings are listed on the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/index.htm">National Register of Historic Places</a>, which requires managers to preserve them in perpetuity. But officials were uncertain about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.07.052">which historic buildings to save first</a>. They also had to identify a strategy, such as moving or even removing buildings, that would maximize the significance preserved across the park’s landscape. </p>
<p>I developed a process to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2017.08.006">quantify the relative significance of historic buildings</a> to help them. Our team then created a planning tool to help National Park Service managers make <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/culturalresourcesstrategy.htm">cost-effective decisions</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.02.011">Our model</a> compiles data on each building’s significance and vulnerability. It evaluates adaptation costs, such as elevating or relocating buildings, given available funding, and charts possible strategies over a 30-year period.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of Cape Hatters Light and path to new site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367120/original/file-20201102-30516-7rp1d6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 1999 the National Park Service moved the historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse 2,900 feet inland (new site at lower right in photo) to protect it from shoreline erosion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery-item.htm?pg=0&id=C8519B5F-1DD8-B71C-071297C916FA00EA&gid=5D6745AE-1DD8-B71C-079BBD49D220700E">Mike Booher/NPS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When we tested the model on 17 flood-prone Cape Lookout buildings, we found that the best strategies were elevating them in place or moving them to higher ground and then elevating them. However, interviews with local people revealed that changing the location or the look of these buildings <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage1020015">upset some former residents and their descendants</a>. </p>
<p>Many people we talked to held deep connections to these places that were part of their personal, family and community identities. Surprisingly, some said they would rather lose some of these buildings than alter them. Other stakeholders – including members of partner organizations and park visitors – had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105180">different opinions</a> on what should be done.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL052019_Dorian.pdf">Hurricane Dorian</a> severely damaged Portsmouth Village in 2019, park managers made the hard decision to dismantle and remove some of the buildings while restoring others. But an important question remains: What should be done at other highly vulnerable locations?</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Climate-challenged World Heritage sites</h2>
<p>These findings inspired me to explore global, <a href="https://www.iccrom.org/section/people-and-heritage/people-centred-approaches">people-centered</a> approaches to preservation and the <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/compendium/">international policies</a> governing them. </p>
<p>Climate change <a href="https://en.unesco.org/fieldoffice/ramallah/tangible-cultural-heritage">threatens</a> many <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/">World Heritage sites</a>. Some are archaeological sites, like Peru’s <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/366/">Chan Chan</a>, the largest adobe city on Earth, and the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_dwellings_home.htm">ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings</a> in Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. Entire cities – including Venice – and historic buildings such as Australia’s <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/166/">Sydney Opera House</a> are also in harm’s way. </p>
<p>Current <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/158/">policy recommendations</a> focus on restoration or defenses, and oppose physical change. In fact, the only process that exists is to add sites undergoing physical change to the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. However, adding a site to the “danger” list is <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43652726">politically undesirable</a> because it can generate bad press, reduce tourism revenue and deter funders from supporting rescue efforts.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1323040885026816008"}"></div></p>
<h2>The need to transform</h2>
<p>My research calls for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02812-4">a more proactive approach</a>, including preemptive efforts to prevent damage. I see a need for a new category: “World Heritage Sites in Climatic Transformation.” </p>
<p>This approach draws on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26268226">the ecological concept of resilience</a>, which is essentially the ability to survive by changing and adapting. It would allow managers to repair, adapt or even transform vulnerable places. This new classification would place communities at the center of the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/496/">planning process</a> and create a searchable database of climate impacts and interventions.</p>
<p>Transforming heritage sites may be controversial, but the clock is ticking. Researching, designing and constructing defenses takes time. For example, floodgates installed to protect Venice are being tested <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/15/venice-controversial-barriers-prevent-flooding-for-second-time">a decade later than planned</a>. </p>
<p>In my view, saving cultural and historic sites from climate change will require a new approach to heritage preservation that includes transformation. Now is the time to think creatively, with input from people whose heritages are represented in these places, to discover new pathways to protecting them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145214/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Seekamp receives funding from the U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey. </span></em></p>
With growing drought, rising seas and heavier storms, how do we protect Venice and other world treasures? The answer: creative, proactive measures that may alter them in important ways.
Erin Seekamp, Professor of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, North Carolina State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/130733
2020-01-29T17:53:01Z
2020-01-29T17:53:01Z
Notre-Dame and Venice: why such a gap in generosity?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312280/original/file-20200128-81346-w6ko10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C62%2C6000%2C3467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On November 12, 2019, in Venise, the sea rose 1.87 metres above its normal level, flooding much of the city.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ihor Serdyukov/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The year 2019 was marked by catastrophes that hit two major jewels of European heritage, seven months apart: the fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15 and the Venice floods that began on November 12. Drawing 13 and 35 million tourists a year respectively, Notre-Dame and Venice are internationally recognized symbols that have fascinated artists, believers and tourists for centuries.</p>
<p>Photos of their destruction have been shared over and over again in the media, far more than <a href="https://ilglobo.com.au/news/46055/not-just-venice-matera-calls-for-support-after-damaging-floods/">other disasters</a> of the same scale, and have left their mark on people’s spirits and triggered countless political and social reactions. Both situations were followed by a call for donations to collect funds for repairing the damage. </p>
<p>The results of these appeals have been vastly different, however, and to understand why, we interviewed Italian colleagues doing research on philanthropy.</p>
<h2>Two dramas, two strategies</h2>
<p>Paris firefighters had just barely brought the flames under control at Notre-Dame when an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/notre-dame-fire-fund-rebuild-donate-macron-paris-cathedral-a8873846.html">incredible outpouring of generosity began</a>. France’s Fondation du Patrimoine was the first to launch a fundraising campaign, swiftly followed by the Fondation de France, the Fondation Notre-Dame and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, all approved by the French government.</p>
<p>The country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/macron-rebuild-notre-dame-1518112">appeared on television that same evening</a> to announce a national strategy for rebuilding Notre-Dame. By the next day, donations had exceeded expectations: 400 million euros pledged by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-profane-and-the-sacred-why-luxury-firms-rushed-to-support-notre-dame-115739">Arnault, Pinault and Bettencourt families</a>, 100 million euros by Total and L’Oréal, as well as donations pledged from enterprises, communities and nations. Not to mention countless donations from individuals in France and from around the world, who donated 30 million euros in only a few hours, mostly online and via cellphones. By April 17, donations were estimated to reach almost 1 billion euros, an unprecedented figure.</p>
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<p>The Venetian floods in November 2019 provoked an entirely different reaction. On Tuesday, November 12, a historic high tide flooded the city with 1.87 meters of water, followed by similar levels of flooding in the following days, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/17/venice-floods-call-for-help-damages-fundraise">80% of dwellings flooded and entire neighbourhoods submerged</a>. On November 14, the Italian government declared a state of emergency and allocated emergency funds of 20 million euros to dealing with the flooding.</p>
<p>On November 15, Luigi Brugnaro, the mayor of Venice, launched a public fundraising campaign to preserve the city, the “pride of Italy and international heritage”, by <a href="https://www.wantedinmilan.com/news/venice-floods-how-to-donate-to-relief-efforts.html">opening a bank account</a> to which anyone can send a transfer. Other initiatives were also established: Italian embassies announced a call for donations from <a href="https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2019/11/19/Russian-donor-Venice/2198799">foreign donors</a>, La Scala of Milan rallied to protect La Fenice, and various committees devoted to preserving Venice launched their own campaigns.</p>
<p>While the damages are estimated at around 1 billion euros, the funds collected are far from matching that figure. At best, only a few million euros have been raised, though it is difficult to know the exact figures. Why? Why were there unprecedented donations for Notre-Dame, yet we let Venice drown?</p>
<h2>Notre-Dame, an unforeseeable disaster</h2>
<p>The two events both involve internationally renowned “stars” of cultural heritage that now find themselves in dire straits. In both cases, the disaster was nor humanitarian nor social. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwilliams1/2019/04/17/why-notre-dame-donations-are-provoking-a-backlash-against-billionaires/">Many have</a> critiqued the irony of donors’ lack of empathy regarding societal problems and the lack of attention given to other historical monuments that crumble in silence.</p>
<p>Notre-Dame and Venice are both symbols of a collective identity that now find themselves at risk. The danger that threatens them can substantially impact those that see a part of themselves in these symbols. Angelo Miglietta, cultural management professor at IULM in Milan, said the following about the Venice floods: “It gives the impression of decline, with the risk of losing our cultural heritage”.</p>
<p>The two disasters are very different. Notre-Dame is a unique monument, the damage to which is both clearly visible and meticulously recorded. The striking images of the fire ravaging the roof and the fall of the spire were powerful, dramatic and unforgettable.</p>
<p>In Venice, the damage affects the whole city: monuments, yes, but also run-of-the-mill establishments like stores, dwellings and roads. While the devastation of Notre-Dame took the world by surprise, that of the city of the Doges was announced. While the Catholic church and heritage experts regularly warned about the poor state of churches in France, a fire of such size was unpredictable.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307791/original/file-20191218-11946-1qqrbvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The destruction of <em>acqua alta</em> of last November directly impacted the habitants and merchants of Venice, unlike the fire of Notre-Dame.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ihor Serdyukov/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the time, many theories circulated about the cause of the Notre-Dame fire: was it a terrorist attack, human error, an electrical issue? The Venice floods, however, are far from a new problem. Given its unique geographical position, the city has previously been subject to <em>acqua alta</em> (high water) episodes and exceptionally strong tides, a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-blamed-for-higher-tides-creating-uncertainty-for-venices-canals-60-minutes-2020-01-12/">problem amplified by climate change</a>. Devastating natural disasters are not rare in Italy and regularly result in the declaration of a state of emergency.</p>
<p>According to Sara Berloto, a philanthropy researcher at Bocconi University in Milan:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The Venice floods were seen as a natural disaster; the Italians are used to that. Notre-Dame, on the other hand, was seen as a man-made drama”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Omar Bortolazzi, who watched both events from afar in Dubai, where he is a professor of international relations, stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“For me, the Venice drama was less traumatic than that of Notre-Dame. The fire was an unprecedented event. For Venice, the floods have a bit of déjà-vu about them and are less startling. It seems like a natural disaster that could have been better handled and perhaps even partially avoided.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thus, the circumstances of the Venice floods seem to lend themselves less easily to calls for generosity…</p>
<h2>Incomparable fundraising tools</h2>
<p>The meagre results of the Venice fundraising campaign also have another explanation: strategic errors in how funds were raised. The Italian authorities were slow to react, while Macron declared a national campaign as soon as the fire occurred.</p>
<p>According to Antoine Martel, director of the iRaiser platform used by three of the four main groups raising funds for Notre-Dame, reactivity is key: “68% of individual donations were collected in the 48 hours following the fire. One emergency follows another. If you miss the media window, it’s over.”</p>
<p>Another point to consider is the difference in payment methods. For Notre-Dame, secure online donation platforms were in place the following morning, allowing individuals to donate quickly and easily from their computer or smartphone.</p>
<p>For Venice, donors could send a transfer to a bank account created for the occasion by city council. This solution that lacks flexibility, transparency and security, and is complicated by the fact that foreign transfers involve additional fees. The city also set up a campaign to <a href="https://www.wantedinmilan.com/news/venice-floods-how-to-donate-to-relief-efforts.html">donate by text</a> but donations were capped at 2 euros per text.</p>
<p>In the end, the scattered nature of the fundraising initiatives has been detrimental to Venice. According to Angelo Miglietta:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“There was a total lack of coordination and governance on the subject. The big donors and enterprises are more inclined to give large sums in the presence of clearly identified representatives with a clear message.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Notre-Dame, each of the four private organizations that launched a campaign is a recognized entity with public, verifiable accounts, who were supported by the government immediately after the disaster.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307864/original/file-20191219-11900-1o4de7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The coordination between the different entities involved was one of the explanations for the impressive fundraising effort after the Notre-Dame fire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Loic Salan/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other than the different strategies, one last element explains the gap between the funds raised: the political handling of the disaster and the responsibilities of the State and local communities. In front of the still-smoking site, when Emmanuel Macron appealed to the French to rebuild Notre-Dame, he did so in front of Michel Aupetit, the archbishop of Paris; Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris; and Franck Riester, the minister of culture.</p>
<h2>Political tension</h2>
<p>While the government was originally overtaken by private entities in raising money, it quickly got the upper hand by coordinating a national campaign and then supervising the cathedral’s reconstruction project, handed over to an ad-hoc public organization created on July 29. Despite some issues behind the scenes, the response fit the circumstances.</p>
<p>In Italy, the national disaster occurred in a complex political context, where the Italian government is emerging from a major political crisis. The tensions between the central government and that of the Veneto region, which has strong separatist tendencies, did not facilitate a unified and coordinated political approach.</p>
<p>Further, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.fr/us/venice-mose-flood-gates-storms-2018-11">disastrous management of the Moses project</a>, which was supposed to protect Venice from high tides with a system of dykes, and has already cost almost 6 billion euros, experienced significant delays due to fraud involving the former mayor of Venice.</p>
<p>The system was supposed to launch in 2016, but now will not be operational until 2021. The November 2019 <em>acqua alta</em> also seems to have been met with “disillusioned cynicism” from the population, according to Omar Bortolazzi. The Italian public actors do not possess the legitimacy to encourage individuals and companies to act; according to Omar Bortolazzi, “resentment has taken precedence over the desire to donate”.</p>
<p>Despite the difference in generosity, the Notre-Dame and Venice dramas have one last thing in common: the criticisms mingled in with the sadness. While in France, these criticisms mainly targeted the major donors, and in Italy, they focused on how public power was managed, both situations show that the two monuments represent a collective identity of their respective country and have intensified already-present tensions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
More than 1 billion euros were donated after Paris’ cathedral was grievously damaged by fire in April. By comparison, just a few million euros were given after catastrophic flooding in Cité des Doges.
