The Recovery of Disused Waterways as Blue Corridors: The Battaglia Canal between Padua and the Venetian Lagoon

Abstract

The management of surface freshwater bodies can be considered one of the most important issues affecting the quality of living spaces in the industrialised world. Today's awareness of the importance of sustainable water management includes the artificial canals built over centuries to meet multiple and different needs. The development of railways in the 19th century and the extraordinary spread of road transport after World War II led to the steady abandonment of historic canals all over Europe and the consequent deterioration of their water quality and corridor spaces. This deterioration, in turn, led to socio-cultural conflicts over the spaces and the necessity/desirability of maintaining them in the late 20th century. In recent years the benefits provided by blue-green infrastructure in terms of biodiversity, new socio-economical opportunities and the improvement of the well-being and mental health of their users has been acknowledged by scholars and policy makers in the European Union and elsewhere. The article analyses the territorialisation of the Battaglia Canal in Italy’s northwestern Veneto region, between Padua (Padova) and the Venetian Lagoon and its broader canalscape that has resulted from different adminsitrative and planning processes and the manner in which changes in socio-environmental perceptions has influenced approaches to managing the canal. Building on this, the article raises issues concerning the management of the canal and proposes some perspectives for a multifunctional recovery and a sustainable valourisation of it as a social and environmental asset.