Course description
The course examines global trends related to the promotion of heritage and its role in the process of branding the territory, and applies these trends to the Venice lagoon. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the aim is to identify the rhetoric and codes that articulate the current representations of Venice within a changing context subject to the pressures of territorial valorization as well as climatic change.

Among the most interesting global dynamics is the inclusion of heritage notions within regenerative processes and territorial promotion. Heritage is one of the dominant rhetoric on which the sense and legitimacy of many redevelopment and regeneration operations are built. Heritage has long been used within territorial promotion rhetoric concerning Venice, which describe its value in relation to history and support investments and consumption linked to the experience of typicality. In this regard, the Venetian lagoon offers a privileged space of investigation that allows us to examine the changing trends related to patrimonialisation and the (narrative and financial) speculation to which they are subjected.

The marketing of typicality in the lagoon area has been changing and is moving from the historical city to the context: it takes on natural connotations, increasingly linked to the arcadian dimension of the landscape. The interest in marginal territories reflects, on the one hand, a rise in awareness towards the fragile lagoon environment, and on the other hand, the need to look for new opportunities. The more the environment is under the spotlight of change, the scarcer resources become, the more valuable they become. Not only for those actors who aim to drive sustainable change in the face of environmental pressures, but also for those extractive forces who, having identified a resource, intercept its potential.

Through a series of in-depth studies and site visits, the course will explore the changes taking place in this delicate territory and their impact on the space and the stakeholders’ relationship.

Through a combination of theoretical lectures, fieldwork and site-based investigations, the course will explore how these dynamics reshape both the material and symbolic geography of Venice. Particular attention will be given to:

• the centrality of climate change in the redefinition of heritage and identity;
• the role of marginal territories in the shaping of Venice’s new imaginary;
• the role of nature, ecology and speculation in relation to the physical transformation of places;
• the tensions between conservation and adaptation within fragile environments;
• and the questions of socio-ecological justice that emerge from unequal access, visibility and decision-making power in the governance of climate risk.

In doing so, the course invites students to critically engage with the future of heritage in the age of climate change, where every act of preservation becomes significant in ecological, social, political and economic terms.

Some questions guiding the course:

How is the rhetoric concerning ecological heritage used to support the transformation of places? What is at stake in the Venice lagoon when climate change is one of the big players in territorial transformation? What marketing principles linked to natural value can be recognized here and elsewhere? How do they address issues of spatial-ecological justice?

The goals of the course are the following:

• To critically examine how climate change reshapes heritage narratives, branding strategies and investment logics, using the Venetian lagoon as a comparative laboratory for global trends.
• To distinguish between adaptation and mitigation framings as they are mobilized in planning and marketing, and to assess their distributional effects on access, displacement and socio-ecological justice.
• To map climate risks against territorial valorization practices, identifying who benefits, who bears the risk, and how risk is visualized/obscured in promotional imagery.
• To understand nature’s role as both ecological infrastructure and marketable asset, and to evaluate the ethical and policy implications of this dual status in the lagoon context.
• To develop a mixed-methods toolkit combining semiotic/visual analysis (collage, image production etc.) with basic environmental evidence (risk maps, exposure indicators), supporting cross-disciplinary inquiry.

Syllabus – Module breakdown

Module I - Observation of the global trend towards heritage exploitation. This module examines some exemplary cases in global cities, highlighting striking similarities in heritage marketing. It provides the basis for observing the narratives that promote the value of places by utilizing nature. It also introduces the fundamental notions of climate change and its possible consequences on both environmental and social systems, highlighting how climate pressures reshape livelihoods, spatial justice and collective heritage.

Includes:
Course introduction
Frontal lectures
Frontal lecture with invited guests
Work and group discussion

Module II- Observation of current trends in Venice and the lagoon area. This module evaluates the increasing centrality of landscape-related heritage in the face of climate change. Through a series of dedicated lectures by the teachers and expert guests, we will explore the different aspects that build the narrative of Venetian typicality: environmental fragility, isolation, and its iconic and original urban form. This module will also explore the means used to describe the Venetian lagoon, taking a multi-disciplinary perspective: on the one hand, the visual and marketing materials linked to the emotional perspective of place, on the other hand, the risk maps, exposure indicators linked to the technical description of the ecological fragilities.

