An idea of lagoon heritage : territorial preservation between speculation and civic rights

The notion of heritage has long been used within the rhetoric of territorial promotion concerning Venice, which describes its value in relation to historical data, and supports investments and consumption linked to the experience of typicality. The same notion is adopted to support safeguarding and protection operations, in the awareness of the fragility that characterises the city and the lagoon context it is part of. The observation of the Venetian lagoon offers, in this regard, a privileged space of investigation that allows to examine the changing trends related to the patrimonialization of places and the (narrative and financial) speculation to which they are exposed. At the same time, it makes it possible to recognise an opposite tension that operates to protect the landscape and its resources, starting from the idea of common good. This latter tendency recognises in the practices of non-proprietary custody an important element for the safeguarding of territorial rights. The experience of Interreg Crew-Wetland Contract for the Northern Lagoon of Venice, provides an opportunity to rethink the promotion of the lagoon as a shared process, in the awareness that the territory can be experienced and enjoyed outside of the processes of museification, spectacularization, and marketization already widely investigated.