The workshop will take place in two phases:
The number of places available for Iuav students is 10.
The workshop for Iuav students is part of a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), coordinated by the Università Iuav di Venezia and involving professors and students from the following universities:
The aim of the BIP is to invite participants to engage with the delicate and complex ecosystem of the Venice Lagoon (understood as a planetary metaphor), an area where natural elements, human activities, and tangible and intangible cultures intertwine in unexpected ways, shaping complex and challenging conditions for the future.
The BIP proposes an approach based on the definition of mapping scenarios, understood as tools specific to architects, urban planners, and all those who recognize, in the description of particular conditions, the key areas to be addressed within territorial projects, such as fragility, new forms of environmental regulation, emerging actors, and ecosystemic complexities, also understood as defining characteristics of the territory.
Through the combination of experimental mappings, lectures, and field visits, the workshop offers students the opportunity to reflect on how to think about the future of wetlands such as the Venice Lagoon, as an essential condition for addressing the challenges and transformations that characterize the present time.
Iuav students regularly enrolled in the academic year 2025/2026 are eligible to participate in the workshop.
It is not possible to participate in the workshop for:
The workshop lectures will be held entirely in English. Therefore, a good/advanced level of English is strongly recommended for participants (starting from B2 level).
Applications should be submitted by 8 June 2026, 12 PM, by completing the application form and motivational letter (link allegato).
The motivational letter:
Selected students enrolled in the above-mentioned bachelor's and master's degree programmes who participate in all workshop activities will be awarded 4 TAF D credits.
Is it possible to map contaminated ecologies in a dynamic environment such as the Venice Lagoon?
Participants in the BIP "Exploring Scenarios for Contaminated Ecologies" sought to answer this question through experimental mapping activities, exploring the Lagoon's environmental transformations and contaminated ecologies while adopting the perspectives and concerns of its diverse human and non-human agents.
The on-site component of the BIP took place in Venice and combined boat field trips, meetings with local stakeholders, and collaborative research activities. By moving beyond traditional academic approaches through innovative forms of representation, the programme encouraged students to develop a critical and spatial understanding of the environment as a complex socio-ecological system, fostering a sense of collective responsibility and advancing an ecological approach to urban transitions.
The BIP brought together 25 students from Università Iuav di Venezia, Université Gustave Eiffel (EIVP), and ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, and was developed in collaboration with the Nature-Culture Collective (associated partner).
The initiative marked an important milestone as the first BIP coordinated by Università Iuav di Venezia and implemented entirely with partner universities of the PIONEER Alliance.
The programme proved highly successful, strengthening collaboration among the partner institutions, promoting the development of innovative learning experiences with a strong international dimension, and achieving a high level of satisfaction among the participating students.
Information
Luca Velo | lucavelo@iuav.it
Juliette Schwarz | jschwartz@iuav.it
Santa Croce 601 – Venezia