capabilities and community building: two case studies of social innovation in naples

8/11/2019 CAPABILITIES AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: TWO CASE STUDIES OF SOCIAL INNOVATION IN NAPLES

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CAPABILITIES AND COMMUNITY BUILDING:TWO CASE STUDIES OF SOCIAL INNOVATION IN NAPLES

Pasquale De Muro

Dipartimento di EconomiaUniversit degli Studi Roma Tre, [email protected]

Ph. +39 0657374076 / Fax +39 0657374093

Paola Di Martino & Lucia Cavola

Iter srl centro ricerche e servizi, [email protected]

Ph. +39 081418596 / Fax +39 081406866

AbstractWe present two case studies of social innovation against deprivation and social exclusion in Naples.

The two cases have been studied within the SINGOCOM research project. The first case refers to the

neighbourhood Quartieri Spagnoli, where a voluntary-based association started in the Seventies to fight the

widespread human poverty by fostering the capabilities of deprived citizens, especially women and theirchildren. The initiative succeeded in activating basic functionings and awareness, thus the association became a

reference for the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. In the Eighties and Nineties the association got the attention

of public institutions and started new projects of neighbourhood development funded by central and local

government, and EU. The second case is located in Scampia, a neighbourhood in the outskirts, and started more

recently. A network of civic associations is trying to build a piazza (square), that is a place where the local

community can meet and live collective initiatives in order to (re)construct social relations, especially among

young people, that are blocked and corrupted, on one side, by criminality and, on the other side, by a neglectful

city planning. The civic network succeeded in enhancing local social capital and fighting social exclusion;

furthermore, they developed a planning project for the piazza. The use of ICTs had a relevant role in the

community networking. Notwithstanding, local government has still not paid any tangible attention to those

bottom-up initiatives in Scampia.

Keywordssocial innovation, community building, capabilities, governance, Naples

1. Introduction

In this paper we present the results of two cases of social innovation in neighbourhood development in the

municipal area of Naples, that have been studied within the Social Innovation, Governance and Community

Building(SINGOCOM) research project funded by the European Union.

The first study refers to the Quartieri Spagnolineighbourhood, in the old part of Naples, an area with a high

level of physical and social decay. Here, at the end of the 1970s, a voluntary-based initiative that was

predominantly inspired by the philanthropic solidarity of critical and dissenting Christian movements started

with the intention of supporting the resident population and helping them meet needs for social assistance,housing and solidarity. Formally established in 1989 as Associazione Quartieri Spagnoli(AQS), its main aim

was to support the population residing in one of the most run-down area in the old part of Naples, in a situation

characterized by insufficient municipal social services and local and national governments inertia. Over a period

spanning more than twenty years, the AQS has built a new identity for the area by establishing new institutions

and social relations. From its outset until 1990, activity was centred on rebuilding the social tissue and trust-

based relationships. This has allowed the Association to become firmly embedded in the context, intervene in the

area by working from inside and establish itself as a constant presence and place to turn to when experiencing

anxiety and hardship.

Subsequently, after a period of fertilisation, the second stage began and continued throughout the 1990s. In this

period, the Association played an important role in outlining municipal social policy. It participated in urban

requalification programmes, closely collaborated with municipal, national and European institutions, received

European funding and established links with the university and other extended networks. This was a period oftrue institutionalization in which its intervention in the area became stronger and more stable and continuous.


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As far as results are concerned, the AQS has played an important role in improving the standard of living and

bringing about changes in attitude, mentality and culture shown by some of the resident population. The

inhabitants of the area who have taken part in the Associations projects have not only attended training courses,

found jobs and satisfied other needs that had previously not been met but have also become protagonists and no

longer consider themselves as passive and disheartened onlookers. Encouraged by these results, municipal

government has adopted some of the intervention models conceived by members of the Association and has alsoused them in other areas of the city.

The study of AQS experience has, above all, contributed to recognizing and describing the elements and

dynamics of social innovation as defined in the SINGOCOM project. It has also been useful in pinpointing the

factors that have outlined the context in which the AQS has worked and identifying the conditions that have

contributed to the success of the project and shaped the dynamics of social innovation.

The second case study concerns the recent experience of Piazziamoci, a network of groups, associations, schools,

joint owners that was set up in 2001 in the neighbourhood of Scampia, an extremely distressed area in northern

outskirts of Naples. The aim of the network is to create a Piazzafor Young People in the area through direct

participation of the civil society in its planning. The initiative was a reaction to top-down urban development

planning that did not meet citizens needs and consisted predominantly of building with very little concern for

social problems. Its intention is to affirm an active citizenship model and begin participatory urban planning aspart of the Urban Redevelopment Plan.

ThePiazzarepresents a goal in a physical sense since the network is trying to include the project in the urban

plan and the municipal budget and also in a figurative sense as a virtual place where the community, and young

people in particular, can meet and play a role in neighbourhood development in an innovative way.

In the study ofPiazziamoci, firstly we present two closely related factors in the area, urban development and the

complex socio-economic background. We then attempt to understand the circumstances that have led to the

establishment and development of local grassroots organizations beginning with civic commitment through

traditional forms of political representation through to discussion with the local public institutions and the

creation of the Piazziamoci network and its work. Our main objective is to assess the socially innovative content

of the Piazziamoci project that has yet to be finalized and its impact on social exclusion and urban planning.

Relations, on the one hand, between intolerable living conditions in the neighbourhood and solutions that thenetwork of associations has tried to find and, on the other, the difficult relations between the network and local

public administration will be analyzed. Finally, we will try to assess the effect that the voice thatPiazziamoci

has given to the neighbourhood residents needs for social relations and security has had on local governance.

The two studies have been conducted mainly through a series of meetings and interviews with the local actors

related to the initiatives: leaders and members of civil society organisations and neighbourhood associations,

stakeholders, volunteers, civil servants, representatives of local government, university researchers, parsons and

religious groups.

2. Expanding human capabilities in the Quartieri Spagnoli

2.1. The scenario in which the Associazione Quartieri Spagnoli operates

2.1.1. Quartieri Spagnoli: a history of hardship and poverty

The Quartieri Spagnoli area is part of the city of Naples situated behind the town hall and the centrally located

via Toledo. Building work began in the Viceroyalty period in about 1550 when the Spanish Viceroy decided to

divide the area into lots to provide accommodation for his troops. Work continued until 1750 when the quarter

assumed its present-day form. It soon became home to negative military-related activities including prostitution

and smuggling.

The area covers just over 500.000 square metres and at present accommodates roughly 3,000 families and 15,000

people. It has always been a run-down difficult area but is also known for its vitality and wide range of activities.

At present, there are approximately 250 workshops, 360 shops and many other businesses, 196 yards and 223


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garages1. The building heritage of the area, that includes buildings of special historical and artistic importance,

has rapidly deteriorated over the years. The buildings have been subjected to dramatic changes, for the most part,

without planning permission and maintenance and restoration work has been carried out only recently.

