Last week, Alberto Barausse – one of SCAPE’s collaborators on the Ecological Citizens installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale – visited New York from the University of Padova Environmental Systems Analysis Lab, to meet with SCAPE team members and to participate in a number of events at Columbia’s GSAPP. Alberto is the project coordinator of the Life VIMINE project, a multi-faceted initiative to restore salt marsh habitats in the Venice Lagoon, and is a key partner on Ecological Citizens. Life VIMINE helped source and assemble the wood fascines that were part of the installation, and will collaborate with SCAPE on the re-deployment of the fascines back into the lagoon at the closing of the Biennale in November.
Alberto’s visit included speaking on a panel on GSAPP affiliates’ involvement in the Biennale, as well as a lecture on the LIFE VIMINE project hosted jointly by the GSAPP Urban Design Program and the Columbia Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Program. These events punctuate the exciting trajectory of Ecological Citizens and the plan to re-deploy the fascines in November in collaboration with Life VIMINE, local fisherman, and the local community members. Read more about the Ecological Citizens project here.