Arthur Gautier, Professeur, Directeur exécutif de la Chaire Philanthropie, ESSEC
Éléonore Delanoë, Chargée de recherche, ESSEC
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116066
2019-05-22T19:47:40Z
2019-05-22T19:47:40Z
Rethinking tourism so the locals actually benefit from hosting visitors
<p>Tourism today has a problem and needs an entire rethink. Pundits are debating <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-might-be-at-risk-of-overtourism-99213">overtourism</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-in-the-era-of-overtourism-but-there-is-a-more-sustainable-way-forward-108906">peak tourism</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@BComuGlobal/they-call-it-tourism-phobia-but-that-s-not-what-s-happening-in-barcelona-cb56b02da97b">tourismphobia</a>. Cities such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stop-city-breaks-killing-our-cities-79132">Barcelona</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/venice-losing-fight-with-tourism-and-flooding">Venice</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/dubrovnik-cruise-ship-cap-croatia-overtourism-two-dock-a8565166.html">Dubrovnik</a> are witnessing a backlash against imposed forms of tourism. </p>
<p>In response, new tactics have been tried, ranging from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/14/venice-stewards-stop-antisocial-behaviour--sandwich-poilice">tourist “police”</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/edinburgh-city-tourist-tax-scotland-holiday-city-break-a8769141.html?fbclid=IwAR2q6q9woKiC226mLbvYkhJcFF5dr-7T2BjsGU9NXAgwn9vsz3uerfPyRlM">tourist taxes</a> to entry fees and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/sep/06/mass-tourism-environmental-damage">crowd control</a>. Cities are having to rethink their engagement with tourism if they want to keep the locals from <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/cities/2019/apr/30/sinking-city-how-venice-is-managing-europes-worst-tourism-crisis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Twitter&__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR1DvMXEHG0OFcWeLmuxzd7OBxPbFEGIlO5VDH2Oo--ZhHepL6q3gwVM0-8">rioting</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tourists-behaving-badly-are-a-threat-to-global-tourism-and-the-industry-is-partly-to-blame-112398">Tourists behaving badly are a threat to global tourism, and the industry is partly to blame</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Fundamental concerns are being raised. If tourism is to have a sustainable future, we need to reorient our focus and put the well-being and interests of local residents at the forefront.</p>
<h2>Understanding tourism</h2>
<p>Tourism is typically understood from two angles. On the one hand, the focus is on the tourists and the nature of their motivations and demand, in the hope of enticing more. On the other is the business side, focused on developing products and services to provide to tourists. </p>
<p>The industry seeks to grow tourism for profits. Governments support the industry for the jobs and revenues it provides. The result has been a relentless growth in tourism in forms that locals have often not appreciated. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275363/original/file-20190520-69199-iy76sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Hong Kong, locals have protested about the unregulated numbers of tourists from the Chinese mainland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alex Hofford/EPA/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Developments like Airbnb are placing tourists <a href="http://www.traveller.com.au/barcelona-tourism-overtourism-and-bad-behaviour-driving-locals-to-despair-h13vqy">in the heart of local neighbourhoods</a>, disrupting the rhythms of daily life. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517717301784">Events are imposed on communities</a>, driving out locals or blighting their quality of life. A case in point is the Newcastle 500 Supercars event, which <a href="https://wrongtracknsw.com/">some locals claim</a> has harmed local businesses and disrupted residents’ lives. </p>
<p>Public assets like the <a href="http://www.adelaide-parklands.asn.au/current-issues/">Adelaide Parklands</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-light-for-tasmanian-wilderness-tourism-development-defied-expert-advice-104854">Australian national parks and World Heritage areas</a> are being commercialised and privatised for tourism developments. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-kangaroo-island-to-the-great-barrier-reef-the-paradox-that-is-luxury-ecotourism-113044">From Kangaroo Island to the Great Barrier Reef, the paradox that is luxury ecotourism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Shifting the focus to the local community</h2>
<p>We could create a different future for tourism if it was reoriented to be centred on the local community. <a href="https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2019.1601732">Our recently published research paper</a> redefined tourism as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The process of local communities inviting, receiving and hosting visitors in their local community, for a limited time duration, with the intention of receiving benefits from such actions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such forms of tourism may be offered by commercial businesses or made possible by non-profit organisations. But in this restructure of tourism, tourism operators would be allowed access to the local community’s assets only under their authorisation and stewardship. </p>
<p>The seeds of such a transition to more sustainable forms of tourism are already growing.</p>
<h2>Respect and fairness go a long way</h2>
<p>Venice provides a good example. In 2017, the authorities launched a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/venice-enjoyrespectvenezia-tourism-campaign-paola-mar-travel-campaign-litter-swim-canals-bridges-a7861321.html">#EnjoyRespectVenezia</a> campaign to overcome problems of poor tourist behaviour. </p>
<p>In 2019, Venetian authorities have gone even further by <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/venice-biennale-city-access-fee-1535137">introducing an entry fee</a> this year and, later, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/venice-booking-system-entry-fee-reserve-overcrowding-overtourism-a8765456.html">a booking system</a>. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We intend to guarantee a better liveability for citizens and, above all, for the residents.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275358/original/file-20190520-69174-1qqk2ek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The use of metal turnstiles to limit admissions of tourists is controversial in Venice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-aus-apr-13-2014traffic-on-190693613?src=GrTW563Ailb5qdXCbnuG1Q-1-8">Andrea Merola/EPA/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cruise-lines-promise-big-payouts-but-the-tourist-money-stays-at-sea-66350">Cruise lines promise big payouts, but the tourist money stays at sea</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But local communities and organisations are not waiting for authorities to act. Community activists are organising to take control of tourism for themselves.</p>
<p>A grassroots initiative from Amsterdam and Venice has resulted in <a href="https://fairbnb.coop/">Fairbnb</a>. It’s a social cooperative designed to challenge the damaging and disruptive model of Airbnb. The new platform “provides a community-centred alternative to current vacation rental platforms that prioritises people over profit and offers the potential for authentic, sustainable and intimate travel experiences”. </p>
<p>Like Airbnb, Fairbnb offers a platform to book vacation rentals. The difference is that 50% of revenues will be directed to local community projects. It also has a “one host, one home” policy – only one property on the market for each host – to limit negative impacts on local residential housing markets.</p>
<h2>Meanwhile in Australia …</h2>
<p>Australia does not have the same level of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-might-be-at-risk-of-overtourism-99213">overtourism</a> that places in Europe are suffering. But pressures are building right around the country from Byron Bay and the Great Ocean Road to our bigger cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Locals are complaining about housing affordability, congested roads and badly behaved tourists. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-might-be-at-risk-of-overtourism-99213">Why Australia might be at risk of 'overtourism'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australia would benefit from strategies to reorient tourism to local well-being and control. Some promising examples already exist. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.lirrwitourism.com.au/">Lirrwi Tourism</a> in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, stands out. The Yolngu Aboriginal operators have embraced tourism access but only under a visionary set of <a href="https://www.lirrwitourism.com.au/guiding-principles">guiding principles</a>. These declare “Yolngu have a responsibility to care for country” and “Tourism should never control what happens on country”. It’s an example of tourism on the local community’s terms.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275362/original/file-20190520-69213-1s7m2s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1139&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Melbourne’s laneways strategy has produced benefits for both locals and tourists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-aus-apr-13-2014traffic-on-190693613?src=GrTW563Ailb5qdXCbnuG1Q-1-8">ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.theurbanist.org/2015/09/16/melbourne-a-case-study-in-the-revitalization-of-city-laneways-part-1/">Melbourne’s laneways strategy</a> has demonstrated one way CBD revitalisation, resident well-being and visitor experiences can be brought together for great outcomes.</p>
<p>Tourists can play their part by meeting local communities halfway. In a resource-constrained world the pleasures of tourism must be balanced with some basic responsibilities. </p>
<p>Tourists must gain some basic understanding of local living conditions and shape their travel plans accordingly. The focus must be to give locals the maximum benefits from the visit with the minimum negative impacts. The recent campaign <a href="https://www.kathmandu.com.au/helpful-or-harmful">“Helpful or harmful: what sort of traveller are you?”</a> provides a place to start.</p>
<p>The long-term sustainability of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Reorienting tourism to enhance local well-being is the way forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Freya Higgins-Desbiolles has received grant funding in the past from a number of organisations, including the Cooperative Research Council for Sustainable Tourism, Le Cordon Bleu Australia, the Toda Peace Institute and the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She has declared no conflict of interest arising from such funding affecting the content or the views expressed in this article. Freya is affiliated with a number of scholarly and advocacy bodies concerned with tourism, including the Tourism Alert and Action Forum.
She acknowledges her co-authors of the "Degrowing tourism: Rethinking tourism research paper, Dr Sandro Carnicelli of the University of Western Scotland, Dr Chris Krolikowski of the University of South Australia, Dr Gayathri Wijesinghe of the University of South Australia and Dr Karla Boluk of the University of Waterloo.</span></em></p>
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs.
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110861
2019-03-14T11:17:06Z
2019-03-14T11:17:06Z
Venice had its own ‘Airbnb problem’ during the Renaissance – here’s how it coped
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263453/original/file-20190312-86690-1azh0vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=204%2C0%2C3074%2C1962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A balancing act. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz/39122142674/">szeke/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cities around the world have had difficulties balancing the interests of visitors with the needs of residents, as holiday rental platforms such as Airbnb <a href="https://www.vizlly.com/blog-airbnb-infographic/">have grown</a> in popularity and size. Evidence <a href="https://theconversation.com/airbnb-and-the-short-term-rental-revolution-how-english-cities-are-suffering-101720">shows that</a> the conversion of rented homes to short-term accommodation contributes to housing shortages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/airbnbs-adverse-impact-on-urban-housing-markets-109772">raises house prices</a>, speeds up gentrification and erodes local communities. </p>
<p>Cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/airbnb-sharing-economy-cities-barcelona-inequality-locals">Barcelona</a> and London have acted to <a href="https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2016-06-22/places-with-strict-airbnb-laws">curb these negative effects</a>, imposing new taxes or limiting the number of nights that a property can be rented out. Today, Venice is one of the worst affected cities: the resident population has fallen to its <a href="https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2017/02/venice-fights-back/516270/">lowest level in centuries</a> and city leaders are looking for ways to mitigate the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/31/venice-introduce-visitor-tax-latest-bid-manage-impact-mass-tourism/">ill effects of mass tourism</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the city also has a long history of managing the pros and cons of migration and tourism, and finding ways to profit from – but also integrate – foreigners. Indeed, in Renaissance Venice, a huge influx of foreigners fuelled the rise of a large informal lodging sector, which was difficult to tax and regulate and had a major impact on the urban community. Sound familiar? </p>
<h2>Renaissance boom town</h2>
<p>By the 16th century, Venice was the capital of its own huge empire and a major crossroads of trade and travel between mainland Europe and the Mediterranean. At the same time as painters including Titian and Giorgione were making the city a centre of Renaissance culture, the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=2ascAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA321&lpg=PA321&dq=Daniele+Beltrami,+Storia+della+popolazione+di+Venezia+dalla+fine+del+secolo+XVI+alla+caduta+della+Repubblica&source=bl&ots=IvVeRO7F2w&sig=ACfU3U0mMgDqafh5kWOEdgaZfXUzKvXUnw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNi5qor_7gAhVDVXwKHSUpBq4Q6AEwBXoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=population%20beltrami&f=false">population surged</a> from around 100,000 to nearly 170,000 in just 50 years. </p>
<p>Unlike today, the people drawn to Venice at the time were mostly international merchants and entrepreneurs, migrants looking for work in local industries, or refugees from war and hunger. But the first tourists also arrived in this period, such as the French writer and nobleman <a href="http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190215330.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190215330-e-12">Montaigne</a>, who came to explore the city’s cultural treasures. And all of these people needed somewhere to stay. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C694%2C3176%2C2267&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257460/original/file-20190206-174857-qwzv1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Buzzing: Vittore Carpaccio’s painting showing a miracle healing in Venice, circa 1496.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Relic_of_the_Cross_at_the_Ponte_di_Rialto#/media/File:Accademia_-_Miracle_of_the_Holy_Cross_at_Rialto_by_Vittore_Carpaccio.jpg">Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926818000536">My research</a> has shown how hundreds of ordinary Venetians at this time saw a chance to make money on the side by renting rooms or beds. Many were women who struggled to earn a living in other ways: people like Paolina Briani, who in the 1580s rented rooms to Muslim merchants from the Ottoman empire, in her home a few minutes’ walk from Piazza San Marco. </p>
<p>By opening up their homes to migrants and travellers, these accommodation providers – unlike the mostly <a href="http://insideairbnb.com/venice/">absentee Airbnb owners</a> of today – shared intimate spaces with people who spoke different languages and practised different religions. </p>
<h2>Regulating the informal economy</h2>
<p>The rapid growth of this informal economy of lodging alarmed the Venetian government. Fearing the spread both of diseases and of threatening political and religious ideas, the government was anxious to <a href="https://books.google.it/books?id=TDZyDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true">regulate and monitor</a> the presence of foreigners in their city. They also wished to minimise competition with the city’s licensed inns – a profitable source of tax revenues. </p>
<p>So, a bit like today, the government made efforts to register and tax lodging housekeepers, and force them to report on the movements of their tenants. Though this regulation was very difficult to enforce because of the informal nature of many lodging enterprises, Venice’s rulers did not try to eliminate this sector altogether. </p>
<p>While wanting to control the movement of people, they also saw that migrants and visitors were crucial to the city’s economy and its cultural power. They wanted to welcome anyone who brought valuable goods, innovative ideas or essential manpower. </p>
<p>At the same time, the government took into account that ordinary Venetians – especially vulnerable and poor groups such as widows – also profited from the influx. And the money that residents made by offering lodging might be essential to their survival. </p>
<h2>A delicate balance</h2>
<p>To be sure, Venice’s authorities did not welcome all comers. They took aggressive action to stop “undesirables” (such as beggars and prostitutes) from entering the city. They also put more and more pressure on religious minorities to live in segregated spaces – most famously <a href="https://books.google.it/books?id=r_7ljwEACAAJ&dq=Venice,+the+Jews+and+Europe+1516-2016&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUxbez66bgAhU3D2MBHX7TDzIQ6AEIKjAA">the Jewish Ghetto</a>. </p>
<p>But they also saw the benefits of promoting a diverse and flexible hospitality industry that could serve the interests of locals as well as visitors. Licensed lodging houses were allowed to flourish and, alongside the inns, became a central part of the city’s emerging <a href="https://books.google.it/books?id=37EwDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=venice+tourist+maze&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXl-v966bgAhUk5uAKHUAkDRwQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=venice%20tourist%20maze&f=false">tourist infrastructure</a>. </p>
<p>Many newcomers who came to stay in residents’ homes – where they might learn something of the local language and customs – went on to settle and integrate into the community. In its regulation of the hospitality industry, Renaissance Venice struck a delicate balance between the interests of foreigners and locals, which was crucial to the city’s economic, cultural and political strength. </p>
<p>Today, such a compromise appears very difficult to achieve. There are differences between then and now: in the reasons people come to the city; in the nature of competing urban needs; and in the likely solutions and policies. But it seems that cities can take a lead from Renaissance Venice, and act to promote meaningful interactions between visitors and residents; for example, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/berlin-has-banned-homeowners-from-renting-out-flats-on-airbnb-heres-why-59204">Berlin</a> has done, by banning people from renting out entire flats on Airbnb. The Venice of 500 years ago challenges people to think about “the Airbnb problem” in a more nuanced way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosa Salzberg has received funding from the European Commission, in the framework of "Horizon 2020" Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Project: MIGROPOLIS (702296)</span></em></p>
Airbnb has been criticised for contributing to housing problems in cities across Europe – but history shows there could be a way forward.