Due to its physical structure, the Quartieri Spagnoli have always suffered from a shortage of areas where

residents can meet and socialize. The few places that exist include Church premises, social clubs and the

headquarters of two political parties. Other new meeting places have been set up by enterprising immigrants. Inthis type of situation, the streets become the only alternative. Although they provide an opportunity for peaceful

and positive coexistence, they can also encourage deviance particularly among young people and family

dissolution. At present, the criminal organizations are less powerful than they have been in the past but in the

1980s they were involved in recruiting, aggregating and controlling human and financial resources. Many

families have young member who are still in prison or were killed in fights between rival bands. Young

pregnancies are commonplace and for decades prostitution has been one of the most widespread activities in the

area although now it has almost disappeared. Usury is often resorted to as a way of tackling financial difficulty

albeit involuntarily when it is initially disguised as an act of solidarity.

However, behind the neighbourhoods often falsified image as a symbol of urban decay, a number of social

styles and models can be outlined. One of the most recent sociological studies performed on the Quartieri

Spagnoli area has identified the presence of at least five social groups of which three predominate and have

always been present and two are marginal and have recently appeared in the area (Laino, 2001a):

1.

lower middle income group, consisting of "healthy" households, affected only occasionally by social

deviance. Its members have low education levels but are engaged in honest employment (often irregular, or

low-level jobs in the public sector).

2. marginalized proletariat, consisting of families at high risk of deviance whose members actively participate

in informal, precarious and illegal networks on which the area economy is predominantly based. Although

this is not the largest group, it is the most noticeable part of the population because it tends to impose its

own style. In these families, symptoms of social exclusion often become chronic: truancy, unemployment,

juvenile pregnancies, welfare dependency, experiences in custody, promiscuity, abuse.

3. workers in white collar and services sectors in lower middle classes , the smallest group consisting of lower

and middle class families that live in the area but consider themselves and live as outsiders. They tolerate thebehaviour of the other groups and although the members of the first two groups of families are unwilling to

leave the area, the young members of the lower middle class see emigration towards other areas or cities as

a social promotion (Laino, 2001a).

The earthquake in November 1980, that caused many buildings in the area to be declared unsafe, has also

affected its social fabric. Some of the population has migrated towards other areas whereas new members have

taken up residence in the area. Two other social groups who are currently establishing themselves have appeared

in the area:

4.

immigrants, both legal and illegal, on the increase who have already established small communities with

more civilized and dignified living conditions. They are not yet fully integrated in the local community;

5.

a few upper middle classes families who manage to buy and renovate apartments or buy them alreadyrenovated at low prices by taking advantage of the declining building heritage. They tolerate the hardship in

the area because of the advantages of living in the centre of the city or because they love the vitality of the

old town.

Obviously, there are also many families with members belonging to at least two of the groups described.

Irrespective of the social group they belong to, the residents in the area lead a style of living characterized by

informal relations and intense economic transactions that keep the characteristic social and functional variety of

this area alive. Although this social model constitutes a territorial resource with its strong identity, vitality,

mutual help and sense of belonging, it has also given rise to a new system of rules of living and coexistence.

Neighbourhood livelihood strategies have controlled behaviour and influenced lifestyle in the Quartieri Spagnoli

for hundreds of years and as a result have fuelled social exclusion dynamics for children, particularly young

1These statistics are recorded directly by the AQS and updated at regular intervals. They are obviously subject to variations in use (Laino,

2002).


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people and women.

Many young children live in a state of abandonment since one or both parents are often in prison or in hiding and

they are frequently left in the care of an older sister or relative. They are often absent from school and learn little.

Training is inadequate or suspended without warning and many employment paths lead young people towards

precarious situations and illegal employment. Young people know that only the "Camorra" (the NeapolitanMafia) can provide them with an income.

Young girls, in particular, learn the facts of life at a very young age with ill-timed sexual experiences and early

childbearing. They are often grandmothers before they reach the age of forty and are excluded from any training

or work programmes.

2.1.2. Main evolutions in the political, institutional and governance context

On a purely administrative level, the Quartieri Spagnoli area lies within an area covering two separate districts

(San Ferdinando, Montecalvario) and their district councils. These institutions do not have part in decision

making and play a mainly advisory role. The City Council is responsible for urban policies.

Until the beginning of the 1970s (when administrative decentralization was introduced in Italy and the Regionswere set up) the few social policies that were implemented by Naples City Council were ineffective and

consisted mainly of financial aid to keep underprivileged members of the population in care or paid directly to

the deprived family units.

Even the Third sector was very weak and almost inexistent in this period. It consisted also entirely of closed

institutions run by the Catholic Church that provided care and assistance (rest homes for the elderly, care homes

for the mentally disturbed and the disabled, boarding schools).

In the mid 1970s, the Italian health reform pressed for services that were no longer confined to hospitals but

linked to the area. The first left-wing city council (under the mayor, Maurizio Valenzi) encouraged more

extensive health and social services aimed at specific categories of underprivileged members of society (women,

drug addicts, the mentally ill, the elderly), supplied at info points and/or advisory centres run by the City Council

(Sportello Donnaand theProgetto Animazione Infanzia). These initiatives were implemented by increasing themunicipal staff (social workers) and linking them with the few voluntary ventures that was starting up in some

problem areas including the Quartieri Spagnoli. In fact, the problems that afflicted this area had attracted the

attention of voluntary movements and organizations who found an ideal situation in which to implement social

initiatives and welfare work.

As a result, at the end of the 1970s in the Quartieri Spagnoli, members of a wide range of state and private

organizations and institutions were involved in providing assistance and tutoring to deprived families. They

include municipal social service workers, the parishes, the more dynamic workers in the five schools attended by

the local student population and members of a few non-profit organizations. However, the flourishing of

innovative social activities came to a standstill when the earthquake struck in November 1980.

Until the mid 1980s, there was no progress in social policies in Naples because of the post-earthquake

emergency situation that hit the areas in the old part of the city. Only since 1985, Naples City Council hasresumed its social policies motivated by funding from national laws and has encouraged the development of

social services in all districts in the city.

The range of intervention tools was extended and initiatives began to combine financial support with

socialization and community activities (laboratories, cinema) with collaboration from private social

organizations. The municipal social services and organizations in the Third sector began a period of close

collaboration. The Third sector had become more active and specialized and was no longer confined to the

Catholic voluntary sector or religious charity organizations but encompassed left-wing associations and

cooperatives of lay origins. The Associazione Quartieri Spagnoli (AQS) is the neighbourhood actor in the

Quartieri Spagnolithat has established the closest links with public institutions in order to promote new social

policies. It played a leading role as main agent in promoting neighbourhood development. Its constant

involvement in planning and trying out intervention models in the area has helped to activate social and

institutional policies and attract considerable human and financial resources for social innovation and inclusionto the area.


