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Laurie Zapalac, MSAS, LEED AP
PhD CandidateDepartment of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 10-485Cambridge, MA 02142
[email protected]+1 512 413 8440
2010.09.07
gis map ?
Charting the Emergenceof a Knowledge Econom
in
Venice, Italy
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Laurie Zapalac
+1 (512) 413-8440
ABSTRACT
In this paper, I explore how digital technology and the sustainability imperative
are changing the use and value of the historic center of Venice, Italy. These
changes suggest new potential for urban regeneration and lead to larger
conclusions about the role of Venice and other historic cities in 21st century.
Even as tourism acts as a dominant force, the historic center of Venice is
becoming more attractive for certain types of self-directed, highly skilled
workers who can be described as knowledge workers.1 Through seven case
studies, along with on-site observation and review of employment and building
use data in Venice, Italy, I answer the research question: why is the historic
center of Venice attracting knowledge workers?
My ndings suggest that a main advantage of the historic center for knowledge
workers is access to place knowledge -- knowledge accrued over time by a
local community as well as knowledge embedded within the physical fabric ofthe city. These case studies demonstrate how digital technology is allowing
workers to generate high value products and services based upon place
knowledge.
In addition to providing competitive advantages based upon place knowledge,
the historic city also facilitates physical-virtual social networking and personal
responses to the sustainability imperative, all of which are viewed as important
and related concepts by knowledge workers.
I conclude that the rehabilitated historic center will be more highly valued
as a place to live and work than in the last century, especially as technologychanges how work is done and erases the temporal and spatial boundaries of
when and where work takes place. Within this context, the historic center
of Venice, as well as other cities, can meet the dual objectives of sustainable
productivity and high worker satisfaction.
Keywords: Historic Cities; 21st Century Cities; Place Knowledge; Venice;
Cultural Heritage; Tourism Economics
1 Drucker, 1966, p. 3
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE: Introduction ..................................................................................... 1
PART TWO: Background ..................................................................................... 4
PART THREE: Literature Review ...................................................................... 10
PART FOUR: Research Method and Case Studies ...................................... 16
PART FIVE: Conclusions .................................................................................... 42
APPENDIX ONE: Additional Case Study Data ............................................ 48
APPENDIX TWO: Research Description and Interview Questions ....... 52
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 56
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Fig. 1. Aerial photograph of the Venetian lagoon, historic center andmainland area of the Province of Venice. Source: Google Earth
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PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
Constructed as a defensible community upon a foundation of mud ats and
wooden pilings, within a nearly unnavigable lagoon, Venice has always been a
highly articial city set within a dynamic natural environment (see Figure 1).
Actively managing the tension between urban systems and natural systems isimperative for its continued existence. Historically, Venice has a remarkable
track record for not only plucky ingenuity, but also extraordinary innovation.
What bearing does this have on the contemporary city, especially now that
many of the advances of the Industrial Age, roughly corresponding to the last
two centuries, produced impacts that are now having to be remedied?
The dramatic ood which inundated the historic center of the city on
November 4, 1966, produced three specic outcomes: it renewed interest
in understanding how development of the Venetian Lagoon and its environs
impacts the physical integrity of the historic city; it began a debate about how
to transition the regional economy away from industrial activity; and it inspiredan international campaign dedicated to saving or safeguarding cultural
heritage. That campaign has since invested millions of dollars in a wide variety
of projects, from the conservation of singular works of public art to the
preservation of entire buildings
The regional and state governments have complete numerous improvements
to the infrastructure of the city and its environs. In 1973, the government of
Italy enacted The Special Law for Venice, laying the groundwork for two now
seemingly contradictory initiatives. It started the development of the multi-
billion euroModulo Sperimentale Electromeccanico MOSE project, a system
of inatable dams at the three primary openings of the Venetian lagoon to
protect the historic center of Venice from high water (acqua alta), a type of
storm surge now occurring with greater frequency and intensity. It also set
out to ensure continued economic activity by preserving jobs, particularly
those in the industrial port of Marghera.1
Yet, during the course of these interventions, the population of the historic
center of Venice has continued to decline steeply (from 175,000 in 1951 to
60,000 in 2009; see Figure 02), while tourism has proliferated, resulting in
an increasingly homogeneous economy. While both high water and archaic
infrastructure are frequently cited as major factors in the depopulation of
the city, the citys relationship with tourism, now mass or global in character,
appears to be having equally insidious effects on the residential population of
the city.
1 Environmentalists and politicians alike have since acknowledged that industrialactivity poses many problems for the lagoon environment; activities such as the dredging
of the lagoon for deep water ship channels have, in fact, directly contributed to theconditions under which high water takes place. Environmental restrictions enacted by
the European Union are now reorienting activities in Marghera away from chemicalproduction. See the Introduction by Musu inA Future for Venicefor further description.
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There are, however, reasons to be optimistic about the regeneration of Venice
in the 21st century. Venice has again become a point of reference in city-
making; in Norman Fosters design for the city of Masdar in the United Arab
Emirates, the design team looked to the scale, physical density and pedestrian-oriented framework of Venice as points of inspiration for a highly sustainable,
highly networked, new city.
Even more importantly, some new economic activity emerging both in the
historic center and on the mainland suggests the potential for a future
beholden neither to the industrialization of the Venetian lagoon nor to the
type of tourism that competes with the development of a diversied urban
economy.
This paper focuses on events that have taken place in the roughly the last
twenty years. A milestone in the shift in thinking about the potential ofthe historic center was the election of Mayor Massimo Cacciari in 1993
(with tenure until 2000) and his Idea of Venice ... combining history with
innovation, the conservation of its cultural and artistic values alongside the
development of available resources.2 This was followed by the creation of
the new master plan for Venice (1995) under the leadership of Mayor Cacciari
and Assessor of Urban Planning, Roberto dAgostino.3 The plan attempts to
address Venices triad of contemporary problems: managing its urban fabric
and infrastructure, managing tourism, and arresting depopulation. In the
preface to the plan publication, Cacciari writes:
The fundamental question that every Venetian will have to confrontin this plan is the following: do we think that Venice can actually save
itself by inventing for itself and placing within its delicate (urban) fabric
new functions, new sectors of research, new productive activity? If we
believe, then this Plan has to be our path of orientation. If we believe,
instead, that Venice is simply incompatible with innovative technology,
research, development, and production, and that it should be in every
case be merely conserved, that it cannot support our steps forward,
then lets drop this project. But if we drop it, we should also drop the
discussion about the need to stop the exodus, to revitalize the city, etc.4
The master plan outlines a strategy for the relationship between the historic
city center (centro storico), the other lagoon islands (estuario) and mainland
areas (terraferma) of the Comune of Venice and the larger Veneto Region.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Though the master plan has produced a number of important initiatives, more
2 Benevolo, p. 823 The prior master plan for Venice was developed in the 1950s, approved in 1962
and never fully revised or updated. (Benevolo, p. 82)4 Cacciari, Quale idea per Venezia inNuovo Piano Urbanistico (Benevolo, ed).
Translated by me.
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
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recent policy decisions reect an increasing reliance upon or relenting to the
dominance of tourism toward the end of Cacciaris last term as mayor (2005
- March, 2010). Even as these shifts have taken took place, it is possible to
observe new types of work in Venice at the edge and beyond the traditionalboundaries of the tourism sector, as Cacciaris Idea of Venice implies.
I rst took notice of this activity through the experience of living and working
in the historic center at various intervals from 1995 to 2007. The availability
of electronically published business directories and database as well as
small, though promising economic indicators documented by the last census
provides further evidence of this new activity. As noted in The Venice Report
published in 2009 (by the non-governmental organization, Venice in Peril),
while the number of jobs in the historic center fell by more than 20 percent
from 1981 to 2001, between 1991 and 2001, employment in professional
activities almost doubled.5 The issue now, is to understand more about thearrival or emergence of new types of rms and workers to the historic center.
