Being Young in Venice

The third project we plan to conduct this fall regards youth issues in Venice. As Tito Canal eloquently put it in my National Geographic video, "Venice is a city well-suited for aging people, but it's a hard place for the young". As the hundreds of VPC alumni discovered to their dismay, there are no night clubs in Venice and nightlife revolves around sitting at cafes and conversing with your friends. Playgrounds are limited, and playing in the campi is tolerated only for the very young, but frowned upon (and actually forbidden) for everyone else.
Although we have not explored these issues in the past, this year we will collaborate with the association "I Giovani Veneziani" to investigate this important facet of Venetian society.
With the support of Marco Passi of the Giovani Veneziani, this team will (a) review what information exists on Venetian youth, (b) organize and visualize what is known about youth issues, (c) integrate or complete what is known, by collecting additional data, (d) identify initiatives that will benefit young Venetians, (e) propose steps to carry out and fund such initiatives.
In particular, since games and play are a great way to reach out to youth, this team will collaborate with young Venetians on the installation of Postmodern Postmortems around the city. In the spirit of the fledgling Santa Ve cooperation, the team will also be in contact with people at the Santa Fe Complex where similar youth issues are addressed by combining science and technology for the benefit of young New Mexicans.