Venice in Environmental Peril?

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

Dominic Standish, Ph.D., is British and lectures for the University of Iowa at its CIMBA campus in the Venice region of Italy, where he has lived since 1997 (see www.dominicstandish.com for more information).

Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword by John Eglin
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Venice Problem and a Proposed Solution
PART ONE - VENICE'S MYTHICAL TRADITIONS
Chapter One: Founding Myths of the Venetian Republic
Chapter Two: Cultural Myths
PART TWO - FROM CONSERVATIONISM TO ENVIRONMENTALISM
Chapter Three: The Triumph of Conservationism
Chapter Four: Transforming Conservationism into Environmentalism
PART THREE - CLAIMS-MAKING ABOUT VENICE'S MOBILE DAMS
Chapter Five: Environmentalists Challenge Venice's Mobile Dams
Chapter Six: Environmental Claims about Venice's Mobile Dams
Chapter Seven: Myths about Venice's Mobile Dams
PART FOUR - MYTHS ABOUT MODERNIZATION
Chapter Eight: Modernization and Environmentalism
Chapter Nine: Modernizing or Sustaining Venice?
Conclusion: The Reconstitution of the Venetian Metaphor
Appendix A: Profiles of Venetian Environmentalists Interviewed
Appendix B: List of Non-Governmental Organizations
Appendix C: List and Abbreviations of Political Parties
Appendix D: Glossary of Terminology
Chronology: Venice and its Protection
Bibliography
Index