Lack of Affordable Housing in Historical Centre, Venice, Italy.
Venice has 260.000 inhabitants but today only 55.000 people live in the historical center compared to 174.800 people in 1951. Residential property prices in the historical city center have increased with a rate of 11% a year since 2000. Causing a lack of affordable housing in the historical centre and, since housing is cheaper across the lagoon, many residents left to live on the mainland.
One of the causes of this phenomenon is tourism. With more than 20 million visitors a year, Venice has a become a city based on tourism. Renting properties to tourists is more profitable and, with the emergence of new digital platforms such as Airbnb or Homelidays, easier. How far can we go? Will Venice be able to remain a living city? Or will Venice be completely transformed in a thematic park for tourists?
#housing #tourism #urbanplanning #gentrification #urbanoctober#cityexplorations #citylife