Rosa Salzberg, Associate Professor of Italian Renaissance History, University of Warwick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108495
2019-01-08T19:12:39Z
2019-01-08T19:12:39Z
Hidden women of history: Caterina Cornaro, the last queen of Cyprus
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250849/original/file-20181217-185252-3d4ha8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Portrait of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, c. 1500, by Gentile Bellini. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gentile_Bellini_-_Portrait_of_Caterina_Cornaro,_Queen_of_Cyprus_-_WGA1609.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In a <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hidden-women-of-history-64072">new series</a>, we look at under-acknowledged women through the ages.</em></p>
<p>The life of Caterina Cornaro could easily be the plot of a novel or TV drama. One of the most significant woman of Venice’s golden age, <a href="http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0388.xml">Cornaro</a> (1454-1510) was an important figure in Renaissance politics, diplomacy and arts. She reigned as the queen of Cyprus for 16 years under immense pressure. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=793&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249861/original/file-20181211-76974-8ja8yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=996&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Caterina, 1494-1495, by Albrecht Dürer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caterina_Cornaro_by_durer.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a patron of the arts, she was painted by greats such as <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caterina_Cornaro_by_durer.jpg">Dürer</a>, <a href="https://www.virtualuffizi.com/portrait-of-caterina-coronaro-as-saint-catherine-of-alexandria.html">Titian</a>, <a href="https://www.wga.hu/html_m/b/bellini/gentile/cornaro.html">Bellini</a> and <a href="http://www.boglewood.com/cornaro/xportrait_b31giorgione.html">Giorgione</a>. Yet today she is relatively little known outside of Venice and Cyprus.</p>
<p>Caterina was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus between 1474 and 1489. Her tragic reign saw the Mediterranean island transfer from the hands of the <a href="http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/history/lusignan/index.html">Lusignan</a> dynasty who had dominated the island since the Crusades, to the Republic of Venice, one of the clearest signs of the mercantile nation-state flexing its imperial muscle.</p>
<p>This significant event took place against the backdrop of interference from Venice’s rival, Genoa, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the east. Despite the complex political intrigue, Caterina became a much-admired figure in contemporary European society. Still, separating the real Caterina from the romanticised version of her can be a challenge. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-hop-lin-jong-a-chinese-immigrant-in-the-early-days-of-white-australia-108744">Hidden women of history: Hop Lin Jong, a Chinese immigrant in the early days of White Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Early life</h2>
<p>Caterina was born in 1454, into one of the most noble and influential Venetian families. (It had produced four Doges, the senior-most elected official of the Republic.) She grew up in the family palace on the Grand Canal. Amongst the family’s many financial interests were rich sugar plantations on Cyprus. They developed close relations with the Lusignan family who had reigned over Cyprus since 1192. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C268%2C2863%2C1447&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C268%2C2863%2C1447&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=733&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249582/original/file-20181210-76977-4ojpwv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=921&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unknown artist, Caterina Cornaro Queen of Cyprus, oil on canvas, unknown date, University of Sydney Art Collection [UA1865.9]</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://sydney.edu.au/museums/collections_search/?record=ecatalogue.51317">sydney.edu.au/museums</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After a period of instability, James II became King of Cyprus in 1468 and chose Caterina as his wife. The marital bond was supported by Venice: commercial rights on the island were now secured for Venetian interests. She was presented with a dowry of 100,000 ducats; a not inconsiderable sum of gold and silver coinage.</p>
<p>She and James married by proxy in St Mark’s Cathedral on 30 July 1468 when Caterina was 14-years-old. She set sail for Cyprus in 1472 to finally meet her husband.</p>
<p>Caterina arrived and married James in person at the Cypriot harbour city of Famagusta. James, however, died a mere ten months after the two met, leaving the heavily pregnant queen consort to become regent to her newborn son James III. Tragedy struck the young queen again on 26 August 1474 when her son and last legitimate heir to the Lusignan line died. The child’s passing left Caterina as queen regnant, a role she would hold for 16 years. Rumours spread that James II had been poisoned by the queen’s relatives.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-petronella-oortman-and-her-giant-dolls-house-108248">Hidden women of history: Petronella Oortman and her giant dolls' house</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Thrust into a position of power and prestige through the title, Caterina was immediately the centre of various intrigues within the court. She survived conspiracies from within to overthrow her, and pressure from Naples and the Papal state.</p>
<p>It was Venice that exerted the greatest threat to Caterina. Control of Cyprus would consolidate the Republic’s influence over the entire Mediterranean, so they removed many of the queen’s trusted advisers and replaced them with commissioners and counsellors influencing decision making. While it is easy to portray her as a victim of Venetian manipulation, for years she faced down considerable pressure by the Republic to surrender the throne.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249871/original/file-20181211-76980-1rjqwco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hans Makart, Venice pays tribute to Caterina Cornaro, oil on canvas, 1872-3.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Makart_-_Venedig_huldigt_Caterina_Cornaro_-_5838_-_%C3%96sterreichische_Galerie_Belvedere.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Removal from Cyprus</h2>
<p>In 1489 Caterina finally relented to the Republic’s exertions, mediated by her brother, to abdicate. Although she lost political power, she was still able to stage manage her image successfully. Contemporary chronicler <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/7000421?selectedversion=NBD3129664">George Boustronios</a>’s account tell us </p>
<blockquote>
<p>on 15 February 1489 the queen exited from Nicosia for Famagusta to leave … she went on horseback wearing a black silken cloak, with all the ladies and the knights in her company …. Her eyes, moreover did not cease to shed tears throughout the procession. The whole population was bewailing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The reality was more complex. Cyprus was locked into a feudal system which was retained by the Venetians; for most Cypriots life would not change with their queen’s exile and the collapse of the monarchy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249855/original/file-20181211-76983-1oe4swx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of Nicosia in Cyprus, created in 1597 by the Venetian Giacomo Franco (1550-1620) for his book Viaggio da Venetia a Constantinopoli per Mare. The Venetian influence on Cyprus after Caterina’s fall, including the fortification of Nicosia, was profound.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pageantry of the fleet carrying the exiled Queen home was played as a brilliant piece of propaganda by both the Doge and by the former Queen. Her disembarkation in Venice became a common scene in contemporary painting.</p>
<h2>Queen of the arts</h2>
<p>On return to Italy, Caterina was granted for life the fiefdom of <a href="https://www.magicoveneto.it/trevisan/asolo/Castello-Regina-Cornaro-Asolo.htm">Asolo</a>, a town in the Veneto region of northern Italy, in 1489. </p>
<p>Under Caterina, it became a flourishing court for Late Renaissance art and learning. Painters such as Gentile Bellini and poet Andrea Navagero were welcomed. The reputation of the Queen’s court soon spread, particularly after humanist Cardinal Pietro Bembo used it as the setting for his famed dialogues on platonic love, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=oTAcvAEACAAJ&dq=Gli+Asolani&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY_uaQzJbfAhXJPY8KHc5RBLoQ6AEINTAC">Gli Asolani</a>. </p>
<p>https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-lydia-chukovskaya-editor-writer-heroic-friend-108509</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-lydia-chukovskaya-editor-writer-heroic-friend-108509">Hidden women of history: Lydia Chukovskaya, editor, writer, heroic friend</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is some debate about who really spent time in Asolo, leading to one historian to describe the “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300209723/daughter-venice">mirage of Asolo</a>”. Whatever the true nature of the court; the image of the cultured Queen in exile was manipulated by Caterina. She became a standard figure of portraitists. In later life, and in even in death, Cornaro had far greater control than she ever did during her reign.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249869/original/file-20181211-76977-a2u4zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Castello della Regina Cornaro in Asolo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Castello_della_Regina_Cornaro_Asolo.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1510 she died in Venice. The crowds wanting to participate in the funeral of Caterina were so large that a bridge of boats was constructed to allow greater pedestrian movement. She was buried in the church of San Salvador near the Rialto Bridge.</p>
<h2>Legacy</h2>
<p>Death was not the end of Caterina’s story. Even centuries later she continued to influence the arts. The audience hall of Caterina’s castle at Asolo was converted to a theatre in 1798; the theatre itself was later purchased by the John Ringling Museum of Art <a href="https://www.ringling.org/history-historic-asolo-theater">where it has been reassembled</a> in Sarasota, Florida.</p>
<p>In 2017, a portrait of Caterina from a private collection underwent conservation and was exhibited in the <a href="http://leventismuseum.org.cy/home">Leventis Museum</a> in Nicosia in Cyprus for the first time. The conservation work included both art historical research and scientific analysis and confirmed a <a href="http://leventismuseum.org.cy/temporary-exhibitions/14">16th century date for the portrait</a>.</p>
<p>Copies of original portraits of the queen continued to be made into the 18th and 19th centuries. The University of Sydney has within its <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/museums/collections_search/?record=ecatalogue.51317">art collection</a> a large oil painting of unknown hand, but from the tradition of a lost Titian. The queen wears a black widow’s gown, a coronet and necklace.</p>
<p>Robert Browning wrote of <a href="https://www.telelib.com/authors/B/BrowningRobert/verse/asolando/index.html">Asolo</a>. The libretto based upon her life by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges would go onto to form the basis of five <a href="http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000007589">operas</a>. A highly romanticised novel <a href="https://archive.org/details/royalpawnvenice00turngoog/page/n12">Royal Pawn of Venice: A Romance of Cyprus</a> was published in 1911.</p>
<p>It is time her story was once again better known. The story of the republican queen of arts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Barker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
One of the most significant woman of Venice’s golden age, Cornaro was an important figure in Renaissance politics, diplomacy and arts.
Craig Barker, Education Manager, Sydney University Museums, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106197
2018-11-12T13:47:35Z
2018-11-12T13:47:35Z
Venice flooding is getting worse – and the city’s grand plan won’t save it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245055/original/file-20181112-83576-vr25sa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/acqua-alta-venice-561086284?src=V8rJEJcIBbIv3CbF1qSFtA-1-4">Nullplus/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The spectacular centrepiece of Venice, St Mark’s Square, now floods more than <a href="https://www.mosevenezia.eu/piano-generale-interventi/">60 times a year</a>, up from four times a year in 1900. Recent storms reportedly helped cover over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/29/venice-experiences-worst-flooding-since-2008">70% of the city</a> in water, which rose by up to 156cm above its normal level. </p>
<p>Upcoming research conducted with our colleagues at the National Research Centre of Venice (CNR) shows that, without intervention, within 50 years this kind of flooding could occur with nearly every high tide. In fact, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/venice-will-vanish-within-a-century-study-warns-a7614591.html">some experts have argued</a> that Venice will be gone by the year 2100.</p>
<p>The increase in flooding in Venice is due to the combined effects of land subsidence causing the city to sink, and climate change causing the global <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/sea-level-rise-5/assessment">sea level to rise</a>. But the city’s chosen solution to the problem, an unfinished scheme of 78 storm gates <a href="https://www.mosevenezia.eu">known as MOSE</a>, is likely to cause damage to the ecological health of the surrounding lagoon and, in the long run, could have no effect on Venice’s preservation.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/245058/original/file-20181112-83579-10otwx7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Venice lagoon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leguna_Veneta.png">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Venetians have been managing Venice lagoon with engineering <a href="http://correr.visitmuve.it">since the 12th century</a>. The city <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/engineeringvenice/">is built</a> on 118 small islands drained by a network of canals and located within a tidal lagoon sat between the Italian coast and several barrier islands known as the Murazzi. Interventions have included diverting six major rivers away from the lagoon to stop its waterways filling with silt, rebuilding and extending the Murazzi and reducing the inlets between them from the original nine to three.</p>
<p>Venetians have also combated flooding by periodically raising pavements and walkways and building embankments, but this is no longer possible without damaging the city’s architecture. So in 2003, the MOSE project was launched as a way of protecting Venice from the worsening floods. But the Venetian scientific community is divided over the impact of the project on the lagoon given how much worse the flooding could become. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.corila.it">Records held in the city show</a> the Venice sea level has consistently risen by a total of 26cm since 1870. Around 12cm of that comes from the fact that Venice’s islands are subsiding because of the amount of water removed from the aquifer beneath Venice lagoon. Further measurements show that sea level is still rising <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706509001375">2.4mm a year</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, with a sea level rise of 50cm, the MOSE storm gates will need to close almost daily in order to protect the city from flooding. The problem with this comes from the fact that some of the Venice’s untreated sewage flows directly into the lagoon via the canals and presently is flushed through the inlets into the sea within a week. Shutting the inlets every day could cause increased microbiological pollution and eutrophication in the lagoon. This is where the water becomes so full of nutrients that it spawns excessive growth of plants and algae at the expense of other wildlife.</p>
<h2>Lagoon at risk</h2>
<p>This would follow other damage to the lagoon’s ecosystem caused by the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0964569195000658">loss of salt marshes and tidal flats</a> (and the reclamation of tidal flats in other areas <a href="http://www.istitutoveneto.org/venezia/divulgazione/pirelli/pirelli_2005_en/Banca_Dati_Ambientale/192.168.10.66/pirelli_new/divulgazione/valli/valli_pesca.html#4">for fish farming</a>). Meanwhile, seabed erosion from dredging and illegal clam harvesting has increased the central part of the lagoon’s depth by 50cm since 1970. There are major concerns among the <a href="https://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/venice2003/workshops.pdf">scientific community of Venice</a> that further enclosing and restricting the lagoon will further compromise its ecological health. </p>
<p>The other problem with MOSE is that it doesn’t address the issue of the rising sea level, which is already damaging the city’s buildings with salt and damp, despite widespread renovations of foundations and canals. The conservator of St Mark’s Cathedral <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/environmental-conservation/article/flooding-and-environmental-challenges-for-venice-and-its-lagoon-state-of-knowledge-edited-by-c-a-fletcher-and-t-spencer-xxv-691-pp-25-19-35-cm-isbn-0-521-84046-5-hardback-gb-8500us-18000-cambridge-uk-cambridge-university-press-2005/88A82BFCF3F0E6AFE5645B1E535F1B50">has shown</a> that sea water has risen several metres through the church’s foundations walls.</p>
<p>Several alternatives to the MOSE project have been proposed, including pumping water <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2010WR009161">back into the ground</a> to raise the city up, but none have received widespread acceptance by the scientific community. There is agreement that the salt marshes and mudflats that once surrounded Venice should be <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=352&docType=pdf">returned to their former extent</a> in order to preserve the ecological health of the lagoon.</p>
<p>But this will certainly not solve the problem of rising sea levels. If the sea level rises above a sustainable water level there will be no other choice than to permanently cut off the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Clearly, this can only be done if the problems of pollution, sewage and port activities have been resolved. In this case we will have a fresh water lagoon, different from the one we know, but preserving the city of Venice within it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106197/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carl Amos received funding from CVN (2009) for research on habitat stability in Venice lagoon. He also received funds from CNR_Grandi Masse to undertake research on sediment stability and sediment transport in the inlets of Venice lagoon. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georg Umgiesser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Venice is set to be regularly 70% underwater and proposed tidal floodgates won’t deal with the fundamental problems.