This leads me to the primary research question for this paper: why is the
historic center of Venice attracting knowledge workers? By knowledge
worker, I mean self-directed, highly skilled workers focused on effectiveness,
emblematic of Peter Druckers observations about the transition from an
industrial economy to a knowledge economy.6 Through seven case studies,
I consider this question by looking at the attributes of knowledge rms
found within the historic center and the workers associated with them.
(Knowledge rm may not be the best way to describe the range of rms
employing knowledge workers, but its the term Ill use for now.) Additionalquestions relating to my primary research question include: Is this activity an
indicator of the potential to cultivate more high skilled, high wage jobs in what
has become an increasingly tourist-dominated economy? Does attracting
knowledge workers offer a strategy for repopulation of the historic center?
What are the opportunities for and limits to the current activity?
PAPER STRUCTURE
I have organized this paper in ve sections. In addition to this introduction,
I provide background about key conditions in Venice in the 20th and 21st
centuries in Section Two. In Section Three (Literature Review), I discuss
ideas relating to the changing nature of work and knowledge workers,
and propose a denition of place knowledge. In Section Four, I describe my
research method, introduce seven case studies and my ndings from these.
In Section Five, I present my conclusions and policy recommendations. At
the end of the paper, I include two appendices (one containing additional
information about case studies and the other providing further description
of my research, including interview questions and proposed future research),
followed by a bibliography.
5 The Venice Report, p. 526 Drucker, 1966, p.3. See Section Three for further discussion of what constitutes
a knowledge economy.
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First, because of the volume of popular literature on Venice, I want to dispel
three myths:
1) Venice is not (presently) sinking. Drilling in the Venetian lagoon for freshwater and for natural gas which took place in the 20th century did contribute
to subsidence, but these practices have since been stopped. Venice is, however,
quite susceptible to tidal changes.
2) There is plenty of space. Venice does, however, endure severe but rather
predictable pedestrian congestion in distinct neighborhoods and along certain
pathways. In regard to building space availability, a strong real estate market,
heavily inuenced by the tourist economy and second home ownership, has
resulted in a very short supply of affordable, reasonably well maintained
housing options in the historic center. This is compounded by the fact
that existence in a lagoon environment demands cyclical maintenance. Ifperformed, buildings last centuries. If ignored, reversing damage can be
arduous. Restrictive historic preservation laws intended to safeguard
the cultural patrimony of the city often, unintentionally, make building
rehabilitation slow and costly.
3) Tourism is not the only form of economic activity present in the city today,
though it is the dominant activity.
Three inter-related events in the 20th century have contributed signicantly to
conditions in the historic city today: industrialization of the Venetian lagoon,
population loss in the historic center and the rapid expansion of the touristeconomy.
INDUSTRIALIZATION
The health and livelihood of Venice is tied directly to the integrity (and
morphology) of the Venetian lagoon, whether effected by human intervention
or natural processes. Industrialization, effecting the scale, nature, and rate
of changes to the Venetian lagoon, particularly with development of the Port
of Marghera beginning in the 1920s, has had a dramatic effect on the lagoon
ecology and infrastructure (see Figure 3). One of the strongest indicators of
the impact of industrialization has been the increasing frequency and intensity
of high water.
The combined impacts of deep water channels for industrial shipping, pollution
and silt deposits from rivers that drain into the lagoon, as well as a lack of
maintenance of protective sea walls and canals all exacerbated the effects of
high water. The proliferation of motor-powered boats has also resulted in
more wave action, speeding up erosion of building and canal foundations. The
impact of chemical production on air and water quality has also been a major
concern. Since the 1960s, many of these impacts have been addressed, though
some persist, such as the creation of deep water channels to support the
PART TWO: BACKGROUND
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expansion of cruise ship activity.
Debate about the type of development that Venice and the lagoon can sustain
has been long-standing, but there is no doubt that rising sea level and otherforms of climate change would have strong implications for the continued
existence of this sea level city.
POPULATION LOSS
While there is some correlation between increasing incidence of high water
and population decline, the factors cited as contributing to population decline
are numerous. They are also not merely a result of exodus from the historic
center, but also larger demographic trends in Italy, including low birth rates
and a condition of brain drain in which educated Italians are leaving the
country in pursuit of good jobs.
The rst denitive study to shed light on demographic change in the historic
center was the 1969 UNESCO-commissioned,Rapporto Su Venezia. It
examined many factors contributing to population change, but focused on
living conditions, and in particular the quality of housing. The report points
out that the availability of new housing in Mestre, adjacent to the port of
Marghera, played a signciant role in attracting the inhabitants of the historic
center, resulting in a form of suburban exodus not unlike what many inner
cities were experiencing at the time.
In the context of population loss, the health and continued relevance of
Venices industries have also been examined, leading to new questions abouthow jobs availability is impacting the population of the historic center.
Rispoli et al identify the leading materialproduction sectors (in degree of
product specialization and contribution to workforce) as:
ship-building
oil industry (reneries and deposits)
petrochemical industry
aluminum intermediate products
electricity production
artistic glass production on Murano
construction and building industry 7
In regard to immaterial production, another important factor to consider
is that in the 1980s and 1990s, changes within to banking and insurance
sector, including a trend toward disaggregation of services, prompted many
companies, beginning with Assicurazioni Generalil, to leave the historic center
to locate head ofces on the mainland.8
7 Rispoli, di Cesare and Stocchett, Material Production in the Municipality ofVenice, in Musu, 138
8 Rullani and Micelli in Musu, p. 207
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PART TWO: BACKGROUND
TOURISM
Venice is one of few cities for which city ofcials and researches have collected
and analyzed extensive data over time, providing the opportunity to considerhow changes in tourism activity impact a local community and local economy.9
Cities intent upon expanding their tourist economy should look closely at
Venice and the lessons that can be learned from it.
Since World War II, a rise in mass tourism has occurred in Venice. The
characteristics of mass tourism include: large and cyclical numbers of visitors;
more people traveling in large groups; more staying for shorter periods
of time, including daytrippers; and more involvement in the industry by
multinational corporations, controlling the ow of money generated by the
industry.
In 1951, approximately a million people visited the historic center. In 2007,
approximately 16.5 million people visited the city.10
Tourist visitation at this scale has a profound impact, especially on urban
infrastructure, urban management and maintenance. Two distinct burdens of
mass tourism are increased impacts on urban infrastructure in the form of
point loading during high attendance events and the fact that as numbers
increase, generally the average income generated per visitor decreases.
Beyond this, the extraordinary demand of tourists for accommodations, as
well as for food, drink and other basic needs, impacts supply and demandwithin the local economy, effecting not only real estate value, but the general
cost of living in the historic center.
Within the timeframe that tourism has continuously increased, population
has continuously decreased. While correlation does not imply causation, it
is seems only reasonable to suggest that if it is desired to reverse the trend
of population, the increasing impact of tourism will have to be thought about
differently. Better management of this industry necessitates thinking beyond
the physical impact of tourism to its indirect effects on factors known to
contribute to population loss, such as the condition and cost of housing, job
choice and the availability of services. It is also important to consider the
social impacts of different forms of tourism on a local community.
At present, tourism is Venice is estimated to generate 1.5 billion euro
annually.11 There are, however, no guarantees of future rates of return,
especially as other destinations become more sophisticated, as high value
9 The work of Jan Van der Borg at the CISET, the Center for the Study of
Tourism Economics at Ca Foscari has been particular informative.10 The Venice Report, p. 33.
11 Ibid, p. 45
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Figure 2. Population change over time.
