Abstract
This conference paper investigates the dynamics of the Venetian civil society activities facing the critical challenges of their community, such as overtourism, increasing floods, and rampant depopulation. The study draws on the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory framework to analyse how local activists and organizations have mobilized to address these issues. Thus, it seeks to identify the conditions for intervening in the collective learning processes enacted by civil society activities across Venice. The paper outlines the initial steps of a diagnostic procedure, involving participant observations, archival records, and narrative interviews, to reconstruct the expansive learning cycles of key local activist groups. Preliminary findings reveal the problems faced by the recently disbanded network, Curiamo la Città, and the subsequent need to focus on the mobilizations of separate collectives and networks. The study aims to shed light on the potential for coalition building through fourth-generation formative interventions centred on the Venetian civil society.