Carl Amos, Emeritus Professor, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton
Georg Umgiesser, Senior Researcher in Oceanography, Institute of Marine Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106027
2018-10-31T12:29:32Z
2018-10-31T12:29:32Z
Venice is flooded, but other cities are in much greater danger
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243231/original/file-20181031-76390-1df9855.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C17%2C3814%2C2579&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Piazza San Marco during Venice's acqua alta (flooding). </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/st-marks-square-piazza-san-marco-504909022?src=xhYJ8B5ygi42GPT2zJQziw-1-0">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Venice has flooded. But while worry about the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/world/europe/venice-floods-italy.html">worst floods</a> in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/29/venice-experiences-worst-flooding-since-2008">decade</a> and warnings about the impacts of <a href="http://fortune.com/2018/10/30/venice-flooding-italy-flood-barriers-october-2018/">climate change</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/30/europe/venice-flooding-intl/index.html">sea level rise</a> dominate most of the media coverage, there’s a more complex story to be told. </p>
<p>In Venice, floods are a feature, not a bug. The city was founded by people fleeing the Huns. They were safe in the lagoon (a word borrowed from Venetian), where horses and armoured men could not advance: the soggy ground would slow the enemy, the tide would wash them out. </p>
<p>Halfway between land and sea, trade is the only way to make a living. And so Venetians became <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-economic-history-of-venice-2012-8?IR=T">successful merchants</a> and built a magnificent city, with dazzling palaces and splendid churches filled with delightful works of art. </p>
<p>That city would flood every so often, when the tide was high and the wind pushed the waters of the Adriatic up north. But Venetian buildings are designed to withstand this, and city life bustles around the water.</p>
<h2>The cost of protection</h2>
<p>Venice has changed – it is primarily a tourist attraction now. Many locals have <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2016/1112/Venexodus-Why-residents-are-fleeing-fragile-Venice-Italy">moved out</a>, their houses converted to hotels, restaurants and holiday homes. The floods have changed, too. The rising sea pushes the flood waters ever higher, and this will <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-009-0617-5">get worse in the future</a>. Stronger winds would exacerbate the problem.</p>
<p>The impact of climate change and sea level rise is moderated by adaptation. The Sumerians, the earliest known civilisation in Mesopotamia, knew how to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12685-015-0127-9">build a dyke</a>: 5,000 years have passed since, and we have learned a lot about how to protect our coasts. </p>
<p>Some places are easy to protect. The Piazza del Duomo in Pisa is vulnerable to erosion, but there is plenty of foreshore to build a dyke without spoiling the view of the Leaning Tower. London will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/19/thames-barrier-how-safe-london-major-flood-at-risk">need a new barrier</a> eventually, and the only thing standing in its way is the government’s ability to decide and deliver large infrastructure projects.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/243235/original/file-20181031-76387-5r2y6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Ruin the view at King’s Landing?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dubrovnik-old-city-croatia-fortress-106569842?src=ILf8FPr70vXfm-WOjMpSkQ-1-21">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>Other places are much harder to protect. You can build a seawall in Miami but the water would seep right under it. A seawall would be effective in Dubrovnik but would spoil the Old City. A glass wall would be more appropriate, and expensive. Costs are a concern too in <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/183">Leptis Magna</a> – an ancient Roman city in Libya – as are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security/three-kidnapped-turkish-engineers-released-in-southern-libya-idUSKBN1JK02G">kidnappings of skilled engineers</a>.</p>
<h2>Off the tourist trail</h2>
<p>Research shows that cultural heritage is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06645-9">particularly vulnerable</a> to sea level rise. Of 49 cultural world heritage sites located in low-lying coastal areas of the Mediterranean, 37 are at risk from a 100-year flood and 42 from coastal erosion. Up to the year 2100, flood risk may increase by 50% and erosion risk by 13% across the region, with considerably higher increases at individual world heritage sites.</p>
<p>Although Venice faces a serious threat from flooding, tourism generates so much money that the city can afford to protect itself. As a matter of fact, after the record floods of 1966, authorities decided to protect Venice. It took a while to agree on the design and the financing. Construction began in 2003 on a set of movable barriers that lie flat on the sea floor for most of the time, but close the inlets of the lagoon during high tides. </p>
<p>This set-up maintains the ecology and hydrology of the lagoon roughly as it is today, which is important as it is the <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/news/the-lagoon-of-venice-as-a-ramsar-site">largest tidal marsh</a> in the Mediterranean. The first tests of the barriers have already been conducted. Full scale testing should commence in January 2019, and the project is due to be completed in 2022.</p>
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<p>Reports of the death of Venice are premature: €6 billion was spent to make sure it will not drown below the rising sea. Why? Because it‘s worth it. The media focus on the impacts of sea level rise on places such as Venice feeds the needs of sensationalists. Many people have been there, or would like to go. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/may/26/venice-tourists-cruise-ships-pollution-italy-biennale">30m people visited</a> Venice last year. The alarm is raised by the threat of seeing an iconic city destroyed by climate change. Except that in this case, the threat is baseless.</p>
<p>That is not to say that sea level rise is no concern. Cities such as Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, Accra in Ghana, Chittagong in Bangladesh, Jakarta in Indonesia, Lagos in Nigeria and Mumbai in India will face greater challenges, when it comes to shielding themselves from the rising sea. Poor and disorganised, the authorities have a hard time providing <a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article/33/3/355/3926162">basic public services</a> – they can ill afford a multi-billion dollar project to protect the coast. </p>
<p>The most worrying impacts of climate change will fall on those unable to adapt, and places off the beaten track face far greater obstacles than those on the tourist trail. Al Gore described climate change as a moral problem. Perhaps we should focus less on the cities and sights we know, which are ultimately safer from climate change, and more on the real destruction that climate change will cause.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106027/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Tol received funding for research on the impacts of sea level rise from the European Commission, DG Research and Innovation. </span></em></p>
For many world heritage sites, flood risks are increasing. But what about places that don’t have the funds for protection?
Richard Tol, Professor of Economics, University of Sussex Business School, University of Sussex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99213
2018-07-11T02:05:40Z
2018-07-11T02:05:40Z
Why Australia might be at risk of ‘overtourism’
<p>Recently, some of Europe’s most-visited cities have become surprisingly inhospitable to tourists. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jun/25/tourists-go-home-refugees-welcome-why-barcelona-chose-migrants-over-visitors">Barcelona</a> residents have been openly hostile to visitors and <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/06/barcelona-finds-a-way-to-control-its-airbnb-market/562187/">officials are now cracking down on Airbnb rentals</a>. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212571X17303311">Venice</a> has been overrun with daytrippers and recently instituted tourist-only diversion routes. <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/news/has-dubrovnik-solved-over-crowding-from-cruise-lines/">Dubrovnik</a> has put a cap on the number of cruise ship passengers that can enter the city at any one time.</p>
<p>These destinations are suffering from what people in the travel industry call “overtourism.” The numbers speak for themselves. Europe was the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Tourism_statistics_at_regional_level">most frequently visited region in the world in 2016</a>, accounting for close to half of the 1.24 billion international tourist arrivals. Spain, a nation of 46.5 million people, welcomed a remarkable 75.3 million visitors in 2016. Croatia, population 4.2 million, saw more than triple the number of tourist arrivals.</p>
<p>Australia hasn’t yet experienced visitor numbers quite this large – there were just 8.24 million tourist arrivals in 2016 – but overtourism is becoming a concern here, as well.</p>
<h2>What exactly is overtourism?</h2>
<p>The awkward term <a href="https://www.responsibletravel.com/copy/overtourism">overtourism</a> describes a situation in which a tourism destination exceeds its carrying capacity – in physical and/or psychological terms. It results in a deterioration of the tourism experience for either visitors or locals, or both. If allowed to continue unchecked, overtourism can lead to serious consequences for popular destinations.</p>
<p>The situation has gotten so bad in certain locales in recent years, media outlets have started publishing lists of the <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-nz/travel/tripideas/travel-destinations-you-should-avoid-in-2018/ss-AAvaOcY">“travel destinations you should avoid”</a> and new terms like <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/blueprintforliving/anti-tourism/9236224">“anti-tourism”</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@BComuGlobal/they-call-it-tourism-phobia-but-that-s-not-what-s-happening-in-barcelona-cb56b02da97b">“tourismphobia”</a> are entering the travel industry lexicon. Tourist sites have even occasionally been targeted with violence, such as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/spain-travel-safe-holiday-violent-protests-barcelona-arran-attacks-hotels-restaurants-catalan-a7882481.html">the string of attacks</a> that took place in Spain last year.</p>
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<p>The causes of overtourism vary according to the destination. Recently, the disruptive agents of the sharing economy, like Airbnb, have been blamed for bringing more tourists into the heart of communities instead of just tourist sites. Cheap travel and package holidays are enabling more people to take short city breaks and cruises, particularly in Europe. Social media also plays a role in popularising places like Myanmar, which go from being off-the-grid to “must-see” destinations overnight.</p>
<p>The shifting focus of governmental tourism agencies play a role in overtourism, as well. Many agencies are now almost exclusively marketing-focused and their singular goal is promoting growth. For instance, <a href="http://www.tourism.australia.com/en/about/our-organisation/our-performance-and-reporting/tourism-2020.html.html">Tourism Australia’s “Tourism 2020” strategy</a> is clearly growth-focused. Its goal is stated simply on the website - to achieve more than AU$115 billion in overnight spending by 2020 (up from AU$70 billion in 2009). </p>
<p>Sustainable tourism strategies, once heavily promoted in the 1990s and early 2000s, no longer seem to be as high a priority. </p>
<h2>Is Australia really in danger of overtourism?</h2>
<p>Australian tourism sites like Kangaroo Island aren’t seeing visitor numbers anywhere close to Venice and Barcelona just yet. However, poor tourism policies may still lead to a form of overtourism if locals perceive their quality of life is being damaged by tourists.</p>
<p>For instance, the 2011 Kangaroo Island Pro-Surf and Music Festival faced considerable community opposition for its proposal to bring 5,000 visitors to the small hamlet of Vivonne Bay (population 400). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517717301784?via%3Dihub">Recently published research examining the policy process</a> indicated it was a push by tourism authorities to boost tourism on the island that led to the event being imposed on the community. The backlash was so severe, organisers abandoned plans to host the event again in subsequent years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/your-party-our-home-the-challenges-of-growing-up-in-a-tourist-destination-88315">Your party, our home: the challenges of growing up in a tourist destination</a>
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<p>However, this hasn’t stopped other <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-12/kangaroo-island-crown-land-sell-off-proposal-prompts-backlash/9325456">tourism development schemes </a> from being proposed. And the state Economic Development Board has recommended <a href="http://www.kangarooisland.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Paradise_-_Girt_by_Sea_Booklet-1.pdf">doubling the numbers of tourists on the island by 2020</a>.</p>
<p>Tasmania, too, has experienced a tourist backlash in recent years. Most recently, thousands came out to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-06/protesters-turn-out-against-mount-wellington-cable-car/9732526">protest a proposed cable car </a> for Mount Wellington near Hobart. With claims by critics that the cable car would draw upwards of 1 million tourists per year, one can readily see the seeds for overtourism.</p>
<p>Another site that could be in danger is the Great Barrier Reef. Agricultural run-off, climate change and a crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak are currently posing grave threats to the reef, which could spark a phenomenon known as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2016.1213849">“last-chance tourism”,</a> – a rush to experience a place before it’s gone for good.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Most experts agree government regulations are key to addressing the threats from overtourism. <a href="https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2016-06-22/places-with-strict-airbnb-laws">Many cities</a>, for instance, are following Barcelona’s lead to tighten restrictions on Airbnb. <a href="https://skift.com/2018/03/29/thai-beach-from-dicaprio-movie-gets-breather-from-tourists/?utm_content=69306746&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">The Thai government is closing </a>popular Maya Beach on Phi Phi Island for four months every year to allow the sea life to recover. Creatively, Copenhagen is promoting a tourism policy based on <a href="http://localhood.wonderfulcopenhagen.dk/">“localhood”</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A long-term vision that supports the inclusive co-creation of our future destination. A future destination where human relations are the focal point. Where locals and visitors not only co-exist, but interact around shared experiences of localhood. Where our global competitiveness is underpinned by our very own localhood. And where tourism growth is co-created responsibly across industries and geographies, between new and existing stakeholders, with localhood as our shared identity and common starting point.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-unesco-world-heritage-status-for-cultural-sites-killing-the-things-it-loves-98546">Is UNESCO World Heritage status for cultural sites killing the things it loves?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And in New Zealand, the tourism board is actively <a href="https://www.tourismnewzealand.com/news/year-ends-on-high-for-tourism-numbers/">promoting tourism </a>visits outside of peak season. This is a good example of how government agencies can use <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02672571003719096">“demarketing”</a> strategies, or deflecting interest in places, to address rising tensions over tourism. Similarly, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/overcrowded-mallorca-begs-please-try-us-in-winter-instead/a-18730295">Majorca’s authorities</a> have tried to rebrand it as a winter destination in an effort to reduce overcrowding in the peak season.</p>
<p>With its “Tourism 2020” strategy, Australia is focused instead on growing its visitor numbers. The national and local tourism bodies should take a more sustainable and holistic approach to their tourism planning to reflect the values and desires of local communities. That will ensure visitor numbers remain in check and tourism remains an enjoyable experience – for tourists and residents alike.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is affiliated with the Tourism Research International Network (Trinet), the Tourism Alert and Action Forum (TAAF) and the International Peace Tourism Commission. Previously she worked in responsible tourism for Community Aid Abroad in their Responsible Tours Unit (now Oxfam Australia) and for the Responsible Tourism Network of Australia.</span></em></p>
Overtourism is driving a backlash among residents of many European cities, and concerns are rising in Australia, too.
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/83864
2017-12-18T01:20:13Z
2017-12-18T01:20:13Z
The travel industry has sparked a backlash against tourists by stressing quantity over quality
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186689/original/file-20170920-22632-ozduj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C907%2C4928%2C2117&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The view of Cartagena, Colombia from Tierra Bomba. Despite being one of the most visited cities in South America, Tierra Bomba remains highly impoverished. Why doesn't large-scale tourism benefit such a community?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Carter Hunt</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Travel is a major global industry, but in 2017 it attracted unprecedented resentment and retaliation towards tourists. A growing global backlash against tourism extended from tropical <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/a-crowded-paradise-new-zealands-tourism-boom-faces-backlash/a-37525162">rain forests</a> to urban destinations like <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-36653007">Rio de Janeiro</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/venice-enjoyrespectvenezia-tourism-campaign-overcrowding-paola-mar-litter-responsible-travel-a7863041.html">Venice</a>. </p>
<p>I have studied tourism’s social and environmental consequences along the coastlines of Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in the rain forests of Peru and Ecuador, on the islands of Fiji and the Galapagos and across the savannahs of South Africa and Tanzania. My research and that of numerous other scholars spotlights a key fact: More tourism is not always better. Increasing the number of visitors has generated profits for travel companies – particularly the cruise ship industry – but it has not always benefited local communities and environments where tourism occurs.</p>
<p>Fortunately, once people are aware of the often surprising ways in which their trips impact local people and places, it becomes easy to ensure that their travel has more positive consequences for the destinations they visit.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199261/original/file-20171214-27583-1bphwcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A demonstrator holds a Basque-language banner that reads ‘Tourism = a poverty salary’ during a protest against massive tourism in San Sebastian, Spain, on Aug. 17, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Spain-Tourism-Protest/4bde9418cb5f43c08d9da414ca324236/5/0">AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Billions on the move</h2>
<p>Born from the accessibility of mass air travel, modern international tourism has been popularized as <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780750643481">“holiday-making”</a> in regions that offer comparative advantages of sand, sun and sea. Travel is often portrayed as a tool for <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Tourist-Experience-and-Fulfilment-Insights-from-Positive-Psychology/Filep-Pearce/p/book/9780203134580">personal growth</a> and tourism as an <a href="https://www.wttc.org/research/economic-research/economic-impact-analysis/">economic motor</a> for destination countries and cities. There is a tendency to assume that tourism is good for everyone involved.</p>
<p>Today the big bang of tourism drives more than <a href="http://media.unwto.org/sites/all/files/images/unwto1billioninfographic2.jpg">1.2 billion tourists</a> across international borders each year, generates 9 percent of global GDP and provides one out of every 11 jobs on earth. But many popular places are literally being <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/world/americas/tourists-thwart-turtles-from-nesting-in-costa-rica.html?mcubz=1">loved to death</a>. Recent protests in ports of call like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/10/anti-tourism-marches-spread-across-europe-venice-barcelona">Venice and Barcelona</a> against disturbances created by larger and more numerous cruise ships show the unfortunate consequences of emphasizing <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article27098413.html">quantity over quality in tourism</a>. </p>
<p>Unabated tourism development has become a primary driver of social and environmental disruption. Tourism studies, which <a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/">came of age as a scholarly field in the 1970s</a>, provides much documentation of the many <a href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/223271468141894689/Tourism-passport-to-development-Perspectives-on-the-social-and-cultural-effects-of-tourism-on-developing-countries">negative social impacts of tourism</a> and resulting resentment that local populations direct towards visitors. </p>
