Line #171 Main/CityOfCanals


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{ARIA}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_v4fsuuo.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:So much water, [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons you could ride a walrus to work]].]]
6
7	->''"They call it the Walls of Water, but it's not just the walls -- it's the whole damn city."''
8	-->-- '''Gladiolus Amicitia''', on Altissia, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''
9
10	Perhaps it's for some aesthetic reason, or perhaps it's simply because they're so unusual — for whatever reason, cities with canals instead of streets are a very popular setting, especially in fantasy. In stories set in the real world, or some alternate universe sharing its geography, this city is, of course, UsefulNotes/{{Venice}} — there are actually other cities and towns with lots of canals, but none are quite as famous or as glamorous, especially since Venice renewed their efforts to make everything really nice and clean in the 1980s. Meanwhile, other worlds often have cities which are [[FantasyCounterpartCulture suspiciously similar to Venice]], usually (though not always) within an UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}-like country. [[SceneryPorn Pretty, old-fashioned European-style architecture]] and gondolas are optional, though common.
11
12	As a result of being typically inspired by Venice, these cities are usually [[MerchantCity ports and hubs of merchantry]]. It is consequently common for them to be ruled by a circle of merchants or by an elected prince of some variety.
13
14	Besides Venice, a number of real cities do actually have canals -- Amsterdam is the second most-famous Western example -- though most lack Venice's aesthetics due to their most common, ahem, industrial function.
15
16	See also CityOnTheWater, for a settlement that's entirely floating on a large body of water.
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* ''Franchise/DotHack'': Mac Anu, the first Root Town (city and only areas free of monsters) new players of The World see. It maintains its presence in all .hack Media. After the destruction of The World's servers and creation of The World R:2 it has a new design with {{steampunk}} elements, though it keeps its characteristic canals. When The World R:X is released the design of R:2's version seems to be left intact but without the steampunk elements, creating a fusion of sorts between the two.
23	* ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' is set in the city of Neo Venezia, a copy of the original, with exact duplicates of some of the more famous landmarks, on a terraformed Mars and the source of a lot of [[SceneryPorn beautiful imagery]]. The choice of Mars for this is something of a HistoricalInJoke: due to a faulty translation of observations by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli, it was believed for quite a while that Mars had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canal dry canals]] belonging to some dead civilization.
24	* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'': There's a Venice-y city called Aquroya, which is sinking so fast they don't expect it to be there in five years' time.
25	* ''Animation/GuardianFairyMichel'' has Precia, which took a more realistic approach with the canals being full of stinky trash.
26	%% * ''Literature/KinosJourney'': The "Sad Country" seems to consist of a city like this.
27	%% * ''Manga/{{Mushishi}}'': Ginko visits one in the story "Hidden Cove."
28	* ''Literature/MonsterGirlDoctor'' has the city of Lindworm which has several waterways due to the fact that it was built to accommodate many species including mermaids.
29	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The island Water 7 is modeled after Venice, down to the canals and festival costumes. But exaggerated.
30	* ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'', the fifth ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' movie, was set in a City of Canals called Alto Mare (Italian for ''high sea''); the director visited Venice beforehand to scout out the city. Within the games, there's Canalave City in ''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl''.
31	%% * The Asturian capital in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' is also depicted like this.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Comic Books]]
35	* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': New Venice, from at least the early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics, is an American town that had suffered permanent flooding and decided to go the canal route.
36	* ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'': London has become one, although not intentionally -- [[FloodedFutureWorld parts of the city have flooded]] due to GlobalWarming, but the city is still fully inhabited.
37	* ''ComicBook/LabyrinthCoronation'' starts with a human baby Jareth being kidnapped from Venice and brought to the Labyrinth. Jareth's predecessor, The Owl King has the Labyrinth as a City Of Canals.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Fan Works]]
41	* ''Flipside'', a ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' RoundRobin published in ''The Wizard's Knob'' magazine in the mid 90s, has the city of Venialli, famed for its open sewers... er, canals.
42	%% * ''Fanfic/TheSunSoul'' does this with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Cerulean City]]. It isn't a huge plot device or anything, but it's obvious the author has some kind of love for SceneryPorn.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
46	* Film/JamesBond goes to Venice three times:
47	** At the end of ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', where he ends up making out with the GirlOfTheWeek on a gondola while throwing footage of their first night of sex overboard just before the end credits roll.