Source: Graphic excerpted from the Venice
Report (data source: COSES), p. 12.
tourists become more discerning, as the per capita rate of return for mass
tourists declines and as global tourism companies siphons off prots before
tourists ever reach their destination. The paradox is that unless tourism is
carefully and aggressively managed, the city will be left holding even larger bills
as residents, and then tourists, will go elsewhere.
The morphology of Venice may be unique, but the challenges of dealing withthe combined impact of industrialization, population loss12 and the effects of
unbridled tourism are not. What can be learned about the interrelationship
of these issues in Venice will likely prove valuable for other cities.
Now, in the 21st century, Venice is being shaped by a set of new forces. These
include the idea of sustainability, the realization of the MOSE project and the
seemingly boundless potential of digital technology (see Figure 4).
SUSTAINABILITY
Though there is no precise agreement about what the forces (or severity of
issues) are that make changes in action necessary, the sustainability movementhas been formidable. With the publication of Our Common Future by the
World Commission on Environment in Development (Bruntland Report,
1987), the United Nations established the idea that managing the environment
and development are a single issue. From this report has come an aggressive
unrolling of environment regulation in Europe, including legislation now12 In the debate about whether it is important to maintain Venice as a populated
residential city, or whether it should be thought about as something else (museum city,etc.), I would point on that on purely practical terms, the most cost-effective way to
maintain the unique urban environment -- even if it is only in service to the tourismindustry -- is to maintain Venice as a living city with an intact knowledge base about howto manage this environment.
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PART TWO: BACKGROUND
Figure 3. 20th Century Threats:
Industrialization represented by the Port of
Marghera, high water, and mass tourism.
Sources: Google Earth, Venice in Peril, photoby author.
altering the chemical industry in the Port of Marghera.13
More broadly, the sustainability imperative is producing three interrelated
outcomes. It is changing industry regulation and accountability (including life-cycle costs and impacts) and setting new expectations for both cities and rms
to develop sustainability agendas (emphasizing proactive measures to be green
and competitive). It is also profoundly effecting changes in personal decision-
making, inuencing individuals not only in major issues such as where and how
to work and live, but also in decisions made on an every day basis, such as
what to buy (or not buy) and what to eat.
RENEWED STRATEGIES FOR WATER MANAGEMENT: THE
MOSE PROJECT
After decades of research and debate, the Venetian and Italian government
have been successful in starting construction on the MOSE project to managehigh water conditions. This large-scale systemic responses to changing
conditions of the Venetian lagoon represents an investment in the physical
infrastructure of the lagoon that will reach $4.3 billion euro or higher.14 The
endeavor has included extensive research funding to develop the solution
for managing and monitoring the lagoon, leading to the creation of new rms
and research institutes that are amassing extraordinary amounts of data and
knowledge about the lagoon and urban environment. The system is expected
operational in 2012.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
In the Industrial Age, concepts of linear thinking and efciency in production
(making things faster and cheaper, with much less concern for the externalities
of natural resource depletion) dominated. Today, changes in digital technology
open up a world of new possibilities, particularly for sectors delivering
13 Job loss in the Port of Marghera as a result of plants closing or becoming
decommissioned presents another major challenge for the economy of Venice and theVeneto.14 Consorzio Venezia Nuova web site: http://www.consorziovenezianuova.com
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Figure 4. 21st Century Opportunities?
Sustainability policy, part of the MOSE project
and new source for digital technology -- a
Vodafone store -- in the historic centerSources: Amazon, Consorzio Venezia Nuova,
photo by author.
intangible products (media, data analysis, etc.).
Digital technology is changing the way residents and visitors alike use and
experience the historic center. In their article Immaterial Production inVenice, Rullani and Micelli point out that immaterial production in Venice
already plays an important role in the citys economy; by their analysis of 1991
cross-sector census data (real estate, legal services, business consultants,
banking and publishing, etc), those already employed in this activity comprised
approximately 45% of the total employment in the city, with tourism,
transport, and non-retail trade comprising 27% and employment in industry,
comprising roughly the same percentage. 15 In reference to expansion, they
state,
It is not necessarily a matter, as several international observers have
pointed out, of bringing programmers from all over the world to Venicefor the purpose of making the city a capital of software or of electronic
component production. Instead, it is necessary to reconsider the
entirety of the activities currently carried out in the historical centre
in different terms, by evaluating, case by case and sector by sector, the
impact of the new information technology on the transformation in
the chain of value in the different economic functions. Each immaterial
activity present in the Venice, from trading to trade, from the supply of
museum services to publishing is open to being digitalised and made
virtual.16
These factors suggest a renewed potential for the viability and economic
productivity of the historic center in the 21st century. What opportunities
can these conditions create? What role will knowledge and heritage play in
this new existence?
15 Rullani and Micelli p. 197-203 in Musu, 2001.
16 Rullani and Micelli p. 201 in Musu, 2001.
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PART TWO: BACKGROUND
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
To understand what constitutes a knowledge economy and why it may be
a highly appropriate activity for a historic city, it is important to understand
distinctions between different types of knowledge. Websters Dictionarydenes knowledge as acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from
study or investigation; general erudition. Knowledge is what is created
from the studying or processing of information, including information gained
through direct and indirect experience.
Anthropologists and sociologists use the term traditional knowledge to
describe knowledge accrued over time by a particular community. Traditional
knowledge may include or be closely linked to specic beliefs, values or
practices. It often, though not always, takes on a spiritual signicance or serves
as the basis for the cosmology or world view held by a community. Traditional
knowledge combines both practical and moral purpose, such as when it isused to manage natural resources for the long term good of a community.
Ethnographers use the term local knowledge to describe the specic
knowledge a community holds about a particular region or place.17 In
this application, the term local knowledge might be understood as place-
specic attributes of traditional knowledge. More recently, participants in
urban planning have started to use the term local knowledge in reference
to knowledge of how things work within a specic community structure.
The use of the term in this capacity speaks to the importance of insights and
perspective contributed by local stakeholders to the planning process.18
PLACE KNOWLEDGE
Educators present another denition of knowledge: place knowledge
describes how children construct an understanding of the world around
them.19 Place Knowledge is also used in the eld of robotics, to describe how
robots build place recognition based upon interaction in the physical world.
In both cases, it speaks to the process of assigning meaning to attributes and
experiences in a physical environment and thus, is indicative of the relationship
between environment and individual (or robot).20
For the purpose of this paper, I suggest that place knowledge is an
appropriate, more broadly encompassing term that can encompass traditional
and local knowledge, including as they are applied in a contemporary planning
context. Further, it is constructive to think of place knowledge in two
capacities: as accrued knowledge and embedded knowledge. Like
traditional knowledge, accrued knowledge can refer to knowledge that has
been assembled by a community over time, but inclusive of both informal
17 Gertz, 198318 Healey, 1998.
19 Joshi et al, 1999.20 LangleyandPeger,p.344-352
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and formal methods of transmission, in tangible form (such as written
documents) as well as intangible (virtual, oral, temporal) form. An example of
tangible and formal accrued knowledge would be the knowledge that can be
sourced from the Venetian Archives. An example of informal and intangible
accrued knowledge would be one neighbor telling another about a particular
location to sh, or the best time and route to travel to arrive at a particular
destination. Advances in information technology are, undoubtedly, dramatically
impacting how people can transmit this knowledge.
Embedded knowledge is distinguishable by the fact that is manifest in
the conditions and use of the built environment. This knowledge can be
understood as knowledge that is passed indirectly from one person to
another vis--vis the form and use of buildings and space such as in Figure
5. In this capacity, the physical and spatial construction of the city is both a
cultural and environmental record; architecture takes on a communicative
value or language, not unlike words on paper. Embedded knowledge can
be highly informative about specic environmental conditions; it can be
equally useful (and more universally applicable) as a means for understanding
the relationship between people and the built environment, specically
by exposing how different types of buildings and spaces engender distinct
behaviors, activities and social interactions.
