Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 1
·
May 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
30
the strategic objectives was based on the negotiation of local interests. The city
administration, as the main public actor involved, should have acted as coordinator between
the private and other public parties involved and should have facilitated forms of
participation and the active involvement of the citizenry.
The Urban Renewal of a Dismissed Industrial Area
The first policy addressed the urban renewal of the dismissed industrial area of Bagnoli.
Public intervention in the urban regeneration of this area began about twenty years ago but, to
date, remains incomplete. The area was characterized by the presence of a big steel plant,
established at the beginning of the 19
th
century. The plant was located in one of the most
beautiful spots in the gulf of Naples. In 1992, after many vicissitudes, it switched off its
chimneys.
The de-industrialized area of Bagnoli extends for 340 hectares, making it the largest
urban void in Europe. In 2012, after twenty years, the first public work
financed jointly by
the municipality, the region and the European Union actually started. After so many years,
then, something is finally being done in an area considered strategic for the development of
Naples. Two key questions are:
What to do with the district of Bagnoli?
Or better,
What
should it become?
Linked to the wider national and international debate on how to deal with
urban voids, the projects that purported to offer answers to these questions have generated
endless discussions locally. The urban redevelopment of the extensive portion of coastline of
Bagnoli has been seen by many as a unique opportunity for the revival of Naples and its
image. Indeed — like in many other brownfield sites — the recovery of the environmental
quality of the area, which was heavily compromised, directly and indirectly, by the presence
of the Italsider steel plant, is not only meant to promote its tourist development but also
provide a most suitable location for research activities related to advanced industry.
However strategic, the renewal of Bagnoli appeared to encourage a new development
path for the city. Yet, its implementation sparked bitter conflict among the different actors
and interests at stake, resulting in endless confrontations. To name only a few, building
contractors and organized crime groups behind them started to exert pressure to secure
procurement contracts related to the implementation of the project; the public institutions
variously involved became quarrelsome about the volumes of the construction of the new