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Collaboration between different private and state groups became particularly intense in the Quartieri Spagnoli

because of the willingness for networking shown by the people involved in social work. Here, an innovative

form of partnership between the social operators in the area, a sort of neighbourhood welfare network in which

local actors could discuss local policies, was experimented upon. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Council

established neighbourhood committees (CTI, organizations formally set up with a Mayors decree) that area

social services, advisory centres, schools, parishes and local organizations in the Third sector participated in.These Committees held regular meetings (every 15 days) to try and find solutions to problems in the area. They

began as part of a pilot scheme in 5 areas (Quartieri Spagnoli, Barra, Soccavo, Scampia and Poggioreale) and

have been extended to all the neighbourhoods in the city. They mark a new direction in social policies that aims

at social networking and shifts the focus from the quantity to the quality of intervention.

During the 1990s, there was a radical change in municipal social policies with the election in 1993 of the mayor,

Antonio Bassolino, and the establishment of the Department of Dignity and Respect that was responsible for

social policies until 2000. The new policies were based on granting rights of citizenship to underprivileged

classes and groups with a territorial approach based on partner strategies. Institutional activity developed through

intense relations with organizations in the Third sector and the state training and research sector (Faculty of

Sociology, Relational Sciences, Istituto Suor Orsola).

The Pic Urban project began in the Quartieri Spagnoli in this climate (in 1995). Much of the project wasdedicated to social projects and services and close links with local groups that revolved around the AQS and had

been involved in social activities for some time. The City Council (under the mayor, Bassolino, a strong

advocate of the culture of decorum) integrated the Pic project with some physical intervention with greater

visual impact for the population including new paving, lighting and new bus lines. In short, collaboration

between the AQS and the Naples City Council meant that a significant part of the Pic Urban project was devoted

to social intervention.

In 1996, a willingness to listen and cooperate led to the City Council setting up a Comitato cittadino di lotta

allesclusione sociale (Citizens' committee for the fight against social exclusion) that representatives of state

institutions (Local Health Authorities, Local Education Authorities, the Chamber of Commerce, the Regional

Employment Agency) and private organizations (Industrialists Association, trade unions and associations in the

Third sector) took part in. They offered consultation and guidance in the form of permanent work commissions

(integrated socio-health intervention, social and financial programming, social public-private integration andsocio-educational prevention).

In 1997, a three-year pilot scheme for Childhood and Adolescence began thanks to Act 285/97. This national law

states that the scheme must be the result of consultation with other local institutions and organizations in the

Third sector. Naples City Council had already begun similar pilot schemes through the neighbourhood

committees (CTIs) and was therefore the first to approve the 1997/1999 three-year scheme and identify the Plan

Agreement between the Department of Dignity and Respect, the Department of Education, the Local Health

Authority, the Ufficio scolastico regionale (formerly the Local Education Authority) and the Juvenile Justice

Centre as the means for implementing the scheme. The Scheme and its projects were defined in meetings with

organizations in the private social sector with collaboration from the same experts and consultants used in the Pic

Urban project including one that is closely linked to the AQS. In this way, the Scheme continued trends and

projects that had already been experimented on or were being experimented on in the Urban project.

In 1999, there was an important change in power at the municipal government that led to a change in the style of

government and planning in Naples City Council. Bassolino stood as Governor of the Campania Region and left

the mayors office. Once he was elected, Incostante, the Councillor for Dignity and Respect also left the Council

for the Region.

In 2000, the latest policies conceived in previous years were defined. In January 2000, the Social Planning

Scheme that dictated a series of conditions and regulations for intervention in all the weak social groups was

approved and the second three-year Plan 2000-2003 of Act 285/97 for childhood and adolescence began.

Motivated by Act 229/99, Naples City Council signed a Plan Agreement with the Local Health Authority for

socio-health intervention for weak members or members at risk.

From that moment, a gradual reduction in the municipal governments level of receptivity of local actors was

perceived and the innovative content of the dynamics of interaction and participation of the civil society ingovernance was stifled by the re-emergence of a bureaucratic culture and administrative routine.


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In 2001, Naples City Council approved the first three-year area social plan and put Act 328 passed by the

Government in 2000 into effect. It involved structural changes in the way social services were provided. The

three-year social plan for the district became the main programming tool for social policies; its aim was to

identify objectives and priority of intervention, ways of organizing services and resources and ways of

integrating and coordinating the services system and intervention in the area. It involved a great deal of

consultation and the drawing up of a Plan agreement. With a view towards the future, the Plan for Childhood andAdolescence and the Area Social Plan were merged in a single plan agreement.

Despite apparent continuity with policies in the previous decade, the most recent social policies are characterized

by a top-down approach with much attention given to image rather than relationships with the citizens and local

networks. There is no longer the same willingness to listen to the suggestions of local actors and try out

partnerships and co-planning.

This trend can also be seen in institutional evolution and the organizational decisions made for effecting Act

328/00: Naples City Council has set up a central plan office and has divided up the city area into 10 Basic

Territorial Units based on the existing health division in 10 districts2. For each unit the City Council will

activate two bodies that discuss action to be taken: a neighbourhood committee(consisting of the president of the

municipal district, municipal social assistants, representatives of the social services and health offices and

representatives of the district schools) that supports central planning and is responsible for assessment andmonitoring; a Third Sector territorial councilthat includes all the persons in charge of organizations operating in

this field in the area.

This organizational set-up that relegates local actors to an institution with a purely advisory role, indicates the

intention to leave all authority and power to make decisions to its traditional and natural political and

administrative place (department or service) to avoid discussion and conflict with local actors (Lepore,

2002a).

2.2. Associazione Quartieri Spagnoli: from group of volunteers to neighbourhood developmentagency

2.2.1 Cultural and ideological origins

AQS is based on a project that was spontaneously launched towards the end of the 1970s by a group of people

who were determined to find new forms of civic commitment that were different from the traditional

involvement in political parties and groups. The approach was predominantly inspired by the philanthropic

solidarity of critical and dissenting Christian movements established between the 1950s and 1960s. The

promoters, a group of friends consisting of students, clerical workers, teachers, were linked to the religious

communities who based their work on Charles de Foucaulds experiences. At the end of the 1970s, they decided

to live and work in the area in close contact with needy or vulnerable groups of inhabitants who risked social

exclusion or were already in a deprived position.

On a social philosophical level, similarities can also be found with the Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa

(MCE) inspired by the Popular Pedagogy of Clestin and Elise Freinet, whereas on an organizational level, its

work is similar to that of militant neighbourhood groups belonging to Left-wing parties that were establishingthemselves in the suburbs or run-down areas in the same period.

In the beginning, the promoters did not focus on doing something for the local residents but on being with

them and creating a place where they could be together, drink coffee and exchange stories and survival

strategies. They describe themselves as a group of dissenting Catholics enrooted in an area of hardship and

poverty that represents a privileged place for developing a horizon of sense. They chose civic commitment

because they were unable to identify with traditional political commitment with its parliamentary and extra

parliamentary parties, codes and protocols.