Sourcing embedded knowledge, which might be thought of as above ground
archaeology can also reveal specic ways in which a culture shapes the
built environment to respond to the repertoire of human needs. Because
embedded knowledge is conveyed through the medium of the environment,
Embedded Knowledge
Accrued Knowledge
Real Time Information
Feedback
Fig 5. An illustration of different types of
knowledge and information in the historic
city:
1) Embedded Knowledge: a light-weight
structural bracing solutions
2) Accrued Knowledge: a mother knowingwhere to take her child to learn to ride a bike
in Venice
3) Real-Time Information: a man speaking on
a cell phone, charting the progress of an event
across town
4) Feedback: the child learning to ride the
bike reads and responds to the bumps in
the stone pavers
Source: photo by author
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PART THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW
the mining of this resource often requires more (or a wider range) of
sensory engagement than acquisition of knowledge through more passive
knowledge acquisition, such as reading or listening to lectures.
As an example, in Venice, one can understand the normal extremes of the
tide (at least before the increasing incidence of high water) by observing thelocation and width of the band of Istrian stone at the ground level of most
buildings (see Figure 6). Traditionally, in the planning and construction of a
building, the width was determined so as to encompass the high and low tide
levels. Below the stone band and intended to be continuously submerged is
a base of wood pilings. Above the stone band, walls are constructed of brick
and plaster materials that are less costly and lighter, but also more porous.
Though the tolerances have shifted over time, this construction technique
is still a practical way to build in the Venetian lagoon. (When water rises
above the stone, it wicks through and eats away at the porous plaster and
brick, often leaving behind a residue of salts, known as eforescence, after the
water has evaporated. The height of a salt line is another indicator of tidalconditions over time.)
Combining the opportunity to utilize accrued and embedded knowledge, a
living historic city serves as a laboratory for understanding how the use of
the built environment changes over time, especially in regard to critical events,
such as the introduction of new technologies, how cultures adapt and change
to environmental conditions, as well as what they value in symbols and signs.
Related to this idea, it is important to consider the meaning of heritage.
Heritage refers to that which is passed down to future generations, ; with
Embedded Knowledge
Real Time Information
Feedback
Accrued Knowledge
Fig. 6. An illustration of different types of
knowledge and information in the historic
city:
1) Embedded Knowledge: Istrian stone bands
reveal normal tidal range.
2) Accrued Knowledge: building restorationpractices
3) Real-Time Information: the actual water
level
4) Feedback: An art installation from the
2009 Biennale. According the artists
statement, it makes a general comment about
the state of the universe ... not just Venice.
Source: photo by author
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the implicit understanding that what is passed down retains some form of
value; it does not mean things that are old. Heritage includes tangible objects,
such as buildings, as well as intangible elements, such as rituals, stories and
even knowledge. Cultural heritage simply refers to elements of heritageshared in some capacity by a group. Importantly, the recognition of something
as heritage does not preclude change in its form, use, or value; rather, it
provides a conceptual frame in which change can be understood.
In the case of Venice much though not all of the citys cultural heritage,
manifest in both tangible and tangible forms, reects pre-industrial ways of
thinking. These may nd new application in the 21st century, not with the idea
of going back in time, but rather, taking relevant ideas forward into the future.
A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
Writer and management consultant Peter Drucker rst formalized the ideaof a knowledge worker in The Effective Executive (1966), distinguishing a
knowledge worker as one who primarily deals with information to use
or create knowledge. Drucker placed emphasis on the skilled worker as
a thinker and problem-solver. In The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our
Changing Society(1969) Drucker outlined the necessary steps for companies
to be competitive in a post-industrialist society.
According to Drucker, a knowledge economyrecognizes:
1) information as a key raw resource or raw material (the input for an
economy)
2) Knowledge as the essential tool used to transform information into aproductive good
3) the development or application of ideas as the critical -- if not central --
part of the labor process.
A knowledge economy can generate physical goods, but increases value by
producing things that are intangible design, concepts, analysis and media, for
instance.
Like Drucker, Frances Cairncross proves to be a highly perceptive observer.
In the Death of Distance, rst published in 1997, Cairncross draws upon
strong foundational knowledge and broad access to information as a writer
at The Economist. She outlines a series of trends about how changes in
communications technology will impact the nature of work and society as a
whole. Among the many trends she describes, three are particularly relevant
to this investigation.
First is her primary observation about the death of distance, Distance will
no longer decide the cost of communicating electronically. She predicts that
technology will signicantly facilitate supply distribution, bringing distribution
cost nearly to zero, particularly when what is being distributed are ideas.
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PART THREE: LITERATURE REVIEW
Second is the observation about location. She states, Companies will be free
to locate many screen-based activities wherever they can nd the best bargain
of skills and productivity. In doing so, she correctly predicts an initial boom
in outsourcing and proliferation of distributed ofces. However, she fails topaint a complete picture, particularly of the importance of location to start up
companies and to small rms and sole proprietors. Left out of the discussion
on competitive advantage is the ability for location to dictate access to certain
types of information (such as information related to place knowledge) as well
as to provide opportunities for physical contact with clients and associates.
Third, she identies the rebirth of cities as an outcome of the communications
revolution, suggesting cities will change from concentrations of ofce
employment to centers of entertainment and culture.21 As changes in
communications dissolve the temporal boundaries of the workday and the
physical boundaries of the ofce, Cairncross sees increasing separationbetween work activity and everything else, painting a rather two-dimensional
picture of future cities as places devoid of productive purpose. She also
places an extreme value on the capacity to work virtually, and in doing so,
undervalues the physical places of work. Cairncross fails to conceive of the
importance of work environments both as places of inspiration and as frames
for human interaction in which social relationships contribute to trust building,
idea sharing and decision-making.
It is fascinating to turn from the observations of Cairncross to those of
economist Edward Glaeser and urban theorist Richard Florida. Both explore
questions arising from Death of Distance concepts and the increasingcapacity of the knowledge worker to choose where he or she lives and works.
They do so by considering what these changes means for cities that seek
to be competitive by fostering a knowledge economy. Unlike Cairncrosss
interpretation of the future function of cities, Florida and Glaeser each
advocate for the role of dense environments in fostering idea transmission.
Where Glaeser and Florida differ, however, is in their evaluation of how
cities attract human capital. In The Rise of the Creative Class, Florida argues
that in a post-industrialist society, among highly skilled labor force, lifestyle
interests take on more importance than job location in determining where
people will live. He believes that the recipe for economic development is a
city that fosters technology, talent and tolerance in order to attract certain
types of creative individuals. Floridas research has been especially useful in
dening why lifestyle is becoming an increasing important factor in location
choice among knowledge workers, which he terms the creative class and in
acknowledging the economic importance of creativity. His conclusions about
the associative relationship between creativity and certain lifestyle preferences,
as well as the role of particular subsets of creative class workers have,
however, endured much scrutiny.
21 Cairncross, p.xvi
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Glaeser draws from his own research, as well as his critical analysis of
Floridas data to conclude that urban success comes from being an attractive
consumer city for high skilled people, taking a more traditional view of the
importance of human capital to generate economic growth.22 Glaeser holdsthat the most important offering a city can make is job choice and job quality.
He also suggests that the composite of people matters less (specically in
response to Floridas Bohemian Index) and that creativity, or more specically,
the capacity for creative-problem solving, does not necessarily predetermine
lifestyle choices, or specically, where people want to live.23 Additionally, apart
from density, Glaeser places little emphasis on the physical characteristics of
the city in fostering or reinforcing social relationships or in directly informing
the any type of work process.
