Venice Against the Sea
Subtitle: A City Besieged
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Published: March 20, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9780312265946
Subjects: Conservation of the environment; Conservation, restoration & care of artworks; Environmental science; Coastal Zone Design And Planning; Urban Planning; Current Affairs; History - General History; Nature/Ecology; Italy; Earth Sciences - Geology; Europe - Italy; History / Italy; International; Public Policy - Regional Planning; City planning; Cultural property; Protection; Threat of destruction; Venice; Venice (Italy); Venice, Lagoon of; Water levels
First sentence: Who knows when the first prehistoric people, standing on the edge of the Italian mainland and scanning the horizon toward the rising sun, first ventured out into the lagoons that had formed along the coastline of the northwestern Adriatic?
Description: "Venice is sinking - six feet over the past thousand years. Although there is a natural geologic tendency for some sinking, humans have exacerbated the problem by exploiting on a massive scale underground water resources for industrial purposes. The heating of the atmosphere after the last ice age has led to a steady, continuing rise in sea level." "Venice Against the Sea explains how the city and its 177 canals were built and what has led up to this long-forseen crisis. It explores the various options currently being considered for addressing this problem and chronicles the ongoing debate among scientists, engineers, and politicians about the pros and cons of each potential solution."--Jacket.