<p>Early tourism scholars even developed an “irridex” to measure this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01384-8_564">irritation with tourists among local residents</a>. Later, scholars identified stages through which tourist destinations evolve. Antagonism toward tourists typically develops in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1980.tb00970.x">mature, heavily visited destinations</a>. Protests in heavily visited destinations suggest that traditional tourism has overstayed its welcome. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(89)90069-8">Resentment toward tourists</a>, <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/1799.html">attacks on foreign-owned hotels</a> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42859528">increases in crime against both tourists and local residents</a> were regularly documented in the 1970s and ‘80s, at a time when only 2 to 3 million tourists were crossing international borders annually. So it is not surprising that such protests have escalated in scale and frequency as tourism has grown. </p>
<p>In Barcelona, for example, growing resentment of neighborhood gentrification, elevated real estate and rental prices, and erosion of local social networks has led some residents to call tourism the city’s biggest problem and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/barcelona-locals-hate-tourists-why-reasons-spain-protests-arran-airbnb-locals-attacks-graffiti-a7883021.html">label tourists as “terrorists</a>.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lvAjMdqzwgI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nations compete for market share at the 2015 New York Times Travel show.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Friends without benefits</h2>
<p>Residents often become frustrated when the benefits of tourism are not felt locally. Although it can generate foreign exchange, income and employment, there is no guarantee that multinational hotel chains will allocate these benefits equitably among local communities. </p>
<p>On the contrary, when people stay at large resorts or on cruise ships, they make most of their purchases there, leaving local communities little opportunity to benefit from tourist spending. These forms of tourism <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2013.815761">widen economic and political gaps</a> between haves and have-nots at local destinations. </p>
<p>In recent decades, local residents in destination communities also have found themselves negotiating <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2011.591155">new cultural boundaries, class dynamics, service industry roles and lifestyle transformations</a>. For example, data show that tourism activity corresponds to increased <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(95)00075-5">alcohol, drug and sex abuse</a> as local residents adopt the behaviors of tourists, often leading to parallel upticks in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/004728759903800103">crime</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(95)00075-5">addiction</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(96)00068-4">prostitution</a>. </p>
<p>All-inclusive resorts can also <a href="http://www.responsibletravel.org/docs/Summary%20Report%20-%20Impact%20Tourism%20Related%20Development%20Pacific%20Coast%20Costa%20Rica.pdf">privatize access</a> to important coastal, marine, forest and agricultural resources. And when foreign investment drives up local land values and living costs to international standards, it may put ownership out of reach for local residents. In such situations, even people who depend on tourism will often question its ethics, whether they are rural Nicaraguan residents working in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.70.4.xj187458416w1gr8">newly booming resort industry</a> or urban dwellers being priced out of their apartments by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2015.1086076">the sharing economy</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199283/original/file-20171214-27597-1ize115.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All-inclusive resorts (shown: Hotel Majestic Colonial Punta Cana, Dominican Republic) offer amenities such as shopping, child care, religious services and multiple bars and restaurants, reducing incentives to spend time outside the gates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/6pCKMu">Batle Group</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cruise lines miss the boat</h2>
<p>Jim Damalas, owner of <a href="https://www.sicomono.com/">Si Como No ecolodge</a> in Costa Rica, observes that publicly traded corporations do “not fall in love with the country, they fall in love with the numbers.” No form of tourism is more in love with the numbers than cruises. While all forms of tourism have grown in recent decades, the rise in cruise travel is dramatic. For instance, cruise visitors to Belize grew from <a href="http://www.responsibletravel.org/docs/Cruise%20Tourism%20in%20Belize%20-%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">34,000 in 1999 to 800,000 in 2005</a>.</p>
<p>Contemporary cruise ships can entertain as many as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/21/the-worlds-largest-cruise-ship-and-its-supersized-pollution-problem">5,700 passengers</a>. These boats themselves are the destinations. As they bounce from port to port, they are not beholden to any particular community and provide only the most superficial levels of engagement with local people and places. Their business model emphasizes packing <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article27098413.html">the greatest number of travelers</a> into the greatest number of places in the shortest amount of time.</p>
<p>Research into the industry’s impact has shown that few forms of tourism do less to improve the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1375/jhtm.18.1.107">social</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669581003653534">environmental</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/cruise-lines-promise-big-payouts-but-the-tourist-money-stays-at-sea-66350">economic well-being</a> of the places where they occur than cruises. These trips may give passengers a pleasurable experience, but they miss the boat – pun intended – with regard to supporting local communities and environments. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199287/original/file-20171214-27572-sai6df.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class cruise ships can carry more then 5,400 passengers and displace roughly as much water as a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis-class_cruise_ship#/media/File:Oasis_of_the_Seas.jpg">Baldwin040</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A better model</h2>
<p>The United Nations declared 2017 the <a href="http://www.tourism4development2017.org/">International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development</a>. What does this mean for the everyday traveler? Here are a few of the U.N.’s suggestions, which research on tourism supports. </p>
<p>First, as Stephen Colbert has <a href="http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/life/20-funniest-things-ever-said-about-travel-015440/">quipped</a>, “There’s nothing American tourists like more than the things they can get at home.” All tourists should make every effort to honor their hosts and respect local conditions. This means being prepared to adapt to local customs and norms, rather than expecting local conditions to adapt to travelers. </p>
<p>Second, tourism is a market-based activity and works best when consumers reward better performers. Livelihoods, human rights and the fate of endangered species all can be affected by travelers’ decisions. In the information age, there is little excuse for travelers being uninformed about where their vacation money goes and who it enriches. </p>
<p>Informed travelers also are better able to distinguish between multinational companies and local entrepreneurs whose businesses provide direct social, environmental, and economic benefits for local residents. Such businesses are in love with the destination, not just the numbers, and are therefore deserving of market reward. </p>
<p>In the long run, the goal should not be just to minimize the impact of travel. Being <a href="http://www.tourism4development2017.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/tips_web_en.pdf">a responsible traveler</a> means ensuring net positive impacts for local people and environments. With the amount of information available at our fingertips, there has never been more opportunity to do so.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carter A. Hunt's research has previously been supported by funding from the National Science Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, and the Costa Rica-USA (CRUSA) Foundation, the Penn State Social Science Research Institute and the Penn State Institute for Energy and Environment. </span></em></p>
At many popular destinations, residents are protesting against crowding, rowdy visitors and low wages. With some research, travelers can use their visits to enrich host areas instead of harming them.
Carter A. Hunt, Assistant Professor of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, and Anthropology, Penn State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70359
2017-02-10T07:42:47Z
2017-02-10T07:42:47Z
Venice’s long history as a sanctuary city for migrants is under threat
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153006/original/image-20170117-23071-3cci30.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Venice Inflatable Refugee', an artist's project displayed in Venice in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.dirkschellekens.com/?page_id=1745">Dirk Knot/Schellekens</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an incident that profoundly shocked the city of Venice, and Europe more broadly, a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/26/african-man-left-drown-venices-grand-canal/">young Gambian asylum seeker</a> was left to drown in a canal late January, as onlookers stood by. His tragic death highlights the desperation of migrants across Italy. </p>
<p>It echoes the case of a young woman from Côte d’Ivoire, who died of thrombosis in a <a href="http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2017/01/03/italy-revolt-in-migrant-centre-near-venice-ends_9e1ceca3-36e4-40a5-9cf0-9e14efc9f722.html">centre for migrants</a> near Venice at the beginning of 2017. <a href="http://www.thelocal.it/20170104/migrant-centre-riot-reignites-political-debate-over-immigration">Several occupants had protested</a> against living conditions in the centre, which was <a href="http://www.meltingpot.org/Centro-per-migranti-di-Cona-Ve-620-persone-in-mezzo-al.html#.WHeT42V-pPN">originally built for 540 people</a> but actually housed 1,400 at the time of the incident.</p>
<p>Similar events have been <a href="http://www.lastampa.it/2017/01/03/italia/cronache/se-lo-stato-trasforma-i-migranti-lavoratori-in-clandestini-da-espellere-OzxuB7YBlzEpbDt6KozfyO/pagina.html">cropping up regularly</a> in Italy, demonstrating that places such as Venice, which used to be centres of welcome for migrants, are increasingly failing them.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.corriere.it/cronache/17_gennaio_06/migranti-record-di-sbarchi-italia-181-mila-2016-raddoppiati-bambini-minori-soli-fb1d4f56-d3fd-11e6-af84-204dc5ed0070.shtml">2016 alone</a>, more than 181,000 migrants arrived in the country, including numerous unaccompanied minors. <a href="http://centroastalli.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Rapporto_protezione_internazionale_2016_SINTESI.pdf">Of these</a>, 133,727 (77.7%) were housed in temporary structures; 14,015 in induction centres; 1,225 in so-called hot spots; and 22,971 in centres that are part of the national asylum system.</p>
<p>The situation has become critical due to <a href="http://www.thelocal.it/20160926/italy-is-running-out-of-money-to-accommodate-migrants">lack of funding</a> and an approach favouring containment. </p>
<h2>A sanctuary city</h2>
<p><a href="http://fortune.com/2015/09/08/europe-refugee-crisis-spain/">Since 2015</a>, “<a href="https://cityofsanctuary.org/">sanctuary cities</a>” have been cropping up across Europe. </p>
<p>In these places, local authorities are taking charge of the conditions and methods for integrating migrants, in order to counterbalance the fact that governments are shirking <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/15/eu-deflecting-responsibility-protect-refugees">their responsibilities</a>.</p>
<p>Also known as <a href="http://www.crid.asso.fr/spip.php?article752">asylum cities</a>, <a href="http://www.eu-events.eu/categories-menu/home-affairs-migration-integration/4808-solidacities-a-meeting-of-citizens-for-the-right-to-asylum-and-refuge.html">cities of welcome and solidarity cities</a>, sanctuary cities include Glasgow, Barcelona and Madrid.</p>
<p>The concept is not new. In 1996 French philosopher Jacques Derrida <a href="http://www.editions-galilee.fr/f/index.php?sp=liv&livre_id=2786">explicitly called on</a> local authorities to <a href="https://www.cairn.info/load_pdf.php?ID_ARTICLE=DEC_PAQUO_2009_01_0139">come together</a> and renew their traditions of hospitality.</p>
<p>And Venice, in particular had developed its own <a href="http://archive.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/18071/UT/systemPrint">tradition of hospitality</a> before other new sanctuary cities emerged.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153005/original/image-20170117-23068-31olm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refugees from Padua arrive on Dorsoduro Island (circa 1684) in a fresco by Antonio Zonca in San Zaccaria church, Venice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_San_Zaccaria#/media/File:Chiesa_di_San_Zaccaria_Venezia_-_La_moglie,_la_figlia_e_i_parenti_di_Gilio,_profughi_da_Padova_sbarcano_nell%27isola_di_Dorsoduro_(1684_circa),_affresco_di_Antonio_Zonca.jpg">Didier Descouens/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Balkan precedent</h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.unive.it/media/allegato/dep/n11-2011/Recensioni/29_Hein.pdf">migration expert Christopher Hein</a>, Italy welcomed 80,000 refugees during the Balkan wars. More than 70,000 people were granted visas on humanitarian grounds, 57,000 of those between October 1991 and October 1995. He wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just 2,000 were housed in state run accommodation … All of the others relied on the hospitality provided by town councils, private organisations, parishes, pilgrim centers, and other non-government institutions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.comune.venezia.it/archivio/4055">Around 500 migrants</a> from the Balkans settled in Venice in 1992 and 1993. Confronted with the proliferation of makeshift camps, the local authorities quickly organised the new arrivals in the city (which then counted around <a href="http://www.comune.venezia.it/archivio/4055">310,000 inhabitants</a>), while seeking to provide more extensive support.</p>
<p>This show of solidarity stands in stark contrast to the current situation. <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-have-4-8-million-syrian-refugees-gone-57968">Violence in Syria</a> and broader <a href="https://theconversation.com/syrias-war-of-extermination-signals-the-end-of-the-international-community-66708">geopolitical instability</a> are constantly swelling the ranks of exiled populations, who are looking to the European Union for help. Yet the EU appears to be limiting its <a href="https://theconversation.com/only-a-global-response-can-solve-europes-refugee-crisis-47040">approach</a> to crisis management and control. But alternatives forms of hospitality have been developed by local authorities and ordinary citizens.</p>
<h2>‘Emergenza’ in Venice</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, the first difficulties with ex-Yugoslavian migrants arose from <a href="https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/3480063">material, sanitary and sociocultural issues</a>. In response, the Venice town council set up public meetings to discuss ways to welcome and live alongside new populations, calling for suggestions from the community. </p>
<p>This bottom-up approach contrasted with a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2016/11/01/centres-accueil-migrants-desertes-jungle-calais">quantitative and faceless</a> institutional approach to humanitarian crisis management. As Beppe Caccia, the deputy mayor for social affairs at the time, <a href="http://www.meltingpot.org/A-Venezia-475-profughi-hanno-trovato-casa-e-lavoro.html#.WGKD3WV-r-Y">explained in 2004</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ‘Emergenza’ refugee management strategy was always intended to be long term and forward thinking. The goal was to help these people integrate into society.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thanks to support in finding schooling, employment and housing, the majority of people in the induction centres gradually settled down in the region. When the Italian government, whose military was still engaged in former Yugoslavia, <a href="http://leg13.camera.it/_dati/leg13/lavori/documentiparlamentari/indiceetesti/clxvii/001/00000011.pdf">declared</a> that the emergency was over and cut funding to the programme, the Venetian town council decided to keep it going, using its own budget.</p>
<h2>The Fontego Project</h2>
<p>This experiment led the town council to refine its integration methods over the course of the 1990s and the 2000s. In 2001, Venice launched the <a href="http://viedifuga.org/buone-pratiche-venezia/">Fontego Project</a> — three centres that could house around <a href="http://www.sprar.it/progetti-territoriali?_sft_regione=veneto&_sft_provincia=venezia">110 people</a>.</p>
<p>Upon signing a contract with the council, asylum seekers were granted a six-month stay and given medical treatment, administrative support, and training in order to help them integrate and create ties with the local community. They participated in music and theatre workshops, the opening of an “Exile cafe” and the <a href="http://www.comune.venezia.it/archivio/66704">Mostra del Cinema</a>.</p>
<p>The Fontego Project evokes Venice’s tradition of hospitality. The name itself is indicative of an open desire to evoke a rich <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/Venise-Portrait-historique-dune-cit%C3%A9/dp/2020006499">past</a>.</p>
<p>From an architectural standpoint, the Fontego is typical of <a href="http://www.meltingpot.org/Tracce-Accoglienza-di-rifugiati-e-richiedenti-asilo-a.html#.WHYjXpMrJR0">Venetian lodging</a>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/saggiosullastori04tent">Dating back to the 13th century</a>, Fonteghi provided temporary accommodation to foreigners, especially merchants.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152996/original/image-20170117-23036-1ei32vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fontego dei Turchi, a typical ‘palazzo’ that housed travellers from the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fondaco_dei_Turchi#/media/File:Fondaco_dei_Turchi.jpg">Didier Descouens/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conjuring this proud tradition is an attempt to add legitimacy to a more recent commitment to welcoming migrants by grounding it in the city’s cosmopolitan past. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/la-biblioteca/i-libri-raccontano/fonti-storiche-e-materiali-di-studio/leggere-il-medioevo-venezian-1">mix of history</a> and legend, Venice was founded in 421 <a href="http://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/veneto/notizie/cultura_e_tempolibero/2010/24-marzo-2010/venticinque-marzo-leggenda-nascita-un-mito-1602708773150.shtml">in the lagoon</a> by people we would now call refugees from coastal communities, fleeing <a href="https://books.google.fr/books?id=N807AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT209&lpg=PT209&dq=fondation+venise+421+mythe&source=bl&ots=GKJuGlMcyH&sig=VTvjCSPrlB2KvtnbRLigfPnvWeU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj40ozK-r7RAhUBsxQKHbQ_AjcQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=fondation%20venise%20421%20mythe&f=">hordes of “Barbarians”</a>.</p>
<p>In telling its own story, however, the city has been forced to acknowledge the contradictions inherent in the organisation of public space and the life of a community confronted with outsiders. Let us not forget that, in 1516, it was Venice that gave us the term “<a href="http://www.ilpost.it/2016/03/29/500-anni-del-ghetto-ebraico-di-venezia">ghetto</a>”, now used to describe systems of control and confinement in urban spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152999/original/image-20170117-23065-1pgmrmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The central square of the Venetian ghetto, another way Venice ‘welcomed’ foreigners.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_San_Zaccaria#/media/File:Chiesa_di_San_Zaccaria_Venezia_-_La_moglie,_la_figlia_e_i_parenti_di_Gilio,_profughi_da_Padova_sbarcano_nell%27isola_di_Dorsoduro_(1684_circa),_affresco_di_Antonio_Zonca.jpg">Didier Descouens/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The crisis approach</h2>
<p>So how did we end up where we are today, with migrants drowning in the canals of Venice, rather than being welcomed by the city?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ilsole24ore.com/pdf2010/SoleOnLine5/_Oggetti_Correlati/Documenti/Notizie/2011/11/DebitoComuni.pdf">Starting in 2010</a>, financial difficulties began to plague several Italian cities. Coupled with a “crisis” approach to managing new arrivals, <a href="http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/it/view_dossier.wp?contentId=DOS2409">especially from 2011 onwards</a>, the Venetian integration initiative stalled.</p>
<p>The rollback was completed in June 2015, when the new mayor <a href="http://www.ilmessaggero.it/primopiano/cronaca/venezia_brugnaro_prefetto_migranti-1096630.html">announced</a> on the day after his election that he intended to “put a stop to migration”. In December 2016, he also <a href="http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2016/12/20/mestre-sindaco-brugnaro-vuole-la-cittadella-della-poverta-via-i-barboni-dal-centro-le-mense-devono-andare-fuori/3273047">pushed for</a> the establishment of a “citadel of poverty” to contain homeless people.</p>
<p>The independence of cities is being gradually eroded by a federal management policy, with the “Lampedusa model” being the most <a href="http://www1.interno.gov.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/sezioni/sala_stampa/notizie/immigrazione/0713__2008_10_13_modello_lampedusa.html">striking illustration</a>.</p>
<p>Cities are still suffering from the tensions created by a topdown federal control approach to humanitarian crises, where people become <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2016/11/03/a-paris-3-000-migrants-dans-la-rue-victimes-collaterales-du-demantelement-de-calais_5024490_3224.html">collateral damage</a>.</p>
<p>Given the disparities between the powers and goals of local and national institutions, a socially conscious solidarity between cities could well be the way to find sustainable alternative solutions.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast for Word</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Filippo Furri est membre de MIGREUROP</span></em></p>
Alternative models to host asylum seekers have proved their efficiency. Venice has been a sanctuary city for years and with the right policies, it could be reproduced.