The role of the built environment in fostering economic competitiveness is
especially interesting to consider given the rapid growth in social networkingfacilitated by virtual environments, which is in turn reshaping the use
and social value of physical space. There is also the important issue that
knowledge of and experience in the built environment is vital to many sectors
and industries. Even, or especially, as communication technology is negating
distance, in a knowledge economy, place matters even more because of the
economic potential to be realized from place knowledge.
Both Floridas and Glaesers work are immensely helpful as a frame for my
investigation; the historic center of Venice is an interesting place to test
the importance of being an attractive consumer city to residents and to
observe the lifestyle characteristics (and consumptive practices) of knowledgeworkers. The seven case studies described in the next chapter provide the
opportunity to overlap these critical idea and to consider what conditions are
most important for the historic center of Venice to attract and retain human
capital within its resident population.
Finally, ideas in two other works have shaped this study. David Throsbys
bookEconomic and Culture, establishes the difculty of trying to assign value to
culture within standard economic models, emphasizing, I think rightly the need
to focus more the role of culture as generators of economies, rather than
merely focusing on how to quantify cultural products or the development of
cultural industries. Brian Grahams paper, Heritage as Knowledge: Capital
or Culture? delves deep into questions about the relationship between
heritage and the knowledge-based city. His emphasis on knowledge as a form
of intangible heritage, articulating the importance of place in the rooting of a
knowledge-based economy is extremely relevant to the cases I observed in
Venice.
22 Glaeser, 2005, p. 593 and Glaeser et al,, 200123 Glaeser, 2005, p. 593
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Having established that the historic center of Venice is greatly dependent upon
tourism and that this dependence is likely to continue in some capacity in
the future, the aim of this investigation is to chart the emergence of new, but
related economic activity in the historic center. To explore why the historiccenter of Venice is attracting knowledge workers (and to what degree it is), I
conducted a series of on-site interviews in January 2010 and developed seven
case studies.24
I frame this investigation with the objective of understanding how technology
is changing the way people live and work, as well as how the sustainability
imperative is causing a reevaluation of the resources of historic center. I
am specic interested to evaluate if knowledge workers in Venice share
characteristics with knowledge workers documented in other cities (by
the work of Florida and Glaeser) or whether they have other important
characteristics. Based upon the idea of place knowledge, I perceive that theremight be important relationships between knowledge workers and historic
cities that havent been previously articulated in existing more quantitative-
based analysis.
HYPOTHESIS: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
My objective is to understand if knowledge workers are locating in the historic
center because it offers them a competitive advantage, and if so, how this
advantage relates to:
Input -- access to (tangible or intangible) resources, including information
Production or performance processes -- access to know-how, collaboration/
strategic partnerships as well as lifestyle conditions that directly result in
performance optimization
Output -- brand value and physical proximity to point of sale
Based upon my emphasis on the value of place knowledge, I established the
following hypothesis for this investigation:
If knowledge workers choose to locate in the historic center, then there
will be some discernible evidence that locating there provides a competitive
advantage directly related to the use of place knowledge.
Alternatively, it may be that knowledge workers are locating in the historic
center based primarily on lifestyle objectives (not related to performance
optimization), with little to no concern for gaining competitive advantage as a
result of locating in the historic center. Before I identied the specic cases,
I surmised that I might encounter some remote workers for which work
has little to do with the environment in which the work is taking place. (An
example might be an Internet technology consultant working on projects
for a bank in London, but doing the work from Venice). For such individuals,
24 For a more complete description of my research design, see appendix two.
PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
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the historic center might meet social objectives (living in a cultured city)
or general lifestyle objectives (living in a car free city, hence making the
consultant less stressed). As it turned out, none of the cases included here
could accurately be described as remote workers. I expect that some remoteworkers do exist in the historic center and imagine that understanding their
reasons for locating in Venice might actually be more informative and more
nuanced than term remote worker implies.
CASE STUDY SELECTION
I arrived at the following case studies as a result of snowball method. I
began my research into possible rms to interview by reviewing web sites,
including online business directories and resources made available by the
City of Venice. I asked for recommendations of potential case studies
from knowledge holders in Venice as well as from each rm who agreed
to participate. I contacted individuals from ten rms and seven agreed toparticipate.
The method of case selection is biased toward individuals with active
professional networks in the historic center as well as toward work that
others perceive to be related to a knowledge economy. (For instance, my
case selection methodology did not lead me to seek out and interview any
accountants, though depending upon how they are conducting their work,
they might t the characteristics of knowledge workers.)
RESEARCH LIMITS
Finally, while the issue of cost of living (housing as well as other costs)and cost of doing business (rental costs for ofce space, transportation /
commuting costs) are not addressed quantitatively in this research, it should
be generally considered that sole proprietors and individuals afliated with
smaller rms often consider such costs collectively when making a location
choice, as they usually directly incur both sets of costs. For many knowledge
workers, the increased exibility in choosing where to work, whether it is in
an individual ofce, in a co-working environment, from a caf or even from
home, means that there are often more options, thus generating more price
elasticity in ofce costs. Comparatively, the historic center offers fewer
options for suitable, affordable housing.
Therefore, certain preferences, such as the ability to walk to work, which may
appear to be strongly afliated with lifestyle, have important implications for
both the costs of doing business as well as the optimization of physical, social
and emotional conditions under which an individual is most productive. More
comprehensive consideration of the choice implications about where to live
and work (and the relationship between the two) is not limited to knowledge
workers. Many individuals are thinking differently about such choices.25
25 Rosenbloom, 2010
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QUESTIONS TO GUIDE INVESTIGATION
I established six primary questions intended to produce responses by which
the proposed hypothesis could be considered. The questions are:
1) What types of activities have emerged? (Activity)
2) Where do they locate? (Location)
3) When have they come about? (Time frame)
4) How do they work? (How do they use space?)
5) Who do they involve?
6) Why do they locate in the historic center?
CASE STUDIES FINDINGS
1) What types of activities have emerged in the historic center?
The seven case studies can be grouped into two overarching categories:
knowledge-transferringrms (see Fig. 6) and information-driven rms (see Fig. 7).
Knowledge-transferringrms place high importance on putting knowledge,
practices, and, in some cases, raw materials from historic industries in Venice
to use for new productive purposes. Some rms activities are more closely
elated to the historic economy of the city than others; often the transfer of
PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
Vento di Venezia
Old boats
+
Boat building craft
Restored boats
Design school
Ski Stradivarius
Surplus cured wood
+
Boat building craft
Graphic design
Custom snow skis
I Tre Mercanti
Food & wine products
+
Trade / shipping
Curated selection
for the new global
market place
Fig. 7. Knowledge-transferring CaseStudies.
Source: photo by author and clips from rm
web sites
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knowledge is specically enhanced by the introduction of new technology, as
well as by how design and creative problem-solving plays into the process.
Three of the seven rms interviewed t these criteria. These include:
Vento di Venezia
As early as the 12th century, the clergy of Venice occupied the island
of La Certosa, located a short distance the eastern tip of the Castello
neighborhood of the historic center (see Figure 8). The island is named for a
15th century Carthusian monastery, which lies in ruins. In the 19th and 20th
centuries, the island was used as a military base and explosive factory; more
recently it served as trash dump. In 1984, a group of Venetian citizens activists,
led by Cesare Scarpa, united to create a committee to reclaim the island for
public good. In the 1990s, they gained the support of mayor Massimo Cacciari,
and then, city hall, which set aside funds for the project through the Special
Law for Venice. Subsequently, the island was transferred from national to
municipal control.
