Venice 25

Location
Venice, Italy

Year
2025

Program
Urban Vision

Team Leaders
Reinier de Graaf (Partner, OMA)
Hans Larsson (Associate, OMA)
Alex Retegan (Editorial Manager, OMA)

Team
Audrey Lam (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Ghania Syed (University of Naples, Federico II, Italy)
Julia Biłek (Politechnika Śląska, Poland)
Emilia Koritschoner Guma (Catholic University of Córdoba, Argentina)
Lara Shawah (University of Haifa, Israel)
Jelena Stamenkovic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)
Venetia Rigoni (RMIT University, Australia)
Anna-Mariia Onishchuk (Gdansk University of Tecnology, Poland)
Danil Zinkevych (Gdansk University of Tecnology, Poland)
Mees Timmenga (Amsterdam Fashion Institute, Netherlands)
Naz Usman (University of Miami, USA)
Mo Li (University of Sydney, Australia)
Antonio Fernández (Architectural Association School of Architecture, UK)
Laura La Scaleia (University Of Melbourne, Australia)
Wafa AlFalahi (American University of Sharjah, UAE)
Meggy Via (Ecole de Condé, France)

Project
Venetie MML
If there’s one place where tourism manifests at its most extreme, it is Venice. With every available square meter in the city seemingly marketed for consumption by visitors, it is perhaps no surprise that there are hardly any Venetians living in the city today: a mere 45,000, compared to the 20 million tourists that make their way from the terraferma every year. As much as tourism may sustain the city’s economy today, relying on one main source of revenue at a time when the world order is under threat from geopolitical shifts, pandemics, and climate change is risky business at best.
Yet not that long ago, Venice was a place that produced more than experiences for tourists. The exquisite architecture of today’s guidebooks were yesterday’s civil engineering projects, assembled in the waters of the lagoon to hold industries such as glass, ships, printing, and salt. The Arsenale and its network of warehouses and canals were the equivalent of Henry Ford’s assembly line in the 16th century; the Ghetto district in Cannaregio was built around a state cannon foundry that anticipated the Industrial Revolution; and the island of Giudecca housed Venice’s emerging modern industry and working class. Further afield, estates of the Venetian hinterland provided the stone, timber and produce that built and fed the city in the lagoon.
Could Venice be stirred from its post-industrial hangover, and begin to function as it did before? How could the city expand its economic horizons in order to become a place to work and live? What role can production play in the city today beyond the sentimental crafts peddled to tourists? Over the course of two weeks we will investigate the city’s needs and potential to sustain itself, and the unexpected forms a truly livable Venice might take.