Filippo Furri, Doctorant en anthropologie, Université de Montréal
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/66350
2016-10-03T15:38:35Z
2016-10-03T15:38:35Z
Cruise lines promise big payouts, but the tourist money stays at sea
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140132/original/image-20161003-20217-1pebwka.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wolfgang Moroder</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The cruise industry tends to provoke strong responses, some for and – as seen by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2016/sep/27/dont-look-now-venice-tourists-locals-sick-of-you-cruise-liners">recent protests in Venice, Italy</a> – some very much against.</p>
<p>On the one hand cruise devotees can describe the cruises they’ve taken, preferred destinations, cruise lines, ships – even their favourite captains. Nothing will dissuade these ardent fans from their annual trip, some of whom embark on 20 or more a year. In 2014, the Cruise Lines International Association reported <a href="http://www.cruising.org/docs/default-source/research/uk_ireland_marketreport_2014.pdf?sfvrsn=2">two thirds of passengers were repeat guests</a>. On the other hand, many people and organisations remain fiercely opposed to the industry, its employment policies, its record on environmental management, the opacity of its taxation arrangements, and the impact its super-sized ships have on destinations. </p>
<p>The recent protest in Venice saw residents take to the water to protest against huge cruise ships entering the city via the Grand Canal. This encapsulates many of the criticisms against the industry, especially those lines with ships capable of carrying 6,000 or more passengers and crew. </p>
<p>In a city such as Venice, which is slowly sinking beneath the waves, such huge vessels can cause further environmental damage, adding to the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583621/Venice-ban-giant-cruise-ships-lifted-absence-practical-alternative-navigation-routes.html">erosion of the canals and impact on the fragile ecosystem</a>. These huge ships dwarf the city’s beautiful architecture, and disgorge thousands of passengers that choke the narrow canals and streets. Venice’s governing officials have consistently refused to acknowledge calls to limit the size and number of ships as they believe they bring greater number of tourists and economic benefits to the city.</p>
<h2>A ship that undermines</h2>
<p>Venice versus the cruise ships is just one example of growing unease about the scale of mass-market tourism. Cities and towns worldwide have started to protest this more vigorously, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/mass-tourism-kill-city-barcelona">Barcelona being another recent case</a>. At the heart of these protests, especially with regards to cruise tourism, are concerns that it is economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable. </p>
<p>Tourists’ holiday expenditure in Europe is split roughly equally between accommodation, transport and other expenses. But for those on cruises their accommodation travels with them, removing a third of the destination’s potential income. Another third is affected because cruise passengers often return to the ship for lunch and dinner, <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/10/caribbean_cruises_leave_wave_o.html">included as part of their cruise package</a>. In fact a significant number of passengers <a href="https://skift.com/2014/03/01/cruise-ships-compete-with-ports-for-passenger-dollars/">never get off the ship in port</a>, preferring to make use the ships’ amenities, which are then at their least busy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140134/original/image-20161003-20223-fcki7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Towering over the competition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/26877087374">infomatique</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A ship that divides</h2>
<p>The social impact of cruise tourism depends on the size of the destination, the extent to which the destination relies on cruise tourism for revenue, and the size of visiting cruise ships.</p>
<p>One feature of the cruise industry is their preference for offering “private islands” to their passengers. While some are indeed islands, mostly in the Caribbean, others are actually coastal peninsulas and so neither islands nor really private. They are leased by national governments to cruise lines who operate them as exclusive enclaves. This brings little economic benefit to local residents, as all food and refreshments are carried from the ship to the islands and beaches. </p>
<p>One such enclave, <a href="http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/keyword/labadee">Labadee on the north-west coast of Haiti</a>, permits a small number of local people to sell souvenirs twice a week during cruise season. Up to 50 more are employed as beach hands, tour guides, live exhibits, and toilet attendants. This type of “off the shelf” development appeals to governments looking for short term income, but while this approach offers cruise operators significant benefits, it has little to offer the local community.</p>
<h2>A ship that pollutes</h2>
<p>Criticism of cruise lines from an environmental perspective is growing around concerns about pollution and marine fuel’s role in climate change. While cruise ships account for only 8% of global shipping and recently-built mega-ships are able to fully process sewage and food waste on board, an increase in the <a href="http://www.pocruises.com/exotic-fly-cruises/">fly-cruise</a> market means that air miles should be included when calculating the true cost of cruise tourism pollution. </p>
<p>The cruise industry is reluctant to engage with any criticism. And while perhaps it’s unfair to suggest this is different to any other similarly-sized commercial entities, it is irrefutable that cruise lines are able to generate huge profits because they are incorporated in tax havens such as Bermuda, Liberia and Panama. These open shipping registries, commonly known as <a href="https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=31395">flags of convenience</a>, means minimal regulation to comply with in terms of labour costs, environmental regulations and safety standards. </p>
<p>While legal and applicable to all shipping, cruise lines rely heavily on their workforce to satisfy their passengers’ high service expectations. That these same companies take any opportunity to avoid any legislation that would offer these workers wage protection and job security is just one of a long line of criticisms the industry is seemingly reluctant to acknowledge, let alone address. In a world that since the <a href="https://panamapapers.icij.org/">Panama Papers</a> is increasingly aware of such issues, the industry cannot afford to ignore it much longer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Weeden does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Cruise ship destinations like Venice have realised that the benefits the industry promises don’t add up.
Clare Weeden, Principal Lecturer in Tourism and Marketing, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/55245
2016-03-01T13:25:00Z
2016-03-01T13:25:00Z
Time to rock the boat? Cruise ships can destroy the very destinations they sell to us
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112974/original/image-20160225-15156-fmhw5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">atm2003 / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Italy plans to cut back on the number of visitors allowed into Cinque Terre, a particularly picturesque section of its north-western coast. Around 2.5m tourists visited the area in 2015; this year, numbers will be <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/17/italy-to-impose-limits-on-visitors-to-cinque-terre-with-tourist-ticket-system">limited to 1.5m</a>. Such a drastic move raises questions about the impacts and benefits of mass tourism – and particularly cruise ships.</p>
<p>This region of the Italian Riviera, characterised by its charming seaside villages set against rugged terrain, was once difficult to access and off the beaten path of mass tourism. Cruises helped change all that. </p>
<p>These ships began docking in the nearby port of La Spezia just a couple of decades ago, and several now arrive every week. This brought immediate economic benefits to the region. However, as the numbers of tourists have grown each year, the strain on local infrastructures has become too much to bear. Last year, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11899585/Italys-stunning-Cinque-Terre-coastal-villages-complain-of-being-smothered-by-tourism.html">nearly 650,000</a> of those Cinque Terre tourists came from cruise ships.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113376/original/image-20160301-31050-ua7122.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ahoy, Cinque Terre! Room for 650,000 more?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/basykes/3701634853/">Bev Sykes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These are small villages in precarious locations and therefore lack the necessary water, sewerage, electrical, and transportation services to accommodate such a rise in demand. While there are a few public toilets in Cinque Terre, these are not enough – and residents now report tourists using footpaths and even private gardens to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11899585/Italys-stunning-Cinque-Terre-coastal-villages-complain-of-being-smothered-by-tourism.html">relieve themselves</a>.</p>
<h2>Everyday life among tourists</h2>
<p>None of this is new. Venice should already have provided a warning of the damage wrought by too many cruise ships. More than half of the historic city’s population has left since 1980, when its popularity as tourist destination skyrocketed, and fewer than <a href="http://www.citymetric.com/transport/can-smart-mobility-planning-prevent-disneyfication-venice-1456">58,000 people</a> live in the city today. Their numbers are dwarfed by the 100,000 or more tourists per day during the peak summer season, up to <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/venice-massive-tourism-now-huge-cruise-ships-ruining-citys-priceless-charms-780741">30,000 of whom</a> are on a cruise.</p>
<p>Most major ocean liners hold 3,000 or more passengers. These large ships allow the number of visitors to the city to exceed its physical capacity, as determined by hotel rooms. This makes everyday life cumbersome. Strolling tourists clutter the footpaths, pausing to take photographs. There are lengthy queues for water taxis, the rates of which have risen because of demand. This is reflective of prices throughout the city.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113284/original/image-20160229-4074-1ass7py.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modern cruise ships tower over traditional Venice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">meunierd / shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Within the city, tourism is prioritised because of the money it brings in. Property prices continue to rise and residents find it difficult to afford housing in the city. Market stands are steadily closing down as they cannot compete for space in the <em>campi</em> with cafés and pubs, let alone the souvenir shops bursting with Venetian masks. Basic services for <a href="https://vimeo.com/24874188">life in the city</a> are diminishing.</p>
<h2>Ocean life also pays the price</h2>
<p>Each year cruise ships dump about <a href="http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/ac/7/4988/Cruise_Ship_Report_Card_2014.pdf">1 billion gallons</a> of waste into the sea. They’re supposed to eject it into the deep ocean, however sometimes they dump closer to shore, presenting <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X11003754">serious health risks</a>.</p>
<p>When the Costa Concordia struck ground off of Italy’s coast in January 2012, the disaster once again shed light on the ecological damage cruise ships can cause. After human-rescue efforts were exhausted, marine biologists, fearing toxins (such as petrolchemicals and human waste) would enter the water, worked quickly to move coral and sponge species to safer areas nearby. In particular, about 200 giant <a href="http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/11/01/giant-mussels-rescued-from-around-shipwr?videoId=238824032">fan mussels</a> were manually relocated.</p>
<p>The waters and fragile coral reefs around Caribbean islands can be particularly affected by big cruise ships. Coral reefs are a crucial tourism attraction, and an essential part of their marine ecosystem, but two-thirds of the region’s coral is <a href="http://www.wri.org/publication/reefs-risk-caribbean">threatened by human activity</a>.</p>
<p>In one incident last December, the Zenith, a 12-deck vessel carrying more than 1,800 passengers <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3354133/Zenith-cruise-ship-anchor-damages-coral-reef-Cayman-Islands.html">dropped anchor near the Grand Cayman’s coral reef</a> and destroyed large chunks of it as the anchor and its chain dragged across the ocean floor. While there are regulations against damaging the Cayman’s coral reef, the ship was inside the anchorage area. Thus, there remains no compensation for the damage, just a public statement of grievance about the incident.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U3l31sXJJ0c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Local scuba instructor Scott Prodahl documented the damage to the reef.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some places have even deliberately demolished their coral reefs. Falmouth, on Jamaica’s north coast, has dredged its port to clear the way for the very largest ships, such as Royal Caribbean’s 6,000-passenger Allure of the Seas and the Oasis of the Seas. While trade journal Port Technology assures that <a href="https://www.porttechnology.org/technical_papers/jamaican_cruise_ship_terminal_respects_environment/">care was taken</a> and modules installed to help rebuild coral elsewhere, environmentalists say the project destroyed <a href="http://archive.onearth.org/article/dreamboat?page=3">35m cubic feet of coral reef</a> and two square miles of mangroves.</p>
<h2>Sustainable cruise shipping?</h2>
<p>Cruise ships aren’t all bad, of course. They are a part of the mass tourism trend that has democratised travel and opened up activities which were once reserved for the wealthy. Cruises provide a way for millions of people to go abroad and experience different cultures. This is not without merit. </p>
<p>But the industry’s tremendous growth is rapidly degrading its destinations – the very products it promises. Its continued financial success is based on the sustainability of these destinations. If the cruise industry does not see this as enough reason to impose regulations, then the international community has a responsibility to step in, both for the people who live in destinations that depend on tourism and for ourselves as tourists who want there to be a world to see well into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jillian Rickly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Large ocean liners with several thousand passengers can overwhelm small towns and vulnerable coastlines.
