Venice officials expressed the hope that the COVID-19 crisis would provide an opportunity to rethink the future of one of the most fragile cities in the world, create a more sustainable tourism industry and attract more permanent residents, PA reported.
For many years, the Italian city has been faced with an almost existential crisis, as the rampant success of its tourism industry has threatened to destroy attractions that have attracted visitors for centuries.
The COVID-19 pandemic stopped a wave of tourists and shocked the urban economy. The pandemic that followed a series of exceptional floods in November, which dealt the first economic blow, led to a halt to the city amid slow government aid.
The city, which has inspired artists such as Canaletto and Turner, is now a blank canvas.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, speaking in an empty square said that this allows us to rethink life in the historical center.
The population of the historic city center was reduced to 53,000 people, which is a third less than a generation ago.
To help move in, Brugnaro supports the proposal from Ca'Foscari City University to rent apartments to students that were removed from the housing stock.
He also wants to create a center for the study of climate change, given the vulnerability of the city to floods, which could attract scientists who will become its inhabitants. According to him, this will provoke a kind of renaissance that would lead other foreign residents - artists, - who for centuries has been the life force of Venice.
Brugnaro would also like to change the scale of the so-called mass tourism, on which the economy depends.
Venice's future visions include calls for tax breaks to bring traditional production back to the historical center. Civic groups have offered incentives to restore the Venetians' traditional way of life, for example, boats that have been used by residents for centuries, but which struggle to compete with motorboats.
It is hoped that tourist trinket shops that disappeared during quarantine will be replaced by more sustainable enterprises.
Although the pandemic made it possible to look at a cleaner and slower Venice, now there are already signs of how difficult it will be to maintain or implement major plans.