48	** In ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', Bond spies on the BigBad's secret laboratory in Venice where a DeadlyGas is produced (with a glass museum as facade). Bond also gets ambushed on the canals by a fake funeral gondola and a chase ensues (Bond's gondola turns out to have an engine and can even go amphibious).
49	** In the climax of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'', Bond and Vesper go on vacation to Venice, but it turns out Vesper betrays him by handing the huge sum of money he won at the Casino Royale tournament to [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Quantum]] agents there. Bond follows her, a fight erupts with said agents inside a building, and said building sinks when the buoys get shot.
50	* The second act of ''Film/MissionImpossibleDeadReckoning'' takes place in Venice, where everyone who's interested in getting the keys to the source code of the rogue AI "The Entity" meets at a party at the Doge's Palace. A foot chase in the ground streets and fights on a bridge ensue.
51	%% * Theed from ''Franchise/StarWars''.
52	* ''Film/BabePigInTheCity'' takes place in a [[CityOfEverywhere mashuptropolis]] that, among other, weirder things, has Venice-style canals in place of streets.
53	* A significant amount of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' takes place in fictitious catacombs underneath Venice (which in reality is a city pretty much at sea level and built on pilings constructed on islands).
54	%% * Venice plays a large role in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley''.
55	%% * ''Film/DontLookNow'', which made a point of making Venice look, well, a bit crap.
56	* ''Film/TheItalianJob2003'' begins with the eponymous caper pulled off in Venice.
57	* The second act of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' film takes place in Venice, although some alternate Venice where the Bridge of Sighs is tall and wide enough to let the freighter-sized ''Nautilus'' pass under it and has long roads suitable for car chases.
58	%% * The film ''Film/TheTourist'', starring Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/JohnnyDepp, is set primarily in Venice.
59	* The Dutch horror film ''Film/{{Amsterdamned}}'' is all about Amsterdam's canals, including a speedboat chase (which was filmed in Utrecht, incidentally).
60	* In the Israeli film ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaumilch_Canal Blaumilch Canal]]'', a lunatic named Blaumilch steals a jackhammer and drills in the middle of Allenby Street (a major street in Tel-Aviv), and the bureaucracy is in such chaos they start believing he was actually authorised by someone. This eventually leads to a variation of this trope in the climax: [[spoiler:Blaumilch destroys the road's infrastructure so that the Mediterranean Sea comes gushing in, and City Hall celebrates the grand opening of "Allenby Canal", with the mayor taking credit for the project and calling Tel-Aviv [[InvokedTrope "Venice of the Mid East"]]]].
61	* ''Film/TheNeverendingStoryIITheNextChapter'' features the city of Amarganth, or Silver City, which is located on a lake full of HollywoodAcid (tears in the book). People there dress like it's the Carnival of Venice at all times.
62	* A high speed boat chase happens in the canals of one such city in ''Film/TheProtector''.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Literature]]
66	* ''Literature/TheBookOfDragons'': In "Literature/TheNineCurvesRiver", the city of Arlong is built on a system of elevated wooden platforms above a small archipelago. Water lies beneath most streets and bridges, and in some areas travel is by boat.
67	* ''Literature/ElConquistador'': Like in real life, Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Mexica empire, uses waterways for navigation.
68	* "Literature/TheWateryPlace": When the strange-talking foreigners said they were from "the watery place", Sheriff Cameron figured they were talking about {{UsefulNotes/Venice}}. (He had misheard them, because they said {{UsefulNotes/Venus}}.)
69	* In Creator/ItaloCalvino's "Literature/InvisibleCities", there are numerous fictional cities full of canals.
70	%%* Creator/JacquelineCarey's ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'': La Serenissima (an [[IstanbulNotConstantinople actual nickname of Venice]], sometimes called "The Serene Republic").
71	%% * Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/MerovingenNights'': The eponymous city of this shared-world anthology series.
72	* Creator/MichaelEnde's ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' features a city of floating silver filigree palaces on a lake of tears.
73	%%* Creator/CorneliaFunke's ''Literature/TheThiefLord'' is set in Venice.
74	* Creator/JamesGurney's ''{{Literature/Dinotopia}}'': Waterfall City, which is also set on a hill, so the canals turn into awe-inspiring waterfalls (which have the side effect of making everything in the city permanently a little damp).
75	* Creator/PeterFHamilton's ''Literature/CommonwealthSaga'': The city of New Venice was built by a property developer and is based on the canals of the original Venice.
76	* The first part of Creator/MaryHoffman's ''{{Literature/Stravaganza}}'' series is set in an AlternateUniverse Renaissance version of Venice called Bellezza, presided over by their beloved and masked Duchessa.
