A fish valley in the northern Venetian Lagoon (Source: Alessandro Destro, 2017).
Climate Change and Fish Farming: Venetian “Fish Valleys” as a Design Device for Coastal Adaptation and Mitigation

Authors

  • Laura Cipriani Delft University of Technology
  • Alessandro Destro Rete Ferroviaria Italiana

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2023.2.13

Abstract

Beginning in the fourteenth century, along the northeastern Italian coastline, Venetians began to create a series of hydraulic structures called “fishing valleys,” which combined aquaculture production with lagoon and seawater management. According to the current scenarios provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the coastal areas, where many historic fish farms still stand, will inevitably be affected by the rise in sea level. To be preserved, coastlines will require some sort of water defense or possibly a managed retreat. Can we redesign traditional fish-farm systems as climate, economic and environmental adaptation devices? Through a series of design scenarios, this contribution explores how traditional fish farming can help redefine the territorial scale by addressing climate change and reviving existing production systems.

How to Cite

Cipriani , L., & Destro , A. (2023). Climate Change and Fish Farming: Venetian “Fish Valleys” as a Design Device for Coastal Adaptation and Mitigation. Blue Papers, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2023.2.13

Published

2023-11-09

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2023): Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

methodologies and case studies

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Laura Cipriani , Alessandro Destro

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Laura Cipriani , Delft University of Technology

Laura Cipriani is an assistant professor in Landscape Architecture at TU Delft. Over the last decade, she has taught at Venice University IUAV, Politecnico di Milano, National University Singapore, Venice International University and the University of Padua. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Architecture (Hons) from IUAV (2001), a Master’s in Design Studies (Hons) in Landscape and Urban Studies from Harvard Design School (2004), and a PhD in Urbanism from IUAV (2008). From 2009 to 2012, she was awarded the EU Marie Curie research grant (assistant professor level). Since 2014, she has held the Italian Associate Professorship title. In 2008 Laura founded Superlandscape, a landscape and urban design firm working on landscape design studies and projects related to climate change issues.

Alessandro Destro , Rete Ferroviaria Italiana

Alessandro Destro is an architect working, since June 2023, at RFI S.p.A., a company belonging to the Italian State Railway Group. In the last five years, he has collaborated with the municipalities of Campagna Lupia and Fiesso D’Artico (2018–2019) in urban planning and design and with a company in the province of Padua for the design and construction of waterproof systems for flat roofs (2019–2023). He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Architecture from Venice University IUAV (2018). He collaborates with various associations in the Venice and Padua areas to disseminate issues related to his master’s degree thesis on northeastern Italian lagoons and the hydraulics of fish farms.

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