In 2004, the group Vento di Venezia was awarded a lease on the western
portion of the island, with the stipulation that the island be accessible to
visitors and citizens. Founded by a group of sailors including Italian Olympian
Alberto Sonino, champion solo navigator Giovanni Soldini and Matteo Vianello,
Bressanello
Art Studio
Studio Camuffo
Cultural information
+ Commentary
Media design
Publications, media
Events
Relactions
Tourism information
+ Analytics
Media design
Consulting reports
Branding / marketing
Visual information
+ Digital editing
Interior design
Digital art
Installations
Forma Urbis
City information
+ Analytics
Software design
Resource management
Digital models
Fig. 7. Information-driven Case Studies.Source: photo by author and clips from rm
web sites
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
the groups ideas was to create a nautical center open to anyone rooted
in the citys historic ties with the sea.26
The program of Vento di Venezia includes a nautical workshop involved in boat
repair and hand construction of traditional Venetian vessels. It is different,
however, from the still numerous boat repair workshops found throughoutthe city, for two reasons. The public-private project has lead to the creation
of a full-service marina with moorings for 120 boats and now includes charter
services, sailing and other recreational boating lessons. It also includes a small
nautically-themed hotel and bar / restaurant run by Vento di Venezia. This
makes it a participant in Venices primary industry tourism but only as a
complement to the multi-functional nautical program and maritime experience
it offers. This emphasis on recreational, rather than merely commercial
motorized navigation requires an acute understanding of vessel construction
and maintenance, navigation, and even wind conditions, all forms of accrued
knowledge drawing from pre-industrial navigation practices (of which
Venice has an extremely long history) while also integrating contemporarytechnologies. Vento di Venezia now partners with the French sailing school Les
Glnans to offer educational programs for competitive sailing.
The other distinctive aspect of Vento di Venezia is that its focus on boat-
building led to a partnership with the European Institute of Design (EID) in
2006, a design university with programs in fashion, industrial design, visual
arts and communications, now with locations in nine cities. The Venice EID
program includes photography, documentary lmmaking and fashion design,
but the hallmark of the program is a yacht design program. Within a compact
26 Riva, p. 3
Fig. 8. La Certosa, with the neighborhood
of Castello behind it.
Source: photos from rm web site
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physical area, the Vento di Venezia project makes possible for students to
access to access the accrued knowledge of a working harbor, as well as the
embedded knowledge present in traditional sailing vessels, from which they
can draw inspiration.
The program for La Certosa is the only one of the case studies that includes
a specic, direct public improvement objective. The opportunity to create
highly competitive services by tapping place knowledge is described by Vento
di Venezia:
The Vento di Venezia Yachting Centre began in 2004 on the initiative
of a group of young Venetians who wanted to promote the various
attractions of Venice to the nautical world from traditional boats
to regatta prototypes. But that was not all. The philosophy of the
group was that new forms of boating for pleasure are possibleand are also likely; given the growing demand in this sector. 27
The former director the Venice EID program shared a similar sentiment when
interviewed for an article in the Wall Street Journal, Weve been able to
create this little jewel, a real center of excellence and with Venices traditional
ties to the arts, there couldnt be a better setting.28
Ski Stradivarius
What started as a hobby in the form of a ski-making class for Franco
Sonzongo, a former telecommunications executive, has lead to a full time
business that involves both Mr. Sonzogno and his wife, Angela Sonzogno, aformer banking executive, as participants in its operation (see Figure 9). The
company is dened by their passion for snow skiing combined with a drive
toward constant product improvement.
The manufacturing process used by Ski Stradivarius utilizes surplus wood,
stockpiled for the construction of gondolas, as well as knowledge of boat
building craft, to produce high performance all wood custom snow skis.
A key aspect in the ability to produce a high performance product was
Mr. Sonzognos realization that the quality of the cured wood and the
construction practices used in boat making could be utilized in such a way
that no aluminum or reinforcing metal was required in the ski construction,
the binding of wood and metal often being the failure point in mass produced
skis. Ski Stradivarius has also turned to Venices glass making industry for the
graphic design component of the skis, sometimes collaborating with specic
artists from that industry on one-of-a-kind creations. Realizing the creation of
a brand, Ski Stradivarius has expanded production to include ski bindings. It
also collaborates with other manufacturers to produce ski gear and jewelry
bearing the Ski Stradivarius logo.
27 Vento di Venezia web site: http://www.ventodivenezia.it/en/certosa/island_history28 Cristina Marchetti, former director of the IED Venice, as quoted by Riva, p.3
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
Ski Stradivarius sells these skis and other products through a referral-based
club membership that also requires members to commit to a set of ethnics on
the ski slopes. (For example, all members wear helmets will skiing.) The club
membership has a secondary benet in that creates a tight feedback loop: if a
certain design performs particularly well or poorly, Mr. Sonzogno will no doubt
hear about it.
Ski Stradivarius includes a facility on the island of Guidecca (part of the
Dorsoduro neighborhood of the historic center) that is used to store
the cured wood and to complete manufacturing. The ground oor of the
Sonzogno family palazzo, located in the Santa Croce neighborhood, is used to
store nished skis, as well as to workshop space to perform certain nishing
of crafted skis, and to host club activities.
I Tre Mercanti
In some aspects, I Tre Mercanti (The Three Merchants) is the most
traditional of the case studies, drawing inspiration from the mercantile roots
of Venice, including knowledge of trade and shipping strategies (see Figure
10). I Tre Mercanti sells high quality Italian products primarily food and wine
with the distinction that they create or curate a selection and provide the
consumer with detailed information, in the form of an online database, about
the provenance of the selected products. The founders of I Tre Mercanti, three
Venetian friends, conceived of the idea of developing a high quality marketplace
in the fabric of the historic center simultaneously with a virtual marketplace
/ web store, setting them apart from other commercial activity in Venice. I
Tre Mercanti delivers not only high quality goods, but also a knowledge-rich
Fig. 9. Franco Sonzogno, with nished
skis(left); traditional gondola repair (top);
Mr. wood assmebly (bottom center); Angela
Sonzogno displays the Ski Stradivarius brand
on a bracelet (bottom right).
Sources: photo by authors
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buying experience, in some cases capitalizing on the consumers memory of
discovering particular products during their trip to Venice.
Another innovative aspect of the rm is their approach to shipping.29 Many
stores in Venice will ship what you buy. I Tre Mercanti has evolved the
concept such that buyers make selections of products from the store orfrom the online store, with shipping as an integrated service and cost of
the delivered product. This allows customers to know the near complete
cost (with the exception of customs taxes) that will be spent to receive the
product. It also allows the rm to limit the amount of inventory required to
be kept on site. In some cases, I Tre Mercanti can even wait to place orders
with vendors until after an order has been received from a customer.
Among the case studies, I Tre Mercanti is the most direct participant within
the tourist economy of Venice. Yet, their use of communication technology
is allowing them to expand beyond its traditional temporal and spatial
boundaries, selling to customers even after they return to their place of
residence. Similar to other rms proled in this study, their success requires
an acute understanding of the visitor experience within the historic city,
including consumers habits and associations within this environment.
The founders of I Tre Mercanti view this venture as an extension of other
business activity. Founder Emanuele Dal Carlo also runs the branding,
advertising and design rm DNA Italia.30 Dal Carlo is now developing a new
30 Ibid. Among the individuals interviewed, Mr. Dal Carlo was the only personwho did not live in the historic center, having relocated to Mestre. He explained that his
Fig. 10. Emanuele in the ofce of DNA Italia
(top left); I Tre Mercanti storefront (bottom
left)
Sources: photos by authors, web site screen
capture
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
social networking venture dedicated to connecting visitors with residents of
destination cities, capitalizing on the knowledge of how to live well (even if
temporarily) in a particular environment.
In the second category are rms engaged in information-driven activities. These
rms are more acutely in the knowledge industry realm in the respect
that they rely upon few physical raw materials as primary inputs for their
production processes. They are all in some way working with intangible
resources usually information -- as the basis for what they are creating.
