Historical Center Of Naples Research Articles

Local materials in the regeneration of urban space of the historic centre of the Metropolitan City of Naples

The contribution is part of the studies conducted by the Urban Planning Board, Land Management, Environment Laboratory for the “metropolitan city” and the Big Project “Historic centre of Naples, enhancement of the UNESCO site”. Among the issues under discussion, very important for the 92 municipalities of the Metropolitan City, is the preservation of different urban identities which, although united administratively, are claiming their own cultural profile rooted in the urban space, in the architecture of places and in local resources. The work is based on the principle that the use of local resources affects the quality and perception of urban space and, as evidence of belonging to the place, it is necessary to deal its exploitation under sustainable auspices.

Environmental project and public space rehabilitation: the great project for the historic center of Naples Unesco World Heritage Site

“Historic Centre of Naples, World Heritage Site Enhancement” project has as its goal the rehabilitation of the oldest part of the historic center of Naples, one of the largest and most representative of Europe. The research reference field is placed on the level of strategic approach to the project and process management downstream of EU funding in large cities, with particular multidisciplinary relevance and urban issues of a complex nature. The scientific products of study, training and research were collected in Guidelines for the rehabilitation of public spaces and for sustainable performance of interventions on roads, walkways, squares and urban facilities.

On the perception of Limited Traffic Zones as urban noise mitigation action

AbstractEnvironmental noise is a very important issue in modern urban agglomerations and new policies are being explored in order to reduce high sound-pressure levels from transportation and industry, especially in urban contexts. Considering this issue from the subjective perspective, environmental noise is often related to noise annoyance. Over the years, possible solutions were explored for urban sound planning beyond the mere noise control engineering techniques and a number of international projects proposed innovative approaches to deal with this issue: most of them were traffic-related. In order to support the city management, it is suitable to analyse possible indirect effects of traffic limitations on the perception of the sonic environment. Indeed, it was observed that even traffic management plans with no specific focus on noise mitigation are likely to have acoustic implications. The present study investigated the variations of the sonic environment induced by the implementation of a Limited Traffic Zone (LTZ) in the historic centre of Naples, in terms of objective parameters and perceived quality of the ‘sound’ component by means of noise and social surveys before, immediately after and one year after the LTZ implementation, in order to check for possible time effects. Results show that the sample interviewed immediately after the LTZ implementation reported overall positive opinions on the sonic environment and its variation, while the sample interviewed one year after tended to shift to more neutral opinions. This finding suggests that the LTZ could be considered an effective environmental strategy for the urban noise control, but it should be adequately actuated in order to preserve the achievements in terms of noise reduction and subjective perception by the local population.

Cancer prevalence in the city of Naples: Contribution of the GP database analyses to the cancer registries network

The Italian cancer registries network has not been sufficiently developed in the Southern regions. General practitioners (GPs) are knowledgeable about the prevalence, incidence and mortality for different types of cancer in their patient populations. The aim of this pilot study was to verify the feasibility and reliability of the characterization of cancer populations using GP databases in order to evaluate the impact of cancer in the general population of Naples. The characteristics of the cases studied have been collected by interview or electronic health record and recorded on paper or magnetic supports, appropriately conforming to the current privacy law. Databases are centralized, stored and codified on electronic data-sheets and periodically elaborated by the ‘Consorzio Nazionale delle Cooperative Mediche’ and ‘Federico II’ University. The present study was initiated on September 15, 2004. The analysed geographical area included the suburbs of ‘Stella’ and ‘San Carlo all’Arena’, situated in the historical center of Naples and corresponding to Health Care District 29 of the local health service. The analysis included 16,927 men and women (age range, 6–97 years) from the outpatient offices of 12 GPs who agreed to participate in the study. Results showed that the analysed population represents 16.3% of the general population residing in the area under study. We identified 342 (2%) patients with cancer, 143 (0.8%) of whom were men and 199 (1.2%) women (M/F ratio of 0.7). Of the 342 patients, 10 (5 men and 5 women) had a double cancer; thus, a total of 352 malignancies was characterized. Cancer prevalence was 2,020/100,000 inhabitants. This estimate is lower compared to the national prevalence (2,683/100,000 inhabitants) but higher compared to that in other southern Italian areas. Results, stratified by International Classification of Disease, ninth revision (ICD-IX), based on factors including gender and age, demonstrated that breast cancer, urogenital tumours and colorectal cancer are the most frequently occurring types of cancer identified among the inhabitants of Naples. Cancer prevalence in the historical center of Naples is in concordance with national estimates and projections and National Cancer Registries may be easily and accurately supported by GP medical databases.

Distinctiveness and sense of community in the historical center of Naples: A piece of participatory action research

Inspired by the impact of an increase in tourism in the Old Center of Naples, Fondazione Laboratorio Mediterraneo, a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable town development and encourages participation, has undertaken the participatory action research described in this article. The inhabitants' sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) with regard to the distinctiveness of the area (Puddifoot, 1995) and its representation are also explored. The collection of socioenvironmental data (Arcidiacono, 1999), 15 semistructured interviews with key people, and photodialogue (Legewie, 2003) are followed by relational activities carried out together with local inhabitants and group associations in the area. The inductive analysis of the established categories and networks has been carried out with the aid of Atlas.ti. Our findings emphasize that the distinctiveness of the Center and the pride of belonging felt by its inhabitants are expressed ambivalently and negatively, evidence of the inhabitants' lack of a sense of community. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 33: 631–638, 2005.

The Multiplex City

This paper deals with the process of urban change that has occurred in the historic centre of Naples during the course of the last decade.The paper takes account of the role played in this process by a number of local actors: the local judiciary, new urban political elites, institutionalized civil society and urban social movements.The first two sets of actors represent what I define as ‘legitimate power’ in the city, while the remaining two groups represent ‘constituent power’. In my account of the process of regeneration in the historic centre of Naples, the former are revealed as protagonists of dynamics of urban change ‘from above’ and the latter of dynamics ‘from below’. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the formulation of a critical perspective on multiplex urbanism, by highlighting the co-existence of multiple dynamics of political mobilization in the public domain of contemporary cities. In particular, the paper tries to show how the mobilization of actors who do not have direct policy commitments of their own can generate productive outcomes on the organization of space. It is argued that these actors not only make claims in the public sphere, but also actively contribute to the dynamics of space production that trigger the processes of spatial change at the urban level.

Nápoles, ciudad democrática: la construcción del centro histórico como un espacio público

El presente artículo analiza el proceso de regeneración urbana que ha tenido lugar en el centro histórico de Nápoles en la última década. Mi tesis es que dicho proceso ha ocurrido gracias una mezcla de formas diferenciadas de acción colectiva y movilización social. En particular, presento un marco de análisis que considera dos perspectivas en el proceso de cambio urbano: desde arriba y desde abajo. En mi estudio de caso, la primera perspectiva se ha dado por las élites políticas locales y los jueces, mientras que la segunda por la sociedad civil y los movimientos sociales. Este análisis aborda la complejidad actual de los procesos de cambio urbano y la multiplicidad de fuentes de poder social a escala urbana. El propósito de este artículo es discutir la idea de ciudad múltiple y proponer un enfoque activo al urbanismo postmoderno, el cual se enfrenta a las visiones pesimistas acerca del futuro de las ciudades.