Specters of Activism Participatory Action Research for the Re-Infestation of Venice’s Poveglia Island

The island of Poveglia is located in the southern lagoon of Venice, and along with many other islands, or pieces of the city, it risked being privatised and becoming inaccessible to the lagoon’s inhabitants. In 2014, the State Property Agency put Poveglia up for auction, and following this news, a group of Venetians formed an association to defend the island from speculation, with the aim of buying it and obtaining a concession. Today, the association’s goal is to create a public urban park on the island. The association Poveglia per Tutti claims the island as a public space for all, protects it from privatisation and tourist speculation, and takes care of a place that had been forgotten by many, proposing activities on the island and creating networks and relationships. The research question of the thesis is: what moves people to mobilise to defend places, Poveglia in this case, that are being taken away from them? My role is not only that of a researcher but also an active member of the association. In the first chapter, I analyse the contemporary history of the island of Venice, characterised by the exponential increase in mass tourism, the consequent expulsion of its inhabitants, and the privatisation of the islands as well. A section is dedicated to the history of Poveglia and the founding of the association. In the second chapter, I analyse the association Poveglia per Tutti in detail, what its objectives are, and how it has activated and continues to activate to achieve them. In the third chapter, I present the participatory action research project developed together with the association members to reflect on the future of the island and the involvement of people in creating the public urban park. The methodology adopted is ethnographic research, interviews, and participatory action research.