77	* Creator/StephenHunt's ''Literature/JackelianSeries'': Hermetica City on Jago has a canal network, complete with gondolas and cargo barges. In this case, some of the canals are ''boiling hot'', Jago being a geothermally-active island which humans originally settled as a refuge during an Ice Age.
78	* Creator/RobertJordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Since corpses and human refuse are often dumped in some of the lower city's canals of Illian, they stink something awful.
79	%%* Creator/TanithLee's
80	%%** ''Literature/CityOfVenus''
81	%%** ''Literature/TheBooksOfVenus''
82	* Creator/ScottLynch's ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'': In ''Literature/TheLiesOfLockeLamora'', the city Camorr has waterways to navigate. Tal Verrar is similar, being a city of artificial islands means they need to use the water to navigate around.
83	%% * Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Free City of Braavos is loosely based on Venice.
84	%% * Creator/KaiMeyer's ''Literature/DarkReflectionsTrilogy'' is partly set in an alternate Venice.
85	* Creator/DaveMorris and Creator/JamieThomson's ''Literature/FabledLands'': One of the cities was very heavily based on Venice, being a major trading port with a Mediterranean climate and lots of canals.
86	* Creator/AlastairReynolds's "Literature/ZimaBlue": This ShortStory has a planet with "one hundred and seventy first known duplicate of Venice, and one of only three Venices rendered entirely in white marble."
87	* Kai Meyer's ''Dark Reflections'' trilogy is partly set in an alternate Venice.
88	* Creator/BrandonSanderson:
89	** Canals are also used as a sort of highway system in the ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''. The city of Urteau in ''Literature/TheHeroOfAges'' '''had''' canals, but they dried up and they have street slots now.
90	** ''Literature/TheReckonersTrilogy'''s ''{{Literature/Firefight}}'' mostly takes place in Babylon Restored, which is Manhattan after some severe flooding. Most people have built bridges between the roofs of buildings, but some travel over the streets in motorboats.
91	* In Creator/IanSime's ''Literature/Birthright2017'', the city of Sangam, being built on the islands of a river delta, has an extensive series of canals. Most of them appear to be completely natural rather than man-made, complete with mangrove trees growing out of the water and along the banks.
92	* ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'''s ''Zero-Sum Game'': Utyrak, on the planet Salavat in the Breen Condederacy, is underground, like all Breen cities. However, this one also has a subterranean canal network.
93	* In Creator/WilliamTimlin's 1923 ScienceFantasy novel ''Literature/TheShipThatSailedToMars'', the Martian Fairy City is built up around a system of canals -- the titular sailing ship that crosses the distance between Earth and Mars even touches down in one of the canals when it arrived on the red planet. Timlin's depiction played off the idea that Mars was covered with a network of alien-constructed waterways, which enjoyed much popularity in the early part of the 1900's. From the text:
94	-->Now already the City was ablaze with lights of welcome, and Fairy bridges across the Great Canal were as shimmering half-hoops of jewels; boats and wonderful barges moved in slow procession along the water-ways... And their chief City is of amazing opulence, and is built around and upon a hill, and canals radiate therefrom through wooded valleys, and flowers grow everywhere.
95	* Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheHobbit'': Laketown is a large human town built on top of a lake. Initially it was just a small village, but it grew larger and expanded out onto the lake because it was right next to a mountain.
96	* S.D. Tower's ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'': Kurjain, the capital city of Bethiya, has Canals and Lagoons instead of streets, i.e. Copper Bell Canal and Jade Lagoon instead of Jade Street.
97	* Creator/CatherynneMValente's ''{{Literature/Palimpsest}}'': Zarzaparilla Street is a milky river covered in coats that must be navigated by gondola.
98	* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': Cited by name as one possible location that tourists may visit. It will be a maze of filthy canals, bridges, and mouldering houses that only locals know how to navigate and is typically ruled by a council of corrupt merchant-princes, one of which is likely to be the leader of the local Thieves' Guild.
99	* In ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark Envoy from the Heavens]]'', the city of Mad-Eborn is the capital of the province of Feynland on the planet Osier. The main character visits it and is amazed at the beautiful canals.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
103	* An episode of ''The Detectives'' involves Bob and Dave in Amsterdam (which also has a lot of canals) but ''[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} think]]'' they're in Venice.
104	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E6TheVampiresOfVenice "The Vampires of Venice"]] is set in 16th century Venice, but, ironically, filmed in Croatia.
