Venice, the city built on water

It's worth noting that the islands of Venice weren't specifically engineered. They're preexisting natural landmasses, though of course they've been altered over the centuries. Venice has an http://www.veniceconnected.com/content/national-archeological-museum, which might be worth a visit if this interests you. It looks like they mainly focus on antiquities, but there may be a part of the museum that documents the settlement of Venice and human alterations of the landscape over the years. The Museo Correr might be a good place to check out, in combination with a tour of the Doge's Palace. If nothing else, there may be a docent or tour guide there who could answer some of your questions about Venice's structural history. For what it's worth, I've been to Italy three times and traveled all over the country, and I've noticed that Italian museums tend to be seen more as exhibition spaces for Italy's unbelievably rich and varied cultural heritage, and less as instructional spaces about topics not closely connected to physical artifacts. You might learn more by http://www.aguideinvenice.com/en/homepage-venice-tours.php.

Have you seen http://vimeo.com/21688538?

Venetian historian, architect, local and posessor or enviable hair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_da_Mosto made a BBC series about Venice - which does cover some of these issues and which can be found largely on Youtube starting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH5O4jWmneg. I'd recommend it for anybody planning a trip.

Don't know if it helps but the http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3522768/?ref_=tt_ep_ep3 show recently did one on Venice.

Maybe http://www.salve.it/uk/puntoL/home.htm, "the multimedia information centre providing information on activities to safeguard Venice and its lagoon delegated to the Italian State"? This appears to be the official publicity center for MOSE, the current floodgate project.

Thanks, jetlagaddict, those seem to be the most promising for what I was looking for. I'll also definitely be checking out the recommended videos before I go on my trip. Thanks everyone!