The style of intervention and methods have been dictated by this cultural and ideological inspiration from the

very beginning: a low threshold work made possible by the territorial embeddedness, skill and constant

commitment of the people dedicated to the mission. Activities were channelled towards offering inhabitants, and

2The Spanish quarter area does not fall into one unit because the two districts of San Ferdinando and Montecalvario belong to two different

units.


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especially young people, the opportunity to gain the rights of citizenship that had not been granted by the state.

To achieve this objective, social bonds had to be developed and the community rebuilt by reformulating the

ways of living, social roles and value frameworks, restoring and redefining the sense of legality and spirit of

solidarity and activating forms of active citizenship and associative local democracy. Its aim was to develop the

citizens ability to pass from a passive state to one of mobilization when confronted with specific activities

(Stanco, Stanco & Laino, 1994). Work involved the creation of social and educational activities and training and

the revival of economic activity and artisan activity in particular.

2.2.2. AQS 1st stage: fertilisation and experimentation (1978-1990)

During its first year of activity, the group was exclusively involved in becoming a part of the residents lives,

listening to their problems and consolidating its knowledge of social exclusion dynamics in the area. It focused

its attention on the difficulties faced by children and young people who had abandoned compulsory education or

interrupted their studies early and spent most of their time in the streets. It then became involved in the problem

of hidden work that is widespread throughout the small factories in the area, and low employability of young

people due to poor training and lack of qualifications. Over the past years, a tightly-knit web of personal

relations has been formed and the headquarters of the voluntary group (a small "basso", a single-room ground

dwelling leading directly onto the street) has become a well known meeting place for families in the area.

Initially, activities were mainly self-financed. The promoters worked free of charge and also had to coveroverheads. They sometimes benefited from small external contributions from several different sources including,

above all, private supporters. However, the most important mobilized resource consists of the close web of

relations with the external world, an extensive informal network that has grown over the years and involves the

University and research institutes with similar experiences that other individuals belonging to the same religious

movement have begun in other parts of Naples, Italy and worldwide. At the same time, the AQSs projects did

not have any competitors and the main obstacle it faced was the cultural, professional and political inertia of the

government institutions who were willing to listen but achieved little on a practical level.

The Association was formally established in 1986 when the informal group of friends decided to provide a

formal legal structure for the voluntary service. The work that was based on the euphoric yet relaxed spontaneity

of the early period was gradually being transformed into activities, ideas and projects that required a more solid

organization.

Despite the formal transformation, the partners continued to work free of charge although the Association's

activities began to receive financial support from the State and Naples City Council. It then acquired use of

municipal premises that became the base for the AQSs first social economy project. A multi-purpose youth

centre called Via Nova became a social centre where educational and socialization projects and pre-learning

activities for children and young people in the area (playschools, scholastic support, creativity labs, photography,

music, pottery, sports activities) were organized. At the same time, a project on the emersion of hidden

employment went ahead with cooperation from young workers and local artisans. The Parco del Lavoro was

conceived as a complex project involving the training and insertion of young people in local businesses and for

the first time in Naples courses for Street Teachers were proposed.

All the initiatives undertaken up to this point and the ideas and innovative projects developed in this period were

the result of painstaking and determined networking by the partners. Its aim was to strengthen relations and

cooperation with organizations and institutions worldwide and also to create a real development coalition withthe other local associations. The AQS therefore played a major role in the intense regeneration and development

of the area that led to substantial new resources being mobilized in the years that followed.

2.2.2. AQS 2nd stage: transformation into neighbourhood development agency (1991-1999)

In 1991 the AQS began a period of major development and underwent progressive institutionalization in which it

took on the more permanent role of an agency promoting neighbourhood development and playing an active part

in outlining social policies in the Municipality. Changes in social and institutional relations and changes in the

AQSs role as development agency have already been described in 2.2 on the development of social policies in

Naples. During the 1990s, extensive collaboration and interaction between social mobilization and the city

government prevailed in the citys political arena and was assisted by the arrival of competent administrators on

the scene who were particularly sensitive to social integration. Civil society expressed stronger pressure from

below and the AQS played an active role along with other associations and groups embedded in the municipalterritory and proposed projects that, after experimentation at a neighbourhood scale, stimulated innovative


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municipal social policies3.

Until then, the AQS had based its activity on a strong territorial embeddedness and a firm commitment to

listening and speaking to the population in the area. It now began to develop a special ability to link people,

experiences and resources at different spatial scales. The Association became a member of the CNCA

(Coordinamento Nazionale delle Comunit di Accoglienza). It also came into contact with European

organizations such as the Ufjt, (Union Nationale des Foyers et Services pour Jeunes Travailleurs), specializedprevention groups and the European network of the Rgies de Quartier. Its participation in European networks

promoted intense exchanges between organizers, teachers and social workers and the area and its social

workshop were publicized on an international level.

Through these channels and the people it came into contact with, it became aware of the new opportunities that

national and European policies offered for innovative projects.

The fact that one of its founder members who has embarked on a university career, worked from 1995 to 1999 as

a consultant for the Municipalitys social policies managed by the Department of Dignity and Respect has meant

that the strategies and style of the AQS have had a significant effect on neighbourhood and urban planning and

actions (Pic Urban, Municipal Plan for Children, Minimum Income Category). Due to these dynamics and

changed social relations in this period, the Pic Urban project is particularly attentive to the social dimension of

public space rather than only physical requalification. In line with the philosophy and methods of interventiondeveloped by the AQS, the Pic Urban project in Naples has done much more than other projects to promote

small scale economic activity and has conceived training, co-financed by European Social Funding, as socio-

educational services that are basically stable, receptive to the area and based on involvement of the local

population.

The projects funded as part of the Pic Urban scheme and other numerous initiatives related to protection,

prevention and social inclusion for which the AQS has received national and European (Integra, Povert,

Horizon, Now) funding are conceptualized as modules in a single integrated project called C.Ri.S.I. (Cantiere

per la Riqualificazione Sociale Integrata), featuring a first example of what were known as cantieri sociali

(social yards) in other contexts. This involves a series of interventions that established innovative social figures

and tools such as street teachers, mothers crches, social points, job centres, foster care tutors, training

programmes for job socialization and services for the employability of young people. Some of these projects

were then adopted as models in other areas and cities and have been considered first-class projects by thenational training authority, ISFOL (Istituto per gli Studi sulla FOrmazione ed il Lavoro).

At this stage, the Association's budget had improved significantly. It organized many well-structured activities

and developed strong roots in the community where it earned a trusted reputation as a reliable source of

assistance to people in need. In addition to financial resources, other types of resources contributed to the success

of the AQSs initiatives. They included strong leadership, constant commitment from people who are dedicated

to the mission, many highly skilled development agents working on the project, motivation, relational skills,

creativity, planning skills and listening, mediating, experimenting and negotiating skills. By the end of this stage,

the AQS had become the main agent promoting neighbourhood development in the area and had several ongoing

projects where it could put its considerable experience to use. However, these projects needed to be closely

followed and defended from tough competition.

