OECD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development was founded after World War II to develop economic cooperation and coordination strategies between European countries. Between the goals of the OECD program was mainly to encourage the best management of the American financial aid allocated by the Marshall Plan. Between the publications edited by OECD is a series of surveys called “Territorial Reviews on urban and metropolitan regions”.

Each year a new volume concerning one of Europe’s metropolitan area is published, until now the only book dedicated to an Italian case was the volume about Milan that was printed in 2006. At the beginning of 2008, Fondazione Venezia contacted OECD in order to arrange the development of a survey focusing on metropolitan urban structures in relation to the city of Venice.

Edited by OECD Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development, the final report will be published during the first months of 2010. Fondazione Venezia contributed to this project voluntarily providing the economic funds necessary for its development as well as by making available to the researchers needed statistical data and also by organizing the various stages of the work (for this last task Venice International University and Fondazione Venezia 2000 were appointed).

First request OECD made was to receive a basic document, edited according to the “Questionnaire for the background report of OCDE Metropolitan Reviews”, to acquire a detailed account of the socio-economic situation of the Venetian metropolitan area.

The report compiled by VIU and Fondazione Venezia 2000 chose Venice, Padua and Treviso as the three provinces constituting the considered territory. Such choice came in consideration of the efforts that are still made to identify Veneto’s metropolitan territory. In fact such entity is strongly dependent on administrative processes and it is not based on merely geographical criteria.

To best describe such dimension “Variable geographies” are essential and they are strictly dependent on the issues in need of solution: environmental, territorial, economic, infrastructural and concerning mobility. Therefore, the Veneto metropolitan city is the “result” of a new interpretation of the forces that have shaped the economic context of Veneto in the last decade. Last February the OECD group met with main actors involved in the administration processes and also working on the definition of borders for the Veneto metropolitan area. This meeting was aimed at gaining deeper understanding of the analysis and issues presented in the source document.

The second OECD mission will take place during the last week of May and will conclude verifications and meetings necessary in order to edit the final report on Veneto metropolitan area.