Jillian Rickly, Assistant Professor in Tourism Management and Marketing, University of Nottingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/41068
2015-05-19T05:10:59Z
2015-05-19T05:10:59Z
Sarah Lucas gives the Venice Biennale its just desserts
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82204/original/image-20150519-30548-1rufuz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sarah Lucas, I SCREAM DADDIO, British Pavilion 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Cristiano Corte © British Council</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale sits at the top of a man-made hill at the eastern end of the Giardini, a park laid out during the Napoleonic era and a venue for the International Art Exhibition in Venice since 1895. Opened in 1909 for the 8th biennale, the original building was a café-restaurant converted into an exhibition space by British architect EA Rickards.</p>
<p>This year, for the 56th Biennale, Sarah Lucas is representing Britain in the pavilion with an exhibition titled I SCREAM DADDIO. “Getting” Lucas’s trademark pun requires a basic knowledge of the history of the pavilion and its previous occupants. The dessert in the title – ICE CREAM DADDIO – is an echo of the building’s origin as place of leisure and pleasure. </p>
<p>Lucas takes this further with her concept of the exhibition itself as dessert. In particular the show has an affinity with the pudding <em>îles flottantes</em> (which translates as floating islands, like Venice) – meringues in a sea of custard. Crème anglaise of course: language is an important driver of Lucas’s art. <em>Îles flottantes</em> is also the favourite pudding of London architect turned celebrity chef Fergus Henderson, who contributes the recipe to the exhibition catalogue. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82057/original/image-20150518-25407-9lf9tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Lucas at the British Pavilion 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Cristiano Corte © British Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the idea behind the decision to paint the walls of the British Pavilion custard yellow, but Lucas also succeeds in her other aim with the colour, which was to “flood the pavilion with sunlight”, a welcome pleasure in a difficult space, in the past boxed in, blacked out or packed too full with artwork. </p>
<h2>Cheerful feminism</h2>
<p>So dessert is one meaning of the punning exhibition title, but it could also be interpreted as a cry of frustration at the exhibition history of the national showcase in the world’s oldest international art exhibition. In 1948, the first post-war British pavilion exhibition at Venice introduced, with sculptor Henry Moore, the tradition of showing the work of a single, established, mid-career artist each Biennale. Since then only four women before Lucas have been selected to exhibit in the building: Barbara Hepworth in 1950, Bridget Riley in 1968, Rachel Whiteread in 1997 and Tracey Emin in 2007. </p>
<p>That I SCREAM DADDIO comes down cheerfully on the ice cream side of the title is a measure of Lucas’s mature confidence. The big yellow, cast resin sculpture on the pavilion’s portico is a reclining male nude called Gold Cup Maradona. He waves visitors up the hill and into the building with a nine-foot erection, obviously pleased to see us. But also he waves back across the decades to all those sculptures of the reclining female nude by Henry Moore. This is an assured, amiable gesture from an artist with impeccable feminist credentials who has finally attained her rightful place in the history of British sculpture. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82051/original/image-20150518-25428-afcxbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Lucas, I SCREAM DADDIO, British Pavilion 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Cristiano Corte © British Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gold Cup Maradona’s paler yellow double, Deep Cream Maradona, occupies the main space in the pavilion. His nine-food member is a satisfying formal solution to the impossible height of the room. Lucas calls it “the hand of God”, after the emotionally charged first goal scored by Diego Maradona with his hand in the Argentina versus England match in the finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, four years after Thatcher’s invasion of the Falkland Islands and Britain’s war with Argentina. Is Lucas tilting at English jingoism right at the heart of the national pavilion? </p>
<h2>Looking Forward</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82054/original/image-20150518-25437-1tgqn5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Lucas, Black Tit Cat Eames, British Pavilion 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Cristiano Corte © British Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What is exhilarating about the exhibition as a whole is Lucas’s ability to think forward using her own longstanding formal vocabulary. Take, for example, the captivating, many breasted Tit Cats, cast in bronze, its surface a cross between black Murano glass and PVC fetish wear. </p>
<p>They are sophisticated and vaguely sinister Venetian cousins of her London domestic cat on an ironing board of 2012, as well as the Tit Teddies, all made of kapok, tights and wire. The idea more than survives the translation from cheap, domestic to costly, traditional materials and processes of sculpture, but sacrifices cute and cuddly in the process. </p>
<p>http://www.sadiecoles.com/artists/lucas#sl-situation-make-love-2012,courtesy Sadie Coles HQ</p>
<p>From the very beginning Sarah Lucas’s career has been supported and nurtured by remarkable women, foremost her London gallerist Sadie Coles, and Pauline Daley, Director at Sadie Coles HQ in London. They were in the pavilion on the opening morning quietly and efficiently doing their jobs. They are present as well in sculptural tributes as two in a series of “muses”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82055/original/image-20150518-25417-1c3fbac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sarah Lucas, I SCREAM DADDIO, British Pavilion 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Cristiano Corte © British Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reversing the convention of the bust in sculpture, these are white plaster casts (meringues in the custard) of women from the waist down, leaning, squatting and reclining on furniture plinths, one on a white chest freezer big as royal sarcophagus. They all have real cigarettes inserted into the vagina or anus – “for titillation mostly” according to Lucas in the exhibition notes. It doesn’t do anything for me, except to disrupt the sculptures’ formal neoclassicism, but it wouldn’t be a Sarah Lucas exhibition without the fags, and how else is a girl supposed to have a celebratory drag when she hasn’t got a mouth?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Sarah Lucas’s <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/visual%20arts">British Council</a> commission is at la Biennale di Venezia until 22 November 2015.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Rowley has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>
Sarah Lucas’s show is a (resolutely cheerful) cry of frustration at the overwhelmingly male exhibition history of the British Pavilion.
Alison Rowley, Reader in Cultural Theory, University of Huddersfield
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/40856
2015-05-12T14:00:48Z
2015-05-12T14:00:48Z
Venice Biennale 2015: the Arsenale stuffed with guns, stripped of hope
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81416/original/image-20150512-25044-1kb0vli.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pino Pascali, Cannone Semovente (Gun), 1965.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alessandra Chemollo, courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Venice Biennale is a kind of two-yearly Great Pacific garbage patch of art: a slick of official exhibits, national representations, collateral shows, non-accredited pop-ups, the old and the new, the brilliant and the dire, that sprawls over the city and spreads to nearby islands. This year’s edition is open to the public till November 22 and feels huger and more disorienting than ever before. </p>
<p>At the heart of the present-day Biennale is a themed exhibition organised by a star curator. This year Nigerian-born Okwui Enwezor, previously artistic director of the 2002 edition of Germany’s epic five-yearly <a href="http://d13.documenta.de/">Documenta</a> exhibition and present-day head of Munich’s <a href="http://www.hausderkunst.de/en/">Haus der Kunst</a>, has shouldered the task. Even before its public opening on May 9, his show All the World’s Futures was provoking complaints in print and online. “Brutal”, “<a href="http://www.artnews.com/2015/05/06/the-2015-venice-biennale-fixated-on-strife-and-struggle-is-a-deeply-uneven-affair/">didactic</a>”, “pedantic”, “<a href="http://artforum.com/diary/">morbid</a>”, “an assault course” and “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/may/10/venice-biennale-2015-review-56th-sarah-lucas-xu-bing-chiharu-shiota">a glum trudge</a>” were representative reactions. </p>
<h2>Combat and capitalism</h2>
<p>This general dismay perhaps won’t have taken Enwezor by surprise. His curatorial scheme is confrontational, global in its address, but also tightly site-specific. It delivers an undisguised history lesson about Venice’s past, re-stocking the Arsenale with guns, and bringing Marx back to the birthplace of the production line. Both the show’s venues – the labyrinthine Central Pavilion of the Biennale’s Giardini and the cavernous warehouses of the Arsenale – are studded with intentionally abrasive, disturbing objects. </p>
<p>The Arsenale’s entrance bristles with <a href="http://www.historynet.com/weaponry-the-caltrop.htm">caltrops</a> improvised from machetes (Adel Abdessemed’s Nymphéas, 2015), while huge, black, oily-smelling patchworked canvases (Oscar Murillo’s <a href="http://exploregram.com/signaling-devices-in-now-bastard-territory-2015-by-oscar-murillo-comprises-20/">Signaling Devices in now Bastard Territory</a>, 2015) droop over the Central Pavilion’s façade. Enwezor keeps the anxiety level high through most of the show. Scary, outsiderish drawings by refugee <a href="http://caacart.com/pigozzi-artist.php?i=Mansaray-Abu-Bakarr&bio=en&m=16">Abu Bakarr Mansaray</a> process his experience of conflict in Sierra Leone. Vietnamese collective <a href="http://www.the-propeller-group.com/">The Propeller Group</a>’s work The AK-47 vs. the M16 shows bullets from the two assault rifles smashing through transparent blocks of ballistics gel. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81359/original/image-20150512-22568-c270nb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Abu Bakarr Mansaray, The Massaka, 1997. Matita e inchiostro nero e rosso su carta. 21 × 30 cm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alessandra Chemollo, Courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Turner Prize-winner Steve McQueen’s video installation, <a href="http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/steve-mcqueen-film-ashes-broken-column-grenada">Ashes</a>, contrasts sunlit 2002 footage of a lithe young Grenadian fisherman sailing his boat, with recent film of the construction of the same man’s tomb, following his drug gang-related murder. Chinese artist <a href="http://www.caofei.com/">Cao Fei</a>’s animated allegory <a href="https://vimeo.com/101317234">La Town</a> entwines an enigmatic lovers’ dialogue with a vision of urban disintegration, and despite its quirkiness and exquisite craft it sometimes feels almost too sad to watch. </p>
<p>Or there’s Harun Farocki’s 1968 film <a href="http://www.harunfarocki.de/films/1960s/1968/white-christmas.html">White Christmas</a>, which pairs Bing Crosby’s schmaltzy hit with photo-documentation of the Vietnam war. It is utterly horrible; ditto the archive film of whaling and polar-bear hunting recycled by John Akomfrah in his 2015 installation <a href="http://arcthemagazine.com/arc/2015/04/john-akomfrah-selected-for-56th-art-biennale-of-venice/">Vertigo Sea</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81358/original/image-20150512-22539-1xacz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cao Fei, La Town, 2014. Video in HD, colore, suono. 42’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alessandra Chemollo, courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A tough stance</h2>
<p>But Enwezor isn’t mining this tough subject matter to strike a provocative pose. (That he can leave to bad-boy Swiss artist Christoph Büchel, whose <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/arts/design/mosque-installed-at-venice-biennale-tests-citys-tolerance.html">shallow gesture</a> of converting a decommissioned Venetian Catholic church into a mosque has in just a few days garnered more media chatter than Enwezor’s considered, effortful project probably will across its whole run. Büchel, bizarrely, is Iceland’s Biennale representative and his project is outside Enwezor’s remit.) </p>
<p>Enwezor’s rationale is certainly didactic. His history lesson aims both to survey recent politicised art globally, and needle the local facts of the Biennale’s site. In representation at least, he’s stockpiled the Arsenale’s halls with more weaponry than it’ll have seen since its decommissioning in the early 1800s. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81361/original/image-20150512-22545-w0l0f9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hiwa K, The Bell, 2015. Installazione con video a due canali, suono, colore, scultura.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Alessandra Chemollo, courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He’s also crammed his show with representations of labour: production lines, chain gangs, sex work, sharecropping, migrant labour, union activism. At times the two concerns coincide. Iraqi-Kurdish artist Hiwa K’s <a href="https://twitter.com/RuyaFoundation/status/596605917203927042/photo/1">The Bell</a>, 2015, juxtaposes film of a modestly matter-of-fact, truly heroic, Iraqi scrap metals expert recycling hazardous war waste, with footage of the same scrap being cast into a superb bell (also on display). </p>
<p>To frame this, Enwezor invokes the ideas of Karl Marx. Readings from Das Kapital (organised by UK artist Isaac Julien) will take place throughout the Biennale, in architect David Adjaye’s performance arena within the Central Pavilion. The readings are effectively indigestible, but their function is to remind. </p>
<p>Venice isn’t just the site of the world’s first ghetto – it also pioneered the production methods eventually exploited by Ford, the very foundations of the capitalist economy. In the Corderie or ropeworks – now stuffed with contemporary art – and across the Arsenale, standardisation, production-line methods and a workforce of thousands allowed the Renaissance Venetians to make in days, even hours, what other Europeans took months to manufacture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81364/original/image-20150512-22563-14gxoxt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Isaac Julien, DAS KAPITAL Oratorio, Central Pavilion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Andrea Avezzù, courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A hard pill to swallow</h2>
<p>Enwezor is bringing it all back home, heaping Venice with testimony to the ruinous side effects of capitalist progress: pollution, slavery, exploitation, the arms industry, the mass displacement of peoples. His 2015 Biennale has to rate as the most precisely site-specific installation in the event’s history, and inevitably it’s a hard pill to swallow.</p>
<p>In sum, All the World’s Futures works brilliantly as representation, but it fails desperately as strategy. His show’s title feels cruelly ironic. Despite the inclusion of a live performance space, discussions, music, singing, screenings, and so on, few exhibits counterbalance Enwezor’s bleak panorama with models of hope or inspiration. </p>
<p>These have to be sought elsewhere – for example, in the German pavilion, where supercharged smarty-pants Hito Steyerl scores another hit. Weaving together historical fact and fantasy with imagination and fiendish digital skill, this German-Japanese artist’s video installation, <a href="http://www.deutscher-pavillon.org/2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/02b-Hito-Steyerl_Factory-of-the-Sun_CV_en.pdf">Factory of the Sun</a>, delivers a high-tech kick in the pants: think harder, get clever, understand the information war that’s underway right now. There’s a youthfulness here, an appetite for action, that’s missing from Enwezor’s exhibition, and is sorely needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Withers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Okwui Enwezor’s central show delivers an undisguised history lesson about Venice’s past.