2.2.4. AQS 3rd stage: assessment and revision (2000-2003)

The year 1999 marked a turning-point and the beginning of a downhill trend for the AQS caused by important

changes in municipal social policy, as described in par. 1.2. In addition to the political climate, the third sector

had also changed considerably4. The social market had changed and the economic interest at stake had

increased. There was now strong competition for projects from other actors in the non-profit sector who were not

as competent and forward-looking but were experts in fund-raising and appeared on the scene to take advantage

of the situation. Social yards no longer featured and were replaced by social market niches where the competitive

companies mission was increasingly geared towards company consolidation rather than community building. As

a result, the Association now had to reconsider its role as a development agency and search for new ways to

3The AQS is at the centre of the local network that formed at the beginning of the 1990s the Quartieri Spagnoli neighbourhood committee

ahead of similar experiences in other districts and subsequent institutionalization (see par.1.2)4With a skilful play on words when referring to the interaction between civil society organizations and public policies, protagonists of the

AQS define the 1990s as a stage in which projects led to policies whereas the current stage is seen as a stage in which policies lead to

projects. (Laino, 2001a).


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pursue its mission.

Since then, the AQS has always complained of local government's loss of strategy in social policy. Despite its

apparent continuity, it does not seem to consider an increase in social capital really important. In the new

administrative scenario, the Pic Urban project will be filed away as a past experience along with the style of

intervention and philosophy that went with it.

As already stated, when the City Council drew up the three-year social Plan that was approved in 2001, it

changed the relations and institutional balances in the bureaucratic structure (among politicians, civil servants,

executives) and delegitimized the unofficial team of experts, consultants and representatives of the associations

that had cooperated with the previous administration.

For the members of local associations, the current social services policy is the result of a traditional approach to

systematic planning in which the activity of listening to the area and its specific nature is grossly underestimated

and in which the indiscriminate institutionalization of the social services that ignores the differences between the

areas risks damaging social innovation rather than promoting it. This opinion is a result of reassessment of the

role of civil society that is currently only assigned an advisory role, if it is involved at all5.

In addition to changes in social relations and policies, the AQS explicitly deplores the reappearance of non-

transparent behaviour, alliances based on opportunism, power games and policies of favouritism in the politicalarena.

As a result, the Association has been facing a strategic, financial and structural crisis for some years involving a

drift of control where attention is focused on finding financial backing for ongoing activities rather than

devising new intervention models. A new source of funding came from the Fondazione Banco Napoli that

decided to support a Children Parking project in 2002. However, compared with previous years, there is a lack

of project continuity and renewal of financial sources that has led to a sense of precariousness and uncertainty.

Nevertheless, the AQS is continuing the activities consolidated over a period of time and is one of the major

suppliers of social services in the area. Two recent results that are important in socially innovative terms need to

be mentioned.

First, the co-operativePassaggipromoted by the AQS in Sviluppo ItaliasFertilitproject that brings together agroup of social workers who had been collaborating with the AQS for some time. The advancement of the co-

operative Passaggiand its insertion in the AQSs activities is an attempt to revive the initiative. It should

assume responsibility for operational management in the future and leave the AQS the task of regaining its role

as a small but productive and prophetic development agency. The strategy it has adopted involves rediscovering

the sense and aims of the social project with plans for a new training period for its workers.

Secondly, the Associazione Nidi di Mamme (Mothers Crche Association), founded in the wake of an AQS

project conceived in the middle of 1990s by the AQS and "adopted" and funded by the City Council in thePiano

Territoriale per l'Infanzia e l'Adoloscenza (Territorial Plan for Childhood and Adolescence). The mothers

involved in the project have followed a training programme and have helped to set up and organize small crches

in the area by remaining with their children and cooperating with the teachers. The women have shown

considerable interest in the project and have dedicated a great deal of time and effort to the Crches that are

concrete proof of their personal commitment to the project and the trust shown by the Institutions. Theexperience has given them a sense of social freedom and an alternative to welfare dependency (all the mothers

belong to the minimum income category). Their social role and working identity have gained recognition and

allowed them to improve their self esteem and show their potential. Recently, a group of these women decided to

form an association to make the undertaking official, also in light of new funding that the City Council has

allocated to these activities. Other Crches for Mothers have been promoted by the City Council in other areas

using the same model as the Quartieri Spagnoli and funding that has more than doubled compared with 2002 has

been allocated (approximately 600,000 Euros).

These two new organizations are the result of the AQSs experience and demonstrate particularly the second

one that embodies civil society the empowering effects of the AQS's projects more visibly than the hundreds of

cases in which the overall increase in working and socio-political ability has only been experienced at an

individual level.

5The Third Sector Territorial Councils specified in the Area Social Plan have been formally established in "bureaucratic" procedures that did

not involve the associations.


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3. Fostering participation in Scampia: lets make a Piazza

3.1. Neighbourhood profile

3.1.1. Birth and urban development of Scampia

The Scampia district has been labelled a fringe area, a dormitory area, an ex 167 area (referring to the law of

that name) or an agglomeration of council houses, the Veleestate, that indicate how much Neapolitan planning

has influenced its physical and social characteristics.

Until the beginning of the 1960s, Scampia was a rural area (the Scampie were an area of scrubland in open

countryside) on the northern edge of the city. It was chosen as the site for a new council estate to meet the

growing demand for new housing in Naples. The plan for subsidised low cost housing, drawn up to implement

Italian law no. 167/1962, was approved by the Minster of Public Works in 1965 and an important national

architecture competition was held. In 1968, the City Council approved the Veleproject, so-called because the

shape of some of the buildings (lots) resembled sails (in Italian vele). The project consisted of 8 blocks

(reduced to 7 in the final plan) to be built on a rectangular area of 13 hectares providing 945 new homes and

6345 rooms.

The project was part of the new Naples City Master Plan approved by the City Council in 1972. It shared a basic

philosophy that involved the construction of infrastructures, office districts and council housing lots as well as

private estates thus introducing a new way of conceiving fringe areas that was supposed to favour inter-class

socialization (Treanni, 2001). Unfortunately, only the low-cost council housing was completed, i.e. an estate

with a vast road network but no facilities or offices that was poorly connected to the rest of the city. Next to the

council housing, subsidized housing was also built because of the low cost of land, that is to say, private housing

managed by cooperative housing associations who owned their own homes.

