Heritage, Tourism, and Demography in the Island City of Venice: The Depopulation and Heritagisation

A city fully urbanized, dominated by heritage, logistically isolated, impervious to physical renovation, Venice must struggle with a massive influx of tourists and the fascinating, yet difficult to manage unique features of its architecture and engineering. Venice is becoming increasingly depopulated as residents move off of the archipelago and to the mainland town of Mestre. The usual narration of Venice’s demography is, however, oversimplified. The Venetian people are not migrating from their island city motherland to a foreign mainland out of necessity or for convenience’s sake; rather, they are trying to reach a difficult balance between their island and mainland identity. This paper examines Venice’s special demographic challenges in light of the laws in place to protect its built heritage, its geography relative to other lagoon communities, and developments in the tourism industry.