ABSTRACT
While the presence of the cruise ships in the Lagoon of Venice involves complex technical and scientific issues concerning the use of the terrain, the natural environment and public health, their clear and direct impact on the local economy and urban management gave rise to an intense and sustained citizen mobilization. Moreover, the growth of the contestation prompted a counter-mobilization by some interest groups. Here I investigate how the No Cruise ships movement in Venice intervened by constructing a set of critical knowledge about the issue. I look at the interactions among a variety of civil society actors and experts and how they co-produced new expert knowledge. The evidence suggests that the rise of a broad citizen mobilization contributed above all to producing knowledge about a new problem that – to some extent – supported the development of technical alternatives. It also prompted a crisis in the erstwhile quiet technocratic management conducted by the Port Authority and multinationals within the cruise ships sector. For all these reasons this case lends weight to the idea that citizens can, under specified conditions, contribute to the democratization of expertise.