During the 1970s, the district began to be populated with people from Naples and its hinterland who had been

assigned council housing. They mostly had single-incomes or were very poor and middle class members of the

cooperative housing associations. However, in 1980, while the City Council was assessing the possibility of

launching a new plan for the recovery and redevelopment of the outskirts of Naples, an earthquake struckNaples, Campania and Basilicata regions. The plan for the fringe areas was therefore transformed into the

Extraordinary Building Plan (Programma straordinario per ledilizia residenziale) whose aim was to recover

existing housing by revalorizing old town centres (casali) but did not necessarily include the building of new

housing (20,000 in the Naples area with 13,000 in Naples itself). In Scampia, the Extraordinary Building Plan

involved completion of facilities that were planned but had never been completed. Much of the council housing

that had just been built and was not yet completed (especially lots L and M) was illegally occupied by families

made homeless by the earthquake and homeless people from other fringe areas and the old part of Naples who

had been living in temporary prefabricated units. The illegal occupation even included areas that were initially

intended as basements thus substantially modifying the social make-up of the area that was affected by the

presence of different types of building (Laino, De Leo, 2002). Housing was at this time occupied by a varied

though small middle class of cooperative housing association members, people who had been assigned council

housing, squatters in unfinished council housing, squatters in areas not suitable for housing (the so-called

basement dwellers) as well as gypsies in a camp that was then moved in the 1990s.

The poor distribution of the lots, the road layout, the large number of buildings that were left uncompleted and

were therefore vandalized and the lack of up-keep of public areas were all characteristics that contributed to

forming an anonymous area that was difficult to use and did not have the necessary components to create a city

effect (Laino, De Leo, 2002), surrounded by large buildings that were used for purposes that were totally

unrelated to the area (barracks, production activities and the prison that was built in the 1990s). After a few

years, symptoms of unrest and decay appeared in the area including petty crime, drug dealings, mass

unemployment and widespread truancy (De Lucia, 1998).

In the 1980s, the story of Scampia, that had in 1987 become the twenty-first municipal district in Naples

(encompassing the bordering districts of Miano, Piscinola and Secondigliano), became the story of its

redevelopment due in part to the establishment of a neighbourhood committee (Comitato di Lotta per le Vele)

consisting of families who lived on the estate and were feeling the effects of the premature urban and social

decay that characterized the area. The Committee asked for the Veleestate, now considered to be beyond repair,


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to be demolished. The City Councils reply came in 1989 when a technical Commission was set up with a

Mayors decree (30/1/1989) to assess whether the buildings were suitable for housing and to define a course of

action aimed at urban recovery. In 1989 Scampia was declared a reclamation area.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Scampia became a national issue and the attention it received, as its inhabitants

protests became louder, is shown by a series of events. First, a decade after the earthquake the district received

visits from two important people: the Pope came in November 1990, followed by the President of the Republic,Francesco Cossiga, the year after. Secondly, at the end of 1991, the Government intervened by promoting a

programme agreement between the Ministry of Urban Areas, the Region, Province and City Council to plan a

strategy for the northern outskirt of Naples and setting up a technical Committee responsible for studying ways

of drawing up the agreement. Thirdly, at the end of 1992, the City Council contacted the University and

commissioned the Faculty of Architecture to draw up a feasibility study for the redevelopment of the Veleestate

and the neighbourhood.

In 1993, discussions began on the solutions offered by the University and several Commissions and Committees.

There were several options including: demolition of the top storeys of the Veleblocks with a reduction in the

number of floors, total demolition of some buildings to make space for new blocks of flats, the recovery of some

buildings for state use or renting to private individuals. However, while the various possibilities were being

assessed, the City Council was hit by the Neapolitan tangentopoli scandal. Several councillors were arrested

and the mayor, Arturo Polese, was forced to resign.

Following the administrative elections in November 1993, Antonio Bassolino became the new mayor of Naples

sustained by a left/centre majority. One of the new municipal governments first moves was to present an urban

plan with which the City Council intended to reassert its right and responsibility to control urban planning in the

city.

In the meantime, the new prison became operative in Scampia. Its location on the edges of the neighbourhood

had been decided several years earlier and became another barrier that limited relations and the possibility of

development in the area alongside other large buildings such as barracks that surrounded the area. Moreover, a

park was opened to the public but proved to be difficult to maintain and was soon vandalized along with other

facilities that were built as part of the Extraordinary Building Plan by gangs of hooligans and thieves searching

for building materials.

In 1994 the District Council of Scampia approved a document that asked the Mayor to bring the Feasibility

Study drafted by the University to the attention of the Municipal Council so that it could spend national funding

available for recovery of the area. After a series of meetings with local companies, trade unions and civil society,

the municipal government instructed its Department of Territorial Planning to draw up a final study and in July

1995, with collaboration from the inhabitants of the Veleestate, approved Resolution no. 240 with which the

Urban Redevelopment Project for the Scampia area was launched. The project involved rehousing the Vele

estate residents substitutive ERP (Public Residential Building) Project, social and economic revival and

refunctionalization of the area through a series of interventions. The Projects main objective was that of

functional integration, i.e. encouraging the establishment of several important urban level facilities to stop the

decline of an area with approximately 50,000 inhabitants that consisted almost entirely of council homes (De

Lucia, 1998). The Project was part of the proposal for amendment of the City Master Plan, already funded by the

Minister of Public Works, and for it a special office had been set up at the City Council. Basically, it involved:

the demolition of some of the Veleblocks (F and G) and rehousing of their inhabitants in 926 new homes to bebuilt in Scampia; the restructuring of one Velablock (H) for use by the Civil Defence and the sale and non-

residential use of other Veleblocks with private investors intervening to establish urban scale tertiary activities

and services to diversify use and presences in the area; the rationalization of road system and transport.

The Project also involved agreements between several institutions, first, the agreement between the Ministry of

the Interior and the City Council to build a Civil Defence Centre on an interregional scale and secondly, the

Memorandum of Understanding drawn up between the City Council, the Region and University Federico II of

Naples to establish university structures in the central part of Scampia, an understanding that today has come to

nothing.

The Urban Redevelopment Project began in 1997 in the same period that the new underground railway station

was opened in the neighbouring district of Piscinola linking Scampia with the rest of the city. At the same time,

several other projects began. Some of these were completed including the urban pilot project co-funded by theEuropean Union to develop Telematic Piazzas, one of which was situated in Scampia and was launched at the


12/25

beginning of 2004. Other projects such as the proposal for an neighbourhood contract were conceived but not

examined and funded by the Minister of Public Works. It was to involve members of the private and third sectors

in the context of a plural mobilization for redevelopment of the central part of Scampia6.

At present, the Urban Redevelopment Plan in Scampia is in progress. It uses public funding from predominantly

national but also regional and municipal sources for a total of almost EUR 108 million. Some work has been

completed: 3 Veleblocks have been demolished, most of the new housing has been completed and inhabitantsare being transferred to new homes, sports facilities have been rebuilt and open spaces allocated and the

Telematic Piazza and National Social Welfare Institute offices have been set up. Other work is in progress

(building stage) including additional housing, green areas and sports facilities. Some projects have been

approved but not contracted out such as the building of a Piazza della Socialit with several functions (cinema,

theatre, housing, banks, business activities) to be conceded to private parties, work on roads, car parks and green

areas and the construction of the Civil Defence Centre. Other projects are nearing completion or are awaiting

approval.