Includes:
Frontal lectures
Frontal lecture with invited guests
Work and group discussion
Students Seminars
At least 1 site visit

Module III- Choice of a case study in the Lagoon of Venice. Analysis of recurring rhetoric related to ecological heritage in the context of climate change. This module reflects on the imaginaries and codes used to promote the territory. The analysis will encourage a multifaceted approach, resonating with the students' diverse backgrounds.

Includes:
Frontal lectures
Frontal lecture with invited guests
Work and group discussion
Students Seminars

All modules will include intermediate tasks to be carried out individually/in groups and discussed collectively in class through the workshops and student seminars.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Interpret how heritage, memory and tradition are mobilized within global processes of territorial regeneration and branding, recognizing the intersection between cultural value, environmental change and economic strategy.
2. Critically assess how climate change reshapes the meanings and uses of heritage, particularly in the Venetian lagoon, where cultural, ecological and climatic dynamics converge.
3. Identify and deconstruct the main rhetoric and visual codes of territorial marketing, especially those that link natural value, authenticity and sustainability in the context of climate pressure.
4. Analyze the political economy of heritage-led development, understanding how environmental narratives can legitimize financial speculation, risk redistribution and new forms of exclusion.
5. Combine semiotic, hermeneutic and environmental tools to evaluate representations of place, from renderings and promotional images to risk maps and policy frameworks, within the broader discourse on climate adaptation.
6. Develop an informed and critical stance towards the notion of climate-heritage justice, articulating how spatial, ecological and cultural inequalities intersect in contemporary planning and branding practices.

Teaching and evaluation methods

The course will be organized as follows:

1. Frontal lectures (on concepts, theories and approaches relevant for understanding the issues and dynamics related to the use of heritage in territorial marketing);
2. Seminar discussions guided directly by students to stimulate learning by allowing students to formulate and exchange their views on selected issues. (i.e. regarding proposed papers or ad hoc short assignments);
3. Excursions in the Venice lagoon to observe and approach representative case studies.
4. In itinere tutoring of group-works.

The course will consist of three evaluations which will take place during the course:

1. mid-term evaluation based on the elaboration of materials and observations from Module I and II (30%)
2. final evaluation: elaboration of materials and observations from Module III.

This will be composed by: the presentation of the group-works (percentage of the overall grade = 35%) + the submission of an individual short paper (percentage of the overall grade = 20%).

In addition, a 15% of the overall grade will be attributed according to these criteria: class attendance, participation and interaction, submission of the required assignments.

Bibliography: a selection

A comprehensive bibliography, comprising books, chapters, and journal articles, will be provided throughout the course, matching significant reading to the given lectures.

Brett, D. (1996) The Construction of Heritage, Cork: Cork University Press. Chandler, A. and Pace, M (2021) The Production of Heritage, London: Routledge.

Fabian, L., & Bertin, M. (2021). Italy Is Fragile: Soil Consumption and Climate Change Combined Effects on Territorial Heritage Maintenance. Sustainability, 13(11), 6389. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116389

Forino, G. (ed.) (2024) Disasters and Changes in Society and Politics: Contemporary Perspectives, Bristol University Press

Huyssen A. (2003), Present Pasts. Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory, Stanford University Press.

Klingmann, A. (2007) Brandscapes. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Litt, G., Bertin, M., Negretto, V., & Musco, F. (2022). Reinterpreting Spatial Planning Cultures to Define Local Adaptation Cultures: A Methodology from the Central Veneto Region Case. Sustainability, 14(12), 7344. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127344

Marini, S. (ed.) (2017) Orchestra Rehearsal, Bruno, Venezia.

Sassen, S. (2017) Predatory Formations Dressed in Wall Street Suits and Algorithmic Math, Science, Technology & Society, 22:1, pp. 1–15, Los Angeles: SAGE Publication

Zizek, S. (2008) First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, London: Verso.

Zukin, S. (2008) Naked City. The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places, New York: Oxford University Press.

Course duration: 40 hours of tuition
Credits equivalence: 6 ECTS

Last updated: August 6, 2026