A Brief Enquiry into the Public Squares of Modern Venice

The article would briefly investigate the value of public squares in ‘modern’ Venice, Italy and analyse its influence on the contemporary city and its new occupants.

Each individual experience a place differently. In most settings, “its not just about how something looks, its about how your body feel in that space” as described by Burden (2014). Public spaces are as important as private spaces, finding the right balance between the opposing spaces is a key to a successful urban daily life. Public realms act as a counterpart to the more settled private places and the work-domestic routines. Public spaces are open and accessible; they allow places for movement, communication, activities and contemplation. It is essentially a place where people meet and people themselves attract other people.

The city of Venice

Figure 2. Waterways for transport

“The greatest masterpiece our species produced” as the poet, Joseph Brodsky (1992) portrayed the city of Venice, beholds a sensual city with aesthetically pleasing sights and serene combination of the waterways and historical architecture. Venice is a compact walkable city with no cars to be found. Salty air lingers instead of smog from cars, apparent in most other cities. This helps create an ideal and people-centred public spaces, which will be the focus of this article. Other than walking, the main form of transport is through the waterways by boats (figure 2). The city was shaped by its canals, which were and still are: the main communication routes. As an outcome, the streets are narrow and the urban layout is somewhat chaotic with unsuspected nooks and crannies in every turn and paths that often lead into large squares and other public spaces. The narrow lanes reveal exciting and intimate spaces; you feel cozy even when you are outside exploring. The city has provided its people with ample variations of places to sit, congregate and relax, with 127 different sizes public squares distributed in the 118 islands. The topography of the city is very simple: where there are churches there are often public squares next to them.

Figure 3. Venetian homes directly opening to Public Streets

“The Venetian was bound to develop into a new kind of creature, and that is why, too, Venice can only be compared to itself” (Howard, 2005, p.3). Very uniquely, every inch of the land has had to be created from mudflats and swampy islands. It is supported by millions of wooden piles underneath. This is why real estate and land is precious and at a premium. Most of the buildings are built into human scale, hence permitting a greater engagement between the city and its occupants. The physical environment, inhabitants and social factors contributes to producing a public space with a sense of community. The buildings are typically clustered side-by-side one another with the main doors and windows opening directly into public streets or plazas, as seen in figure 3. In this instance, the division between private and public thins and overlaps. Thus, individual’s houses may have limited privacy and instead, the outside public space becomes an extension of Venetian homes and businesses.

Tourism and management of public squares

Figure 4. A bookstore layout adapted to flooding

The current high tourism has both benefitted and impaired the city. It has a ratio of 65,000 inhabitants to 14,000,000 tourists, which is about 1:200 respectively (Carrera, Novello, Gallo. n.d.). There is an evident increasing demand for more infrastructures, which include public areas for the rising number of visitors. Consequently, it initiates tension between the business sectors that accommodate the tourists and the local residents, whose quality of life is being affected. The balance between public and private spheres becomes fragile, as there are now higher transient occupants present in the city, using the public areas, civic buildings and local amenities, which were not initially built for this crowd.

To deal with these issues, the provision and management of public spaces are now top priorities for the City Officials. The council has devised regulations to protect and regulate the uses of public squares. In a typical public square found are businesses known as temporary occupants, which leases areas of the public space. The most common form of temporary occupants are outdoor seating areas for restaurants, merchandise displays and other commercial businesses. Protective buffers are set around monuments, trees, street furniture, churches and bridges. Additionally, there is a minimum width of 3-meter clear passage for pedestrian movement. This means spaces around the buffered areas are to be kept clear and are not leasable to businesses. By doing so, overcrowding is avoided, spaces for public seating is guaranteed and pedestrian flow is controlled.

The population of Venice residents is continuously decreasing; one of the reasons could be the fear from the progressive sinking of the town at a rate of 1-2 millimetres a year. Many buildings get flooded; residents and businesses do find their own ways to adapt and protect their properties. For example, figure 5 shows the books stacked and displayed in an old bathtub so that when water comes in, the books are protected. To help combat the problem, the municipal council proposed Mose flood barrier project that will be installed on the Venetian Lagoon, protecting the city once and for all from “acqua alta or high water” and further disintegration. It is due for completion in 2018. (O’Sullivan, 2017; Pisani, 2014))

Case Study: Saint Mark’s Square

Figure 5. Piazza San Marco by Canaletto from 1720s

Figure 6. St Mark’s Square in 2012

St Mark’s Square is defined as the most active public space in Venice because of its size, location and surrounding buildings; it is also an important location for civic occasions. The wide open-space has been popular for its energy filled space and the sense of enjoyment resulting from lively public activities. The surrounding cafes around the square provide internal and external moveable seating so visitors can enjoy the lively atmosphere. The impressive buildings such as Saint Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace, frame the square add to the popularity of the area.