3.1.2. Current social framework

The events and urban planning projects summarized above and the difficulty experienced by successive local

governments in managing such a large and ambitious project in which homes were built while adequate social

service systems and places for socializing capable of strengthening the urban fabric were neglected shave mostcertainly contributed to constructing a complex and problematic social profile albeit one that is currently

undergoing transformation.

Synthesis and comparison of data for Scampia and Naples related to the Census of the population 2001

processed by the Naples City Council and the Istat (Central Statistics Institute) figures for 1991 (see table 1)

highlight some significant points.

Table 1.Main demographic characteristics

1991 2001

NAPLES SCAMPIA NAPLES SCAMPIA

Surface area (hectares) 430 430

Resident population 1,067,365 43,980 1,004,500 41,340

Number of families 312,376 9,741 337,786 10,612

Population density (inhabitants/km2) 9,102 10,397 8,566 9,773

Average family size 3.42 4.51 2.97 3.9

Old age index 62.7 24.3 91.1 53.2

Dependency ratio 45.3 41.8 48.6 45.9

Ratio of males to females 92.8 100.7 91.7 102.1

Percentage of young people (15-29 years) 27.9 33.8 21.8 25.4

Percentage of juveniles (


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Although the above figures are official, according to some they should be considered with caution since they

depict a situation that is better than the real one. According to a survey performed by Censis in 1998, many local

observers think that the official figures for the population in the area has been significantly underestimated and

that the real figures are approximately 80,000 inhabitants because of widespread illegal occupation of housing

and areas illegally used as homes (basements, landings) in Scampia.

In any case, the area shows clear signs of social unrest that convey the idea of a fringe area that has recently beenurbanized, with a predominantly lower-middle class population with serious problems of school attendance,

truancy and abandonment of compulsory education, lack of acculturation (illiteracy is higher than average

figures in Naples), high unemployment particularly among young people (approximately 67%), a lack of work

culture and the predominance of activities connected with a statalist economy (Censis, 1998). Exclusion and

marginality are the basis for illegality, social unrest and violence making Scampia one of the flourishing markets

for Neapolitan criminal entrepreneurial activities with widespread drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal betting.

However, the area must not be considered uniform from a social point of view. An analysis of the social identity

of Scampia highlights the presence of different social groups that is closely correlated to the type of buildings

present (Morlicchio, 2001). Briefly, at least three different social groups can be identified (Laino, De Leo, 2002):

1. the middle class with greater economic stability estimated to be roughly 12% of the areas population who

mostly own their own homes through subsidized housing (cooperative housing associations) on separate

estates, most of whom have little to do with events in the area although a small percentage is involved inactive citizenship;

2.

the lower-middle class of employees estimated to be approximately 30% of inhabitants who live in rented

council housing of medium degradation and who are on the margins of social exclusion and often suffer the

drama of youth unemployment in large often single-income families;

3.

the large marginal working class, drop outs, calculated as roughly 58% of the districts population in rented

council accommodation (or squats) of medium and high degradation with serious problems of shortage of

social and relational capital that often live off illegal work and irregular practices that are also linked to

organized crime.

In other words, the utopian city-garden that was first conceived is now an urban and social archipelago (Laino,

De Leo, 2002) where different classes live in isolation and are in turn isolated from the rest of the city.

The factors that prevented social and cultural cohesion and favoured extensive social fragmentation are complexbut it seems fairly logical to accept that these trends have been aggravated by some of the urban planning

features present (Censis, 1998) including large road networks that separate the housing lots, the architectural

characteristics of the first council houses in particular (the Vele) that divide the urban area into a series of

concrete islands, the lack of collective areas for relaxing such as parks, gardens, piazzas, the shortage of places

for socializing and public institutions and the half-hearted efforts to improve infrastructures and collective

services.

The Urban Redevelopment Project currently under way in Scampia includes projects that may represent a U-turn

and compensate for some of the most obvious shortcoming in functions, objects (piazzas, meeting places),

socializing and integration in daily life. However, it still seems to be characterized by a basically physical

approach in which architectural and urban design are used instead of social planning. Indeed, the last should be

the direction that needs to be taken so that the increasingly pressing social emergencies mentioned above can be

resolved and conflict and social fragmentation in the area do not extend.

The district is not uniform from a social point of view and this is a resource but in some ways it is also a

possible source of conflict and fragmentation if ways of co-operation cannot be found (Andriello, 2001).

3.1.3. Dynamics of civil society

Due to the serious problems facing the neighbourhood and despite its social and economic decay, a number of

committees, associations and organizations that reflect the needs and motivation that drive the local population

towards resolving their problems have always been active in Scampia. The associative fabric has changed

considerably over the years but the individual proposals present certain similarities and are present even today in

an area where the traditions of the Catholic and lay voluntary sectors are well embedded and these actors

contribute to the social and civil development of the neighbourhood in a variety of different ways.

Some of them have been involved for the most part in cultural and social promotion and regeneration of the


14/25

neighbourhood as well as increasing awareness of a number of issues such as the environment, social solidarity,

peace and development of a civic conscience especially among young people. Others (Comitato di Lotta per le

Vele) were set up to defend specific rights of certain categories of citizens; still others, particularly Christian

religious groups (Jesuits, Catholic organizations, Christian communities) are involved in organizing and offering

the resident population a wide range of services and support for needy families and children, in particular.

Schools also play an important role and are a positive force in the area.

All these civil society organisations have shown that they are competent in their field of action (advocacy,

producing services, organizing cultural activities and entertainment, involving residents in social events), but

they have not always been successful in communicating with each other and coordinating their projects and

ventures. The 1990s period was the most productive phase of wide cooperation between the civil forces but at

the beginning of this decade this phase came to an end and the local civil society is at present rather disjointed

with only a few surviving alliances in which a small number of local actors are united by common objectives.

These networks of actors show their intention to contribute to defining the neighbourhood redevelopment

program and fuel discussion with the City government on proposals for urban intervention in the area. However,

with the exception of the Comitato delle Velethat has taken on a leading role even if it does not represent the

interests of the whole neighbourhood, they have put little effort into their relations with the public and have poor

powers of negotiation (Uspel, 2003).

The dynamics of civil society in the last decade demonstrate the increasing fragmentation of the associative

fabric. This is one of the main barriers to the success of the projects undertaken to define the role of the

associations in the redevelopment of Scampia.

In 1993, several more cultured and committed representatives of society in Scampia who had been involved in

social regeneration in the area proposed the Solidariet e Partecipazione civil list that stood for the

administrative elections for the new District Council. Catholics, environmentalists, pacifists and social militants

in the area came together for the first time on the same hierarchical level to support the same values and the same

project, that of promoting urban development with regard to social relations, through direct involvement of

citizens in administrative decisions.7.