Bressanello Art Studio
Bressenalleo Art Studio is a gallery of digital photography launched in 2004 by
photographer Fabio Bressanello. To be precise, Fabio Bressanello extracts
the embedded visual information of the city as content for producing digital
photographs that function as both gurative works and abstract art. Mr.Bressanello also collaborates with interior designers to produce custom art
installations. Based upon the extremely
streamline production and use of visual
information as primary input, both the
gurative and abstract works can be
considered products of a knowledge
economy. It is interesting, however, that
Mr. Bressanello articulates a distinction
between them, describing the gurative
works as images for tourists, while
indicating of the abstract works, such asthe large-scale images of plaster patterns
on a wall of a house in Burano (Fig. 11),
these are what Im really passionate
about.31 This distinction reects a
tension between serving a tourist
economy or a broader creative economy,
but it also speaks to Mr. Bressanellos
exible entrepreneurial nature. Other
artists and artisans in the historic center,
who desire to produce work that will be acknowledged as contemporary
culture, but who choose to spend at least some making products that they
think are geared toward the tourist market, likely share his sentiment.
Working with a German software company, Mr. Bressanello has developed
Art Views, a free application available on ITunes that provides a slide show
of his images set to music selected by the user. The app serves as a form of
marketing and brand development.
relocation was prompted by the desire to live close to where he worked most frequently,
theofcelocationof DNAItalia.
31 Interview with Fabio Bressanello, January 20, 2010
Fig. 11. An abstract work by Fabio
Bressanello. Detail of plaster on a house in
Burano.Source: Bressenello Art Studio web site.
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Studio Camuffo
Originally founded by Giorgio Camuffo as a graphic
design rm, Studio Camuffo has since evolved to
provide content in form of publications, media andevents. While providing a broad range of exhibit-
related services for Venices museums and cultural
institutions, Studio Camuffo has also developed a
series of projects to document key issues about life
in Venice today, under the collective of publications
with the slightly tongue-in-cheek title, Venice is
Not Sinking. Similar to the commedia dellarte
tradition of 16th and 17th century Venice, in which
observations about the political and economic
conditions of the day were conveyed through the
vehicle of theatrical comedy, these projects createan opportunity for public commentary and debate,
achieved in multiple media platforms. For example,
their project Se fossi sindaco (If I were mayor
) involved recording the ideas most often in to
do list format -- of more than 100 citizens about
what actions they would take for the future of the
city if they were elected mayor. This collective
was produced as a simple, but graphically engaging
book as well as an independent web site to which
subsequent content has been added over time.32 The web site eventually
included video interviews of actual mayoral candidates as well as otherVenetian citizens (see Figure 12). This ability to assemble such a project is
very much based upon accrued knowledge of local politics in Venice; what they
have produced from this knowledge, in turn, becomes a record of the thought
and self-expression of (at least part of) the Venetian community at a specic
point in time.
Relactions
A web advertising company founded by Annalisa Ballaria in 2006, Relactions
provides a range of services to the travel and hospitality industry. Relactions
has been particularly adept at understanding how to deliver the traditional
services of a marketing and public relations rm within the environment of
the World Wide Web. Services include brand development, graphic design,
advertising content and strategy as well as search engine optimization and
online public relations, among others. Capitalizing on the ability to directly
measure responses to Internet advertising, Relactions uses ne-grained
feedback to make necessary adjustments within the course of a campaign
(closer to real time) and to propose alternative methods for future campaigns.
32 Se io fossi sindaco, nominerei Ciubecca assessore al decoro (If I were mayor, I wouldnominate Chewbacca as Assessor of Decor) published by Venice is Not Sinking, Venice:2009. Web site: http://www.seiofossisindaco.org
Fig. 12. A web screen shot from Studio
Camuffos If I were mayor ... program.
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
Relactions produces analytical reports based upon the
ability to mine a large quantity of data about tourism
(see Fig. 12) Being based in the historic center allows
the added opportunity for direct observation anddocumentation of tourism activity in service to clients
not only in Venice, but also far beyond the Venetian
lagoon. This is particularly critical when the relationship
between hospitality design and services and tourism
management is considered. While a city government
establishes the policy that guides the management
of tourism in a historic city, hospitality and tourism
companies deliver products and services not only in
response to the regulations set by policy but also based
upon their understanding of market forces and market
opportunities.
This combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis is particularly useful
for developing concepts for brand elevation and distinction of hospitality
brands within an increasingly competitive market. In 2010, Relactions was
named a nalist for the Best Tourism Website at the 2010 Italian Web Awards
for their production of the Baglioni Hotels Group web site.
Forma Urbis
Founded by Fabio Carrera and Alberto Gallo, Forma Urbis develops urban
information systems for use by the city of Venice to manage the unique
infrastructure of the historic city. These systems enable and enhance thedelivery of basic city services as well as the management of urban systems,
such as the transportation of goods and people within the Venetian lagoon.
The rms innovative use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a basis
for developing and managing geocoded data sets, makes it possible to overlay
multiple types of data for display. Such digital map-based formats also make
it possible to perform both quantitative and well as qualitative analysis, with
greater ease in changing the scale at which data is analyzed.33
The delivery process of Forma Urbis entails designing ways to collect
pertinent data, documenting and utilizing place knowledge about the urban
environment. This includes collecting embedded information, such as the
record of how wave action has effected building foundations in the historic
center, or what the conditions of the citys sewer system reect about the
history of canal maintenance. Their work also involves the preservation of
formal accrued knowledge, such as in producing a digitization plan for the
Venetian archives and the using informal accrued knowledge, facilitated by
spatial analysis mapping techniques, to inform management of public space
usage by constituent groups. Carrera describes the conceptual basis for
33 Notably, the Venetian Republics maritime activity and the citys printing industrymade it an important map making center as early as the late 15th century. The Archivesof Venice preserve an impressive map collection.
Fig. 12. A screen shot of the Relactions website
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much of this work in his doctoral dissertation, City Knowledge: an Emergent
Information Infrastructure for Sustainable Urban Maintenance, Management and
Planning(MIT, 2004).
As professor at the Worcester Polytechnics Institute and founder of
their Venice Project Center, Carrera has directed teams of students and
volunteers in research project design, data collection and analysis for new
urban information systems. In part due to the capacity to assemble large
project teams, Forma Urbis has been able to beta test diverse methods of
data collection, many of which involve documentation of real time events.
The emphasis on collection and analysis of real time data for use in the
management of cities has tremendous implications for urban planning (see
Figure 12). While the approach may seem especially important in a city like
Venice where the number of people in the city shifts dramatically depending
upon the season and the when major events take place managing the ow ofpeople in the urban environment and the infrastructure to support activities
such as transportation and security is applicable to cities throughout the
world. It may be particularly applicable for the emerging megacities that will
require, extremely sophisticated resource management systems.
Among the seven rms proled in these case studies, no rm exists purely
within knowledge-transferring or the information-driven category; these
are not mutually exclusive but instead represent part of the spectrum of
activities present within the historic center today. It is important to note
the degree to which each of these rms is exible and adaptable. With the
exception of perhaps Ski Stradivarius, all could be described as providing morethan one key product or service.
Relactions, Forma Urbis and Studio Camuffo in particular can be understood
as especially engaged in and responsive to the complex web of problems and
opportunities in the historic city today. Their work produces information and
knowledge-building that can directly impact the management of the urban
environment, the urban experience, and the economy of Venice. In that sense,
their productive contribution in Venice is particularly iterative and also rich
with potential. The newly elected mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu,
observed a similar scenario in regard to innovation in a challenged city:
New Orleans is this nations most immediate laboratory for innovation
and democracy that this country has seen in a very long time, because were
the only ones that were completely destroyed, so were having to rebuild
the fabric of our lives. We can test new ideas to see if they work, and they can
be scaled to success in other cities across every sector of government.34
34 Glove,Lloyd.MitchLandrieusToughChallenges.TheDailyBeast,rstpublished Agust 16, 2010. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-16/
new-orleans-mayor-mitch-landrieu-on-rebuilding-his-city/
Fig. 12. A map documenting permitted use of
public space in Venice
Source: Forma Urbis web site
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
2) Where do knowledge frms locate?