For many centuries, the Piazza has not seemed to change much from examining the painting, “Piazza San Marco” by Canaletto from the late 1720s (figure 5). His painting illustrated the daily Venetian life: people socialising and enjoying the views, children playing and vendors and stalls located along the edges. Comparing this to a photograph taken in the 21st century (figure 6), over 280 years later, it is fairly similar: people still utilise the space for socialising, adoring the surrounding and the stall vendors or shops scattered around. The square was able to adapt to the spatial needs of its current users or it is arguable that the main function of public squares in Venice have not change much. It suggests that there is always a need for such places; people need these open spaces even with the new developments in the ever-changing society.

Communities have developed public spaces that answer to their needs. Nemeth and Schmidth, (2011, p.9) argues that an ideal public space allows “variety, flexibility, permeability, or authenticity” and furthermore, it should allow for ‘variety of unplanned, unmediated, improvised uses”. This implies St Mark’s Square is a simple open public stage that becomes alive as it hosts public activities and events.

One factor that has change since is the advancement in communication technology and growth of social media, which have converted the physical public space into virtual public realm. Unlike physical public spaces, virtual spaces are spatially unbounded, unaffected by physical factors such as weather and geographic location. The contemporary Western society has become more introverted and private, therefore putting public spaces under threat.

However, public spaces are still crucial for a balance urban life as “when public life and public spaces are lacking or neglected, people become isolated, eroding any sense of communal spirit and cohesion” (Slessor, 2001). Thus, technological advancement can be interpreted as an advantage in enhancing individual’s public space experience. Nowadays, people use mobile devices to capture photographs, share places and experiences via social media and therefore promoting a place to a wider audience.

In conclusion

No single space can truly meet all the need of all users at all times. Spaces that try to do so often fail to do anything well. It is important to consider the role of individual spaces in relation to a wider network of spaces in the dense urban setting. The public squares of Venice are like extension of people’s homes and an opportunity to meet other people and participate to a wider social context of a city. The urban layout of Venice has provided people plenty of quirky streets to circulate and quintessential open spaces to breath and wonder around. Saint Mark’s Square is not only successful in providing picturesque sceneries but also functionality, with spaces providing flexibility and allowing spontaneous activities to occur.

In contrary, the modern Venetian society has impacted the public squares in a generally positive manner. Communities have always tried to design their spaces according to their changing needs; the physical form follows the spatial function, vice versa. The modernity and tourism are forcing the squares to be more develop and adapted. Arguably, the main function of public squares such as St Mark’s has not change much through time. At this point in time, people will always be in need of such spaces: similar to how people did from the past, now and possibly in the future.

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Bibliography and further reading

Bamji, A. (2007) The control of space: Dealing with diversity in early modern Venice. Italian Studies, Volume 62. pp.175-188

Burden, A. (2014) How Public Spaces Make Our Cities Work. [video] Available from: https://youtu.be/j7fRIGphgtk [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Bennett, M. (2015) The Benefits of Public Space: A brief look at Venice, Italy. [online] Available from: http://agoraplanningjournal.com/blog/2015/9/2/the-benefits-of-public-space-a-brief-look-at-venice-italy [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Brodsky, J. (1992) Watermarks: an Essay on Venice. Harmondsworth: Penguin

Carrera, F. Novello, A. Gallo, A. (n.d.)STREET PERFORMANCES, the ROLE of VISUAL ANALYSIS in the MICROZONING of PUBLIC SPACE in VENICE, ITALY. [online] Available from: http://geoanalytics.net/VisA-SDS-2006/paper06.pdf [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Franck, K. and Paxson, L. (1989) “Women and urban public space”, in Public Places and Spaces. Human Behaviour and Environment. Volume 10. New York: Plenum Press.

Howard, D. (2005) The Architectural History of Venice. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Miller, K. (2007) Designs on the public: The Private Lives of New York’s Public Spaces. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Nemeth, J. and Schmidth, S. (2011) The privatization of public space: modelling and measuring publicness. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 2011. Volume 38. pp.5-23

O’Sullivan, F. (2017) Venice’s new flood barrier is almost here. [online] Available from: http://www.citylab.com/tech/2016/09/venices-vast-new-flood-barrier-is-almost-here/498935/ [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Pisani, B. (2014) Why Venice is a microcosm of Italy's problems. [online] Available from: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/04/why-venice-is-a-microcosm-of-italys-problems.html [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Project for Public Spaces (2017) Piazza San Marco. [online] Available from: https://www.pps.org/places/squares-parks/piazza-san-marco/ [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Slessor, C. (2001). Public engagement: Piazza di San Marco. Architectural Review, (1250), pp.36-37. Whybrow, N. (2015) ‘The city of the eye’: urban aesthetics and surveillance in the city of Venice. New Theatre Quarterly, Volume 31. [online] Available from: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/67502/ [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Worpole, K. and Greenhalgh L. (1996) The Freedom of the City. London: Demos.

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