105	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Free City of Braavos, which is loosely based on Renaissance Venice, is built across several marshy islands in a lagoon and crisscrossed by hundreds of canals.
106	* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': The capital city of Numenor, Armenelos, is meant to evoke Venice InUniverse, per production designer Ramsey Avery. The architecture of Venice served as main inspiration for how Armenelos would look like, having domes and suspended water channels, the material used to build the city being white marbles, and the location of the city being around a bay.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder:Radio]]
110	* The ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' audio drama ''The Stones of Venice'' was set in a 23rd century Venice on the point of sinking completely. With amphibious gondoliers.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
114	* ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'': Duskwall, the primary setting, stands on the delta of Dosk River and so is crisscrossed by canals both natural and artificial, to the point where you can reach more places by boat than by carriage. The Gondolier Guild is a major power player in the city, and the Whitecrown island creates a natural haven for ships in the North Hook Channel, making Duskwall a perfect sea port, much like Venice's famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Lagoon Lagoon]]. WordOfGod is that the city is basically a hybrid of Venice, VictorianLondon, and Prague.
115	* ''TabletopGame/TheDelversGuideToBeastworld'': The city of Pristana, capital of Vinyot, is based around thirteen canals,with smaller inlets threading between them.
116	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has something similar in Zarash'ak, the major city in the Shadow Marches. It's a collection of buildings and plazas built on stilts over a swamp and frequently connected by bridges. Unlike most cities of this sort, the Marchers don't use the canals to move around as much due to occasional [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile hostile]] [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent wildlife]].
117	%%** ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'': Glantri City.
118	* ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'': Practically every Martian city is built around at least one giant canal and a few smaller ones that bring melt water down from the ice caps in the flow season.
119	%%* ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'': Vodacce, a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of Venice.
120	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': Hamburg is not only called "Venice of the North", it actually is one due to massive flooding in the early 21st century submerging large parts of the city, creating a maze of canals.
121	* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':
122	** Marienburg is based pretty closely on the real-world Amsterdam, and consequently takes the form of a port city cut through by an extensive network of canals.
123	** The Tilean city of Miragliano is crossed by a network of canals, seven large ones and many more narrow ones, that the natives use as roads, and which are often filled with a procession of boats and elegant barges.
124	** The High Elf city of Tor Elyr in Ulthuan is criss-crossed by a number of minor river tributaries and canals.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Theatre]]
128	* ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', though the plot doesn't make any use of the canals; back when the play was written, Venice was more famous for being a MerchantCity.
129	* ''Volpone'', similar to the above.
130	* The first act of ''Theatre/TheGondoliers'' is set in Venice. The Duke of Plaza-Toro remarks that, although he would have preferred to arrive there on horseback, "owing, I presume, to an unusually wet season, the streets are in such a condition that equestrian exercise is impracticable."
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Video Games]]
134	* The second half of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' takes place in late 15th century Venice. [[PlayerCharacter Ezio Auditore]] can either use gondolas to move around on the canals or [[LeParkour parkour his way]] [[{{Roofhopping}} on the roofs]]. ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' has a flashback level set in Venice in those years as well.
135	* ''VideoGame/{{Atelier Iris 3\|Grand Phantasm}}'' takes place in a City Of Canals. The gondolas are rowed by a fairy.
136	* The capital of [[SingleBiomePlanet water planet]] Hillys, from ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil''.
137	* Founder's Falls in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' is basically the game's Nob Hill, and has lots of canals running through the neighborhood proper to allow for yachting.
138	** And then there's Crey's Folly; before the Rikti War made a mess of it, its more-or-less official name was Venice, so called because of the canals designed to carry industrial waste.
139	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' has Gondolia, a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of Venice. You can use the gondolas to traverse the canals, and at one point you are required to do so to sneak past Heliodorian soldiers.
140	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
141	** As the cities in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' are [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels Randomnly Generated]], ''any'' city may be one of these. Most are not considered canonical, especially those that re-appear in later games and do not have canals.
142	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' has Vivec, the {{Egopolis}} of the [[PhysicalGod Tribunal deity]], Vivec. It looks ''nothing'' like a European city -- each of its city blocks is a single gargantuan building (a 'canton') rising up from the water, and the bridges binding the cantons together are part of the buildings themselves. Still, it has gondoliers to ferry you around for a modest fee.
143	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' has Bravil. The number of canals is more limited, but contributes well to the city's atmosphere as an impoverished dump. Its built over a swamp, after all. A modestly pestilential one.