Rachel Withers, Senior Lecturer in History & Theory of Art & Design, Bath Spa University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/32182
2014-09-29T10:35:25Z
2014-09-29T10:35:25Z
From ancient China to an Italian chick flick: the story behind Venice’s love lock burden
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60060/original/gp8wgs9f-1411655810.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Locked in love.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Worldpics / Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSGl3d4KOMk">If you love somebody, set them free</a>” sang Sting in 1985. Few would argue with that sentiment. Yet for thousands of lovers around the world, the perfect symbol of their love has become a padlock. Not a padlock to which they have an exclusive key, but a padlock whose key has been thrown away. Locked together. No way out. Forever. </p>
<p>For the lovers concerned, presumably the padlock is a symbol of unbreakable love. For weary survivors of broken hearts, the padlocks are a reminder of the entrapment of relationships in the name of love. For city municipalities, the locks are increasingly simply a symbol of mindless urban vandalism. For commentators on global social phenomena, the padlocks are all grist to the mill. </p>
<p>The “padlock on the bridge” phenomenon is well known, with regular, if fleeting, commentary about it in the press over the past few years. I first became aware of the phenomenon in Venice a few years ago on the Accademia bridge; one of the most prominent in the city, one of only four straddling the Grand Canal, with a breathtaking view down across to the Salute Church, to the mouth of the Grand Canal, and beyond. It is a favourite spot in the city, a spot for lovers and others to pose for photographs and to take endless selfies. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60062/original/5htv54kf-1411656542.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Padlocks on the Ponte dell'Accademia, Venice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hjl/14685408258">hjl</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A steel version of this bridge was originally built by the Austrians in 1854 to facilitate their occupation of the city. Now the bridge itself has been invaded by thousands of locks. On my daily walk across it I would pass an enterprising young Bangladeshi, who offered small, nondescript padlocks for sale. “Half price,” he claimed, as he shyly offered one to me. Was that half price because I was on my own without any lover in sight, I wondered? Half of what original price? And at what price for the bridge – and for the city? Week after week, the city, as well as self-appointed local anti-lock guerrillas, remove huge quantities of padlocks – <a href="http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/08/26/venice-launches-new-campaign-against-love-locks_d1cba704-efd4-45d6-8696-aa7d8984672f.html">20,000</a> have been removed from the Accademia bridge in the past two weeks. But week after week they reappear.</p>
<h2>In the beginning</h2>
<p>Like all good myths expressed through popular practice, there is some dispute about the origin of the padlock on the bridge. According to <a href="http://lovelocksonline.com/history/">lovelocksonline.com</a>, a savvy company with a vested interest in the “tradition”, the practice goes way back to “ancient China” (always a safely nebulous location for the origins of a myth). <a href="http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/3677/Love_Locks__Other_Tourist_Superstitions">Another account</a> blames the Serbs. The story centres on Nada, a lovelorn schoolmistress, who was rejected by the dashing officer Relja in favour of a woman from Corfu. </p>
<p>In the early 1900s young women from Vrnjačka Banja started paying tribute to the unbroken fidelity of Nada’s love by locking padlocks on a local footbridge, now called the Bridge of Love (Most Ljubavi). But this is a localised tradition. And I doubt many of the lovers affixing their padlocks to the Accademia bridge are aware of poor Nada, or are channelling ancient China. </p>
<p>Love locks have gone global, and this spread is a relatively recent phenomenon. Many blame two Italian novels for this. Both have been adapted to film and are aimed at the teen and “chick-flick” market. Their author, Federico Moccia, has done little to dispute his own role in this new iteration of the “tradition”. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0877522/">Ho voglia di te</a> (I Want You) was published in 2006, a sequel to another novel from 1992 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388483/">Tre metri sopra il cielo</a> (Three Steps Above Heaven). There have been film adaptations of each in Italian, and one in Spanish. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0877522/">Ho voglia di te</a> (2007) had the <a href="http://variety.com/2007/film/news/italian-audiences-love-i-want-you-1117961060/">best-ever opening box office</a> success of an Italian movie.</p>
<p>The two novels involve a love triangle in which the main protagonist, Step, is led astray from his first love, Babi, by the independent and charismatic Gin. Step initially declares his eternal love to Babi by locking a padlock on a bridge, Rome’s Ponte Milvio. In the film, a tower of locks are affixed to a street lamp on the bridge. Step takes a padlock from his motorcycle. He locks it, looks at Babi, kisses the key, proclaims the word “sempre” (“always”) and throws the key over his shoulder into the Tiber. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_pRHljnD6xU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The guilty scene.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And so was born a global practice, a practice that in the wake of the film has enveloped Rome and Venice and Paris and has even reached a small footbridge over the Yarra river in my hometown of Melbourne.</p>
<h2>Lock down</h2>
<p>Who knows what the innumerable lovers are thinking as they symbolically lock themselves into a relationship, and throw away the key to their escape. But the fact remains that love locks have not merely become an eyesore, but also a major hazard, both to the bridges and to those crossing them. And it seems unstoppable. In June, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/09/paris-bridge-railing-collapses-weight-love-locks">part of the Pont des Arts footbridge in Paris had to be evacuated</a> after more than two metres of the hand railing of the bridge collapsed under its burden of entrapped love. </p>
<p>But now a rival popular movement is striking back. In a blog post in January, Lisa Anselmo pointed out the perilous state of both the Pont des Arts and the Pont de l’Archevêché. “<a href="http://myparttimeparislife.com/2014/01/21/dear-tourists-please-unlock-your-love/">Dear Tourists, please Unlock your Love</a>,” she wrote. The post created a buzz in social media, and she and another Lisa, Lisa Taylor Huff, subsequently launched the <a href="http://nolovelocks.com/">No Love Locks</a> campaign. </p>
<p>And now Venetian writer Albeto Toso Fei has added impetus to this new social movement with a campaign launched during the Venice film festival. His slogan is “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28967549">Unlock Your Love</a>”, and his posters proclaim: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Putting locks on Venetian bridges is against the law. Your love doesn’t need chains. Venice doesn’t need garbage. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/60064/original/v72gtpxz-1411656911.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unlock Your Love.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Facebook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tying “Unlock your Love” placards all over the bridges, Toso Fei wants to make lovers think about the nature of their relationships. A padlock could be seen as a pernicious idea, antagonistic to true love, but for Toso Fei it is simply banal. Veteran instagrammer Silvana Di Puorto enlisted a wide range of celebrities to assist the cause, <a href="http://instagram.com/p/sfQJLLO0dF/?modal=true">photographing them holding Toso Fei’s poster</a>. </p>
<p>There’s something deeper at work here though. The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/556142864513839/">campaign’s Facebook page</a> states: “Venice needs love not locks.” For the 57,960 current inhabitants of the City of Love, Venice is being despoiled on a daily basis by up to 80,000 visitors, an annual influx of 23m tourists. Their search for love and beauty, however, does not seem grounded in a love for, and respect of, the city itself. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.venessia.com">One local group</a> regularly updates its Facebook site with photos of tourists behaving badly and expresses increasing outrage at the flagrant disrespect for their beautiful, precious and fragile city. Others have left messages of warning on the duckboards, which are placed around the city when <em>Acqua Alta</em> (high water) rises; messages indicative of the need to respect the delicate eco balance of the lagoon. </p>
<p>These local Venetians are faced with a deep paradox. They love their city and they set it free. But increasingly they will be faced by the reality that perhaps to save it, they’ll need to put it under lock and key.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Kovesi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
“If you love somebody, set them free” sang Sting in 1985. Few would argue with that sentiment. Yet for thousands of lovers around the world, the perfect symbol of their love has become a padlock. Not a…
Catherine Kovesi, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Italian History, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/25176
2014-04-22T05:11:25Z
2014-04-22T05:11:25Z
Venice separatist vote – all is not as it might have seemed
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46589/original/mnqf25ss-1397686057.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mysterious goings on by the lagoon.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iz4aks/5503171451/sizes/o/">iz4aks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between 16 and 21 March an unofficial referendum <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26604044">took place</a> in the Veneto region of Italy, supported by a plethora of pro-independence groups. The question put to residents was direct and straightforward: “Do you want the Veneto to become an independent and sovereign Federal Republic?”</p>
<p>According to the organisers, the number of voters amounted to 2,360,245, representing 73% of the regional electorate. <a href="http://cir.ca/news/venice-independence-vote">Of these</a>, 2,102,969 (89%) voted yes, while a paltry 257,276 (11%) voted no.</p>
<p>The Italian press and the government in Rome largely ignored the event until the spectacular turnout and massive majority in favour of independence turned the international spotlight on this part of Europe. But since then, the participation rate has been heavily contested. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10762702/Venetian-separatists-ask-Rome-for-their-embassy-back.html">Some experts calculate</a> that no more than 100,000 votes were actually cast, many of these from abroad.</p>
<h2>Farce or drama?</h2>
<p>So was the entire exercise a farce, a highly successful media scoop by relatively small and uninfluential groups? Well, yes and no. </p>
<p>It is almost certain that the referendum attracted far fewer voters than it was claimed by the organisers. However, as pollster and academic Ilvo Diamanti reported in the national daily Repubblica on 24 March, an opinion poll <a href="http://the-view-from-rome.blogautore.repubblica.it/2014/04/06/venetian-independence-no-joke/">carried out</a> before the referendum found that 55% of respondents agreed with the goal of independence. Having said that, those who considered this term as synonymous with complete sovereignty did not exceed 30%. </p>
<p>In short the referendum was a symptom of a widespread and diffused sense of dissatisfaction, which according to Diamanti, “should be taken very seriously” by the Italian state.</p>
<p>This dissatisfaction revolved primarily around the “excessive” level of taxation imposed by the central state. This is not a new issue by any means.</p>
<h2>The Northern League</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s the <a href="http://www.leganord.org/">Northern League (Lega Nord)</a> party enjoyed an <a href="http://www.academia.edu/2628642/Globalization_and_the_Northern_League">electoral breakthrough</a> in the region (and in Lombardy) precisely by campaigning against “thieving Rome” and the “centralist state”. It accused them of being responsible for systematically robbing the productive north, benefiting the parasitic south and leading the country towards bankruptcy. </p>
<p>The party first promoted federalism as the only solution and later campaigned for secessionism, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/padania-new-european-country-or-just-an-excuse-for-a-party-1362868.html">inventing the nation of Padania</a> along the way. But in 2000 the Lega reverted to federalism and <a href="http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2050908,00.html">embarked on a long-lasting alliance</a> with Silvio Berlusconi, becoming part of a coalition which governed Italy for a total of nine years.</p>
<p>Yet interestingly the League was not among the promoters of the recent referendum, even if it was soon ready to jump on the bandwagon. The party is in crisis following its <a href="http://welections.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/italy-2013/">debacle at the 2013 elections</a>. Its image is tarnished from being perceived to have increasingly got into bed with Rome. </p>
<p>Throughout its period in government the party also failed to turn federalism into a concrete project and taxation remained high. In 2012 Umberto Bossi, the party’s long-standing charismatic leader, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17630364">was made to stand down</a>.</p>
<h2>Big league, little leagues</h2>
<p>There had existed in northern Italy prior to 1990 a number of small and fairly ineffectual regional leagues. They agreed to merge thanks to Bossi’s efforts. Now that the Northern League was coming apart, the regional leagues regained the initiative. </p>
<p>By far the strongest was the Liga Veneta. Unlike neighbouring Lombardy, Veneto has various characteristics of regional identity: a language that is still widely spoken; a history of independence (a sovereign Venetian Republic <a href="https://archive.org/details/venetianrepublic01hazl">existed for several centuries until 1797</a>); clear and popular symbols (especially the flag with the winged lion).</p>
<p>The relationship between the Lega Lombarda (Bossi’s original league) and the Liga Veneta had always been stormy, since the latter resented the iron fist with which Bossi ruled the party. </p>
<p>Over the years Bossi expelled various members for wanting independence for the Veneto rather than Padania as a whole. Ironically, many of these former League members were the main promoters of the recent referendum. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrizio_Comencini">Fabrizio Comencini</a>, leader of Liga Veneta Repubblica, was expelled in 1998 but today at last feels vindicated.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluca_Busato">Gianluca Busato</a>, leader of <a href="http://www.plebiscito.eu/">Plebiscito.ue</a>, the main organisation behind the initiative, was himself expelled in 1997. On 30 March Busato openly attacked the Northern League: “The Lega Nord wants to exploit our success just to be able to continue its love affair with Rome.” </p>
<p>Things have been happening fast since the referendum. Links have been established with other independence movements across Europe. </p>
<p>Busato launched a mass fiscal protest, inviting Venetians to withhold taxes. Luca Zaia, the Northern League president of the Veneto assembly, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10708733/President-of-Veneto-joins-campaign-for-Venetian-independence-from-Italy.html">promised to relaunch</a> a regional law calling for an official referendum. </p>
<p>On 2 April, 24 members of an pro-independence group <a href="http://engineeringevil.com/2014/04/02/venice-independence-plot-italy-police-arrest-24-seize-tank/">were arrested</a> under charges of terrorism, raising the ugly spectre of political violence. After seemingly ignoring the event, the recently appointed prime minister, Matteo Renzi, stated that the needs of the Veneto were for him “a priority” and announced a new visit to the region. It is still too early to say whether this is all a flash in the pan or the beginning of something new and big.</p>
<p><em>This article is part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/breaking-nations">Breaking Nations</a>, a series of articles that examines independence movements around the world.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25176/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna received funding from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to study the Northern League in 2000</span></em></p>
Between 16 and 21 March an unofficial referendum took place in the Veneto region of Italy, supported by a plethora of pro-independence groups. The question put to residents was direct and straightforward…
Anna Cento Bull, Professor of Italian History and Politics, University of Bath
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/24539
2014-03-31T01:00:57Z
2014-03-31T01:00:57Z
Context is critical to European independence referendums
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44506/original/q6x4q323-1395624534.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Veneto region, with its picturesque capital Venice, has voted in a referendum for independence from Italy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Gast/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as Venice risks <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/09/dearth-demand-europe-sinking-venice">disappearing beneath its waters</a>, it is making a remarkable political reappearance. The Venetian Republic existed for more than 1000 years until it came to an end at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, but earlier this month, 89% of voters in the Veneto region <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140322/venice-votes-cut-ties-italy-online-poll">voted to bring the republic back</a> and declare independence from Italy. </p>
<p>Organisers <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10715888/Veneto-residents-support-leaving-Italy-in-unofficial-referendum.html">said</a> 63% of the 3.7 million eligible voters turned out. The Italian national government in Rome did not recognise the poll.</p>
<p>The Venetian referendum comes as issues of self-determination are prevalent in European politics. In the recent referendum in Crimea, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/ukraine-crisis-crimeans-vote-to-join-russia-in-referendum-slammed-as-illegal-by-us-eu-20140317-hvjhk.html">93% voted</a> for the autonomous region of Ukraine to declare independence and join Russia instead. A vote on <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-six-months-go-3255248">Scottish independence</a> will take place in September, while a poll on independence <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26341833">in Catalunya</a> may also go ahead in November.</p>
<p>Together, these cases generate two important political considerations for the international community. One is the tension between self-determination and territorial integrity. The other is the place of referendums in making important and binding decisions.</p>
<p>The right to self-determination is <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter1.shtml">enshrined</a> in the United Nations Charter. This principle sought to establish the right of people to live free from foreign domination – that is, governed by one’s own people. The principle of territorial integrity emerged to prevent the chaotic and endless division of states along national, linguistic and religious lines.</p>
<p>Both principles have merit and yet both need to be treated with caution. Upholding territorial integrity may help prevent international tensions. Domestically, though, it can doom individuals to continued existence under repressive regimes, like in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or the unstable, life-threatening absence of government, as in Somalia.</p>
<p>Similarly, national self-determination may help a people escape repression, but it too generates problems of where to draw new boundaries and the creation of new minorities. And this is to say nothing of the chance that rule by one’s own people could be far more repressive than that of previous rulers: think Indonesia under Suharto.</p>
<p>This leads us to consider how important matters such as national self-determination and territorial integrity might be best decided.</p>
<p>Referendums and plebiscites have been part of modern democratic life since the 19th century. They are seen as ways of determining the popular will on discrete issues. Their great advantage was to be seen as a device that could circumvent vested interests that, so the critique went, had corrupted politics and distanced it from the true source of its legitimacy, the citizen. </p>
<p>Yet at the same time referendums and plebiscites could be ultimately anti-democratic. They were used by autocratic leaders, such as Napoleon III and Charles de Gaulle, to circumvent checks on the exercise of their power. They were also used to undermine democratic regimes, like Weimar Germany, in favour of leaders promising strong government. When it comes to referendums we must be careful what we wish for.</p>
<p>And at this stage, it is time for a bit of healthy cynicism: one rarely proposes a referendum that one won’t win. Referendums can be used to secure post-facto popular endorsement of decisions already made elsewhere. As we’ve seen in Crimea, a referendum can give a seemingly democratic veneer to undemocratic actions.</p>
<p>All of this leads us back to this year’s referendums on self-determination. The political process in which they emerge becomes the key to their legitimacy.</p>
<p>The Venetian referendum may be an admirable exercise in political mobilisation at a time when interest in political participation is in decline. However, it comes in a context of increasing tensions between the north and the south in Italy: the richer north seeking to divest itself of the poorer south. </p>
<p>If the nation-state exists for anything it must exist for redistributive politics. A common nationality or identity plays an important part in making that redistribution legitimate.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44505/original/x4xn2mrw-1395624224.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catalan independence wouldn’t be recognised by the Spanish government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22148389@N00/2877005910/in/photolist-5oepCb-5VGSS2-6akT2L-7kJPoh-dWjYmn-dWjLDi-8nvqna-fPiEFg-8tquYQ-fG5ui4-dWqvz3-fPm1MP-8rJRa4-dWqphd-kSvU8T-dWg8rQ-dWg8o7-i5QqRk-dWg8vY-dWjPZr-d9XXV8-d9XY8K-dafz3p-dafzAi-d9XVtG-d9XWRT-dafAFG-dafArf-dafAhL-d9XUwi-d9XUF1-dafyLA-d9XVRG-dafACt-d9XUjS-d9XXMu-dafBY8-d9XWGE-dafzU7-d9XTDe-d9XW71-8hthsa-d9XYJu-dafDF1-dafBga-d9WmuW-8m7sMs-fGn7Pf-fG5CnZ-fGn92u-fG5z9p">Jennifer Woodard Maderazo/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Venetian vote, like the proposed Catalan one, will not be recognised by the central government. Perhaps this has some unintended merit. </p>
<p>Referendums might not necessarily be the best tool for gauging considered, popular opinion, exposing citizens directly to powerful political interests. If this is the case, it might be best for all referendums to be advisory rather than binding. They can be powerful statements that governments ignore at their peril.</p>
<p>In Crimea, the vote on joining Russia can hardly be described as having been conducted in an impartial manner. The presence of unidentified, armed men and the lack of free and balanced information should lead us to be sceptical of the result and the stated levels of turnout.</p>
<p>In comparison, the forthcoming referendum in Scotland looks pretty good. The issue of independence has been bubbling away in Scottish politics for some decades now. </p>
<p>To the Scottish National Party’s credit, it has called a referendum on an issue on which it <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/update/2014-03-03/support-for-scottish-independence-weakens-poll/">probably won’t win</a>. To the British government’s credit, it will recognise the result of the vote even though it doesn’t technically have to. Whatever the result, the vote will serve as the basis for further negotiation of Scotland’s place within the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Overall, we must be cautious in attempting to resolve the tension between national self-determination and territorial integrity in international politics via referendums. </p>
<p>When the process is sound and the context democratic, referendums are legitimate forms of political expression. In the absence of that process and context, they can provide the exercise of realpolitik with a smiling democratic mask.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Wellings does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Just as Venice risks disappearing beneath its waters, it is making a remarkable political reappearance. The Venetian Republic existed for more than 1000 years until it came to an end at the hands of Napoleon…
Ben Wellings, Lecturer in European Studies, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.