As David Chipperfield begins the next stage of the restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie on Piazza San Marco in Venice, James Imam asks if architects can save cities straining to deal with increasing tourist numbers.

David Chipperfield's restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie is a declaration of solidarity with Venice's residents. The city is besieged by hordes of visitors and locals are abandoning the lagoon for the mainland. Now, Chipperfield has pledged to "return the building to the people as a place to love and a font of inspiration". So can architects help save cities buckling under the strain of tourism"
A record 60,000 visitors now arrive in Venice daily. In turn, locals are fleeing as house prices spiral and human congestion becomes suffocating. The city council's attempts to stem tourists by introducing turnstiles and taxes have been futile. Earlier this month, 5,000 furious residents took to the streets after a 65,500-ton runaway cruise ship collided with a ferry, injuring at least four. Cities elsewhere are similarly afflicted. Barcelona now hosts 30 million tourists a year (10 million more than Venice). And in Bruges, the "Venice of the North", city authorities have passed measures limiting the movement of cruise ships. Clearly, lessons gleaned from Venice could have broader relevance.
As a potential symbol of the city's will to live, the Procuratie Vecchie, with its iconic 172-metre-long arched colonnade that skirts the entire north ...