144	** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has Riften, a Bravil {{expy}} to the extent that it is a canal city and a WretchedHive.
145	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
146	** Treno from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has canals across its watery lower reaches. At one point Dagger's team has to use a gondola to sneak into a place that has an item they need to save Blank.
147	** Altissia, the capital of Accordo in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV''. Located on one of Accordo's many islands, the city is noticeably well below sea level, and has many gondolas to navigate the resulting canals.
148	* Canals and gondolas are a feature of the Kingdom of Cyrum in ''VideoGame/GrandiaII''.
149	* ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'': ''2'' is set in Venice, with the player traversing the canals in Chapter 2: Muddy. Strangely, ''4'' is set in Venice with a layout of London (in the Japanese dub, 4 is set in London, likely a error in translation).
150	* ''VideoGame/HydroThunder'' has Venice Canals, is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
151	* Various areas of Haven City in ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' has these; it helps when half the city is knee deep in water.
152	* ''[[VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject The Journeyman Project III: Legacy of Time]]'': {{Atlantis}}, complete with a gondola service. The chatty boatman fills you in on the background of the setting.
153	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'' has one.
154	* ''VideoGame/Lineage2'' has Heine. Given that it's a water-themed city, there are naturally a lot of [[MakingASplash elves]] and [[BubblegloopSwamp swampy grindzones]] nearby.
155	* City on the Water in ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}''.
156	* There was one actually called "Canal City" on Planet Notak in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando''.
157	* Soleanna in the 2006 ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic the Hedgehog]]''.
158	** ''VideoGame/SonicRiders: Zero Gravity'' has Aquatic Capital and Tempest Waterway, though with a very futuristic, SolarPunk look. The city runs on not just canals, but high-pressure streams of water that connect one water node to another. Bizarrely, one hard-to-reach shortcut in Tempest Waterway involves the character getting off his or her HoverBoard and riding a gondola a short way down a drainage chamber.
159	** ''VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure'' uses this theme in Pirates' Island. Much of the stage takes place underwater, within the canals, and while the city has been long abandoned except for dolphins, their technology is still very much intact, and the means to move the water around the city form the bulk of this stage's unique features.
160	* There's a city like this in ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny''.
161	* Venezia in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''. The canals make getting around a little annoying at first.
162	* ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' has a deathmatch level called Venice.
163	* There's a level in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderII'' set in Venice. In fact the whole second part (levels 2-4) is set there.
164	* Shown in several parts of the ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' franchise, which takes place in the 1920s; Tokyo once was full of canals, most of which are now gone because of World War I (or a Demon War) and urban development afterwards.
165	* Sigfried's level in ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries SoulCalibur]]'' for the Dreamcast is set in Venice.
166	** It also makes an appearance in the first installment of its stablemate ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}''.
167	* The Plaza maps in ''VideoGame/WaterWarfare'' have large, shallow canals running through them, but they're effectively drained--you can run in them without getting wet. However, you ''can'' refill your squirt guns by standing anywhere in them (so long as you hold still).
168	* Spinon from ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' combines this with FloatingContinent: it's a city in the sky with a network of canals which all flow right off the edge of the island.
169	* Sunken City in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]]'' became one after it was flooded when the seasons went nuts.
170	* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' allows the player to build this. In earlier versions, it was the only way to build a city with streets that could be driven on freely, due to boats being the only controllable vehicle. Nowadays, there are rideable animals that the player can control, but a City of Canals is still possible if the player desires.
171	* Naturally one of the cities in the world of Valencia from ''VideoGame/{{Pirate 101}}'' has since it's based on Venice.
172	* ''VideoGame/MarioParty7'': Grand Canal, a Venice-inspired board, takes place in a canal city. The paths of the board go through wooden bridges, piers or even aligned gondolas.
173	* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': the second mission from the first game takes place on Ronbertburg City, named after the real-life German city of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber Rothenburg]] and based on various European metropolises like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg Hamburg]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam Amsterdam]]. The later part of the stage has you traveling over canals via "building-bridges" - bridges that contain buildings beneath them and can be adequately habitable for residence. Most of them are destroyed by rebels in pursuit of you.
174	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
175	** Stomrwind City has extensive canals, though it still has cobbled roads.
176	** So does Undercity, although the canals in question contain green goo instead of regular water.
177	** The abandoned capital city of Gilneas has canals as well.