The actors involved in this venture formed a solid network of collaboration, sometimes at a personal level but

often through associations and organizations in civil society, to promote several cultural and civil initiatives inthe area by transforming the political activity of the earlier years into active participation in the regeneration of

the neighbourhood, the construction of social capital and the community building.

In the wake of this experience, the Forum of associations was set up in 1994. This was an informal spontaneous

organization with participation from several associations, local health authorities and public social services. Until

1998, it coordinated the initiatives of all the local actors involved in local development and social regeneration of

the area.

In 1997 the Forum actors decided that they needed a base. They took over some school classrooms that were no

longer used and these became the Cittadella delle Associazioni. Although they had political consensus and

support also at central administration level, the project failed because of irresolvable differences within the

Forum that was dismantled the following year. From then on, the associations and groups operating in the area

have not shared common interests and the ability of work together and only a few (including those in thePiazziamocicommittee) have based their work on cooperation.

The spontaneous bottom-up development of innovative organizational models like the Forum and the Cittadella

has been frustrated by the limited ability or willingness of local government to listen to and involve local

inhabitants. Although civil society has not succeeded in creating a strong local partnership, the public

institutions, including a district council that does not seem representative of the neighbourhood, have not

assessed the proposals made by local citizens and have certainly not supported the participation of local actors in

decision-making and influencing plans for development.

It was only at the end of the 1990s, a period in which the municipal government was more widely disposed

towards the participation of civil society in defining urban policy, that the City Council set up a inter-

7 The civil list received support from traditional left-wing parties and obtained two councillors in 1993-1997 and one in 1997-2001. Thealliance with the traditional political forces then fell apart and the list was dissolved. As an association under the same name it existed until

the end of the 1990s without political involvement but an active interest in social problems.


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department pilot committee that was responsible for drawing up a new integrated approach strategy that moved

the redevelopment project away from measures that involved only physical recovery. However, the different

sectors of administration represented on the committee were unable to come to an agreement and in 2002

discussion was centred on the views of the municipal office that was responsible for the Redevelopment Plan in

which predominantly architectural resources were mobilized. The office became the "Servizio Valorizzazione

delle Periferie Urbane" (Revalorization of Urban Fringes Office), obtained full technical and administrative

autonomy and took responsibility for completion of the Plan.

At the beginning of the year 2000, within the scope of its specific responsibilities, the District Council began to

look at the role of the associations and voluntary sector in the neighbourhood and expressed its intention to

create and assume a new role as legitimizer, coordinator and controller of individuals and groups in the third

sector operating in the neighbourhood. It set out standards and organizational models to be used in grass-roots

participation in urban planning. This regulatory process culminated in the establishment of the Council of

Associations (Consulta delle Associazioni).

Although motivated by a just cause (supporting citizen participation in the redevelopment of Scampia), the

process was marked by a decidedly top-down approach. In September 2001, the elected district council

established grass-roots councils and applied the internal regulations of the district council that favoured the

involvement of the local population in the growth and development of the neighbourhood. In the discussions that

followed, several members expressed their worries over clashes and conflicts between the Council ofAssociations and the District Council and others their willingness to create the Council of Associations provided

that it had no political power. The District Council has therefore stated the requirements that the associations

must fulfil to belong to the Council of Associations and has drafted the regulations and statute. Local actors in

the third sector have been consulted in order to draw up a list of associations and their activities and check that

they have the necessary requirements.

Whereas the ventures promoted in the previous decade from within the neighbourhood civil society intended to

give the Forum a base for expressing grass-roots participation (Cittadella), the Council of Associations did not

have a physical base, was created according to rules dictated by the State and was only involved in issues that

had been unilaterally established. On a practical level, the Council of Associations, representing top-down

institutionalization, does not seem to have played an important role in policy administration in the area.

Considering the way that it was set up, it is hardly surprising that several important local agents do not know that

is exists or do not consider it an effective form of grass-roots participation in the area.

3.2. Piazziamoci: a participatory planning proposal for a Piazza for Young People in Scampia

3.2.1. Promoters

Among the neighbourhood actors involved in social requalification and community building projects there is a

group of individuals who have consolidated privileged relationships of collaboration and cohesion based on

similar values and objectives over a period of time. They are citizens living in Scampia in the private

condominiums and the Veleestate, of a higher social and economic status who for some time have tried directly

or through the associations that represent them to intervene or put forward proposals for local development.

In November 2001, these actors worked towards establishing the Piazziamoci network and were later joined byother voluntary associations, the local CGIL trade union branch, schools in the area, sports associations,

condominiums and the local media (the press and on-line periodicals)8.

The La GRU association, one of the projects main promoters, represents the national environmental

association "Legambiente" (1995) in the area. Through the MLAL (Lay Movement for Latin America), the

association is twinned with Jaboatao-Recife in Brazil and is a member of Lilliput, a national network of

associations, groups and citizens who work in the voluntary sector.

The GRIDAS (GRuppo RIsveglio dal Sonno) is an association that has been active in Scampia since 1981. It is

involved in cultural promotion and organizes creativity workshops in order to develop a sense of civic

awareness. It has involved citizens in painting multi-coloured murals in the area, also in that proposed by

8There are no political parties in the Committee and it is basically left-wing. The more politicized Comitato di Lotta dei Residenti nelle Veledid not join the committee. For years, it has been supporting the rights of the families of Scampia and has been involved in relocalization and

the allocation of housing.


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Piazziamoci for the Piazza for Young People, as a way of stating repossession of the area by its direct users with

the slogan: colour the grey walls of the outskirts against sadness, remove the black parts to release freedom.

For over 20 years it has organized the Carnival in Scampia in collaboration with schools and associations

using masks as a form of social criticism.

TheForum Infanziaassociation, of Catholic extraction, began to operate in Scampia in 1996 to defend the rights

of children and young people in need. It organizes publicity campaigns and is also involved in small projects thathelp children (support in schools, nursery schools).

La Scuola di Paceis the neighbourhood branch of a wider movement (Coordinamento Ecumenico per la Pace e

il Disarmo) that was set up in Naples in the spring of 1989 as a protest against plans to extend and move the U.S.

Navy base from Bagnoli to Capodichino.

TheArci Scampia Uispis a football school that has been the only sports facility for young people in the area for

years. Sports activities have always been integrated with social activities and games involving the families of the

young athletes as a means for developing solidarity and participation.

Many of the associations described above are linked more or less formally to the Cassano Community, a

Catholic community that was set up in Scampia in 1968. Since then, it has been embedded in the social and

political fabric of the area and has contributed to developing the civil awareness of the population with its ownprojects, exhibitions and debates on issues of social marginalization, peace and respect for the environment.

The Piazziamoci group benefits from the participation and support of two editorial initiatives: the "Fuga di

notizie", a monthly neighