Luxury Venice: The spread of touristification processes as alpha territorialisation

Abstract

In Venice, Italy, peculiar forms of alpha territorialisation are triggered mainly by touristification and ‘tourism-led gentrification’ processes. Such dynamics, increasingly supported by real estate financialisation, are currently spreading from the old town towards the minor islands of the Venetian lagoon, as well as towards the mainland. These processes change the traditional relationship between the old town and its islands. At the same time, such drifts are somehow counteracted by social movements and grassroots cultural practices that often implement forms of actions towards the realisation of an alternative idea of the city. This paper argues that such processes can be interpreted as phenomena of alpha territorialisation and that this interpretation helps us understand the spatial and environmental consequences of urban socio-economic restructuring processes.