178	** Suramar City in ''Legion'' is much more Venice-like, complete with gondolas; diving into the canals is one of the best ways to escape from enemies.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Webcomics]]
182	* [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=8031 Nuqrah'shareh]] from ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' is a variant built around a twisting river BeneathTheEarth, with the holds of its ruling clans each residing on their own islands.
183	* The city where the heroes are trained in Webcomic/SurprisingOcteal, York, is a canal town not unlike Venice.
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder:Western Animation]]
187	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'': Venice, which Kootie Pie wants to flood to make a water park.
188	* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': The Northern Water Tribe's city, located on the northern ice cap, consists of buildings of sculpted ice separated by a network of canals..
189	%%* ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'': The rat undercity.
190	%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E19MomAndPopArt Mom and Pop Art]]", Homer briefly turns Springfield into one of these. Surprisingly enough, no one's upset about this.%%Turns Springfield into what?
191	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'': The turtles tour Venice just in time for the Mardi Gras festival. Shredder and Krang plan flood the city with the Hydrofluxor.
192	[[/folder]]
193
194	[[folder:Real Life]]
195	%%* UsefulNotes/{{Venice}}, Italy, [[TropeCodifier obviously]].
196	* In addition, several cities are titled "The Venice of..." because of the identification of this trope with the city. These include Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Annecy in France, Bruges in Belgium, UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}} in Germany, UsefulNotes/SaintPetersburg in Russia, Stockholm in Sweden, Ft. Lauderdale in Florida, Birmingham in England, Suzhou in China and Recife in Brazil; and of course the Venice of Asia, UsefulNotes/{{Bangkok}} in UsefulNotes/{{Thailand}} (and, OnceUponATime, UsefulNotes/{{Manila}} in the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} too[[note]]especially in the American colonial period proper in the early 1900s, doubly so because it had a lot of very Westernised architecture at the time … but succeeding local governments filled up most of the canals, either by paving them over or allowing informal settlers to throw trash into them, diverting regular floodwaters onto city streets. In the last decade, however, there are attempts to systematically dredge, clean up, and beautify the banks of several historic creeks that empty into the Pasig River, within the Metro Manila area[[/note]]).
197	-->'''[[Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue Humphrey Lyttleton]]''': Birmingham, known as the "Venice of the North", by people who haven't been to Venice.[[note]]And people who don't know that Birmingham is in UsefulNotes/TheMidlands, not OopNorth. Although from the perspective of Venice, the whole of Britain is in the North.[[/note]]
198	* Many, if not most cities of [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands the Netherlands]] - of course, since this is the country that most major European rivers end in, and it lies mostly below Sea Level. To note just some of the better-known cities: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam Amsterdam]] (where Film/{{Amsterdamned}} takes place; and like noted above, this city has the nickname of "Venice of the North"); [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht Utrecht]] (where most of the before-mentioned Film/{{Amsterdamned}} was actually shot); [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delft Delft]] (from Film/GirlWithAPearlEarring) and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden Leiden]] (from Film/SoldierOfOrange).
199	* Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, which was located on top of Lake Texcoco in what is now Mexico. However, seeing as it was the seat of power of an ancient Native American culture far removed from anything resembling European culture, it really wasn't anything like Venice, although it was even more beautiful according to the historical accounts.
200	* Venice, CA was Abbot Kinney's attempt to re-create this in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.
201	* The ancient Sumerian city of Uruk was founded before 4000 BC, making it the UrExample.
202	* Phoenix, Arizona has several canals to supply the area's water needs, most of which have scenic walkways on either side. They also have historical significance, as many of them were dug by Native Americans in the area centuries before white settles arrived.
203	* There was some plan to do this in Raanana in Israel. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It was quickly scrapped, though]].
204	* The practice of the native peoples around Lake Maracaibo of building their buildings on stilts in the lake led the Spanish to call the region around the lake "little Venice"--in their language, ''UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}''.
205	* Two cities are currently competing over the title of "Australia's Venice": Gold Coast (Queensland, south of Brisbane) and Woy Woy (New South Wales, north of Sydney). [[https://www.gold-coast.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/mermaidbeachmap.gif Here's a map of Mermaid Beach, Gold Coast]], [[http://www.ozviews.com/MapWoyWoy.jpg and here's a map of southern Woy Woy]].
206	* Deliberately invoked when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Grimaud Port Grimaud, France]] was constructed in 1966. Each of the (tiny) houses came with its own berth for a large-sized leisure boat.
207	* Also invoked with the development of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Coral,_Florida Cape Coral, Florida]], which has over 400 miles of canals.
208	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CityOfCanals