Knowledge rms are distributed throughout the historic
center. I expected that the rms proled in this study might all locate in the
Dorsoduro neighborhood; it is home to a number of university departments,
offers close proximity to the train station and car park and has a vibrantcharacter that often described as less touristy than the neighborhood of San
Marco or the more central parts of the Cannaregio neighborhood. Instead,
I found that the physical distribution of the case studies is not limited to any
particular neighborhood, suggesting that all neighborhoods are potentially
suitable for these rms (see Figure 13).
There appears to be a correlation between the locations of rms and primary
circulation pathways / major circulation nodes. Five of the seven rms are
located within areas of high tourist activity, but can be described as once
removed from a primary route, either in a location on a side street with
little or no visible presence from the street, or on the second oor of a
building. This is especially the case for rms that draw information/data (or
customers) from the ow of tourists, an indication of the symbiotic nature of
the relationship between these rms and tourist activity within the city.
The location choice of knowledge-transferring rms is more
directly based on proximity to physical resources (used in
the input process). The activities that take place at the Ski Stradivarius
production facility on Giudecca and Vento di Venezia on La Certosa are based
on proximity to pre- existing physical resources (harbor, wood stockpile) and
Fig. 13. Locations of knowledge rms in
relationship to preferred routes through
Venice. (Open circles represent production
facilities or related businesses.)
Source: Routes overlay map sourced from
the Venice Report, p. 40; generated by COSES.
Base map generated by author from multipledata sources.
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require larger areas of space for work. And yet, these locations are still easily
reachable from the most central part of the historic city by private boat or
by water bus. I Tre Mercanti and, to a lesser degree, Studio Bressanello, are
the only two rms whose locations are (partially) explained by a desire tobe exposed to heavy foot trafc and to assert a strong visual and physical
presence for the purpose of attracting customers.
Studio Camuffos location is a result of the rms participation in the Venice
District for Innovation business incubator program, which makes reduced rent
ofce space available in the Ex Cnomv building. 35
Density and transit create options for knowledge workers,
allowing location choice to be determined by other factors.
Firms that have even less of a need for production space or reliance upon
inventory, such as those in the information-driven category appear to berelying even more heavily on other factors, including lease cost and the desire
to be in a mixed-use area in making their location selections.
Most of the individuals I interviewed cited the need to be located convenient
to transportation, including Marco Polo airport, reachable from the historic
center by water taxi and public transit. These ndings demonstrate that what
denes convenient is an extremely relative concept. Locating in a walkable,
small dense urban environment that offers a variety of transportation options
means that no location is ever very far from primary circulation paths and
transit nodes. This partially explains why rms are not clustered around the
train station or car park, or even close to major water bus stops. Becauseof the combination of density and relatively predictable transit options, it is
possible to reach almost any location in the historic center from any other
location (or from Mestre), within a half an hour. Though events of high water
infrequently require persons to seek alternate routes, the near car-free nature
of Venice means that within-city commuters do not suffer from automobile
trafc delays as they do in other cities. Fabio Bressanello explained that he
knows reliably, within a few minutes, how long it takes to get anywhere in the
city, making Venice a very easy city to work from.36
Firm locations show little direct competition with tourist-
oriented commercial businesses for storefront space.
Rather, many rms showed a preference for conversion of store rooms
commonly found on the ground oor of Venetian buildings or modest
35 The rehabilitation of the Cnomv building was sponsored by the City of Veniceas part of the Venice District for Innovation business incubator program. It was funded
through money from the European Fund for Regional Development and the Special Lawfor Venice. The project was realized through the Development Plan for the Venice City
Center, approved in 1999. Source: Comune di Venezia, Venice District for Innovation
projectproles.
36 Interview with Fabio Bressanello, January 20, 2010.
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PART FOUR: RESEARCH METHOD AND CASE STUDIES
storefronts, thereby avoiding competition with tourist-oriented business and
cost premiums for high demand spaces.
I Tre Mercanti, located in a storefront in the San Marco neighborhood, is
the only case that occupies what might be considered prime real estate for
tourist-oriented stores, such as glass or mask shops. This location choicemakes sense, given that I Tre Mercanti is a direct participant in the tourism
economy.
The location of Bressanello Art Studio provides an interesting example of
building use conversion (see Figure 14). Originally located on a side street
off of Campo San Barnaba in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, Bressanello Art
Studio now occupies a more prominent ground oor location along Rio de
San Barnaba just a few steps from Campo San Barnaba. The space, a modest
commercial storefront, is owned by and was last used as a storeroom for
produce by the family of fruit and vegetable vendors who operate a market
barge on Rio de San Barnaba. With minimal improvement to the space mostly in the form of lighting Mr. Bressanello converted the space into one
that functions for digital photo editing, digital printing, framing, and display of
his work. The improvements and creative use of space may mean that it is
now seen as desirable for more tourist-oriented commerce, but this was not
the case before Mr. Bressanello occupied the space.
Knowledge rms require little physical space.
The physical space used by these rms varied; most were between 200 and
400 square feet. Their requirements are modest for a number of reasons. For
one, rms can rely more heavily on the real estate available to them in the
Fig. 14. Mr. Bressanello, standing next to
his primary piece of production equipment,
a large format digital printer (left); the
rehabilitated storefront (right).
Source: photos by author.
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virtual realm as well as the speed of communication through virtual networks.
In the case of I Tre Mercanti, Studio Bressanello and Ski Stradivarius, each
has found a way to carry only a small or reduced inventory; in the case ofForma Urbis (as well as Relactions and Studio Camuffo both of which are
on the second oor), reduction in size and increasing portability of computer
equipment increases options for space utilization. This conditions in turn
decrease the need to transport physical goods (raw materials, merchandise,
equipment and supplies) to or from the rms location. Mr. Bressanello
explained that he orders frames from a framer in Venice. (The making of
picture frames is another of Venices still active, recognized historic industries.)
When he runs out of his limited supply, he simply calls the framer, who
delivers the frames by boat, directly to his door, usually within a days time.
Knowledge rms are a good t for Venices ground oorspaces, even those susceptible to high water. In no case was the
threat of high water a factor in choosing not to locate on the ground oor.
The use of ground oor space by these rms is particularly important in
reference to the ndings of the 1969 UNESCO report as well as subsequent
policy proposals, some of which have in fact suggested that ground oor
spaces be abandoned.
In 1995, the city resumed a systematic schedule of canal dredging, a practice
rst initiated under the Venetian Republic, but undertaken only intermittently
over the last two centuries. This maintenance practice allows for access to
building foundations for repair; removal of silt and debris ensures efcient
ow of water in and out of canals, critical not only for boat access within
the city but also for managing the tidal ow, especially when high water
occurs. Although the canal dredging is critical, this physical improvement to
infrastructure does not, alone, explain why it has been possible to reclaim
some ground oor space. In fact, concurrent with improvements within the
historic center, other factors within the lagoon and the broader environment
have actually resulted in an increase in the frequency and intensity of high
water in recent decades. Yet, the threat of high water is not keeping rms
from locating in ground oor spaces, in part because digital communication
technology is now allowing people to be more prepared for high water events.
In 1980 the city created the Centro Previsioni e Segnalazioni Maree (CPSM)
as a clearinghouse for preparedness information and notication about
high water.37 The CPSM, in coordination with other research entities, has
developed increasingly reliable high water forecasting. Since December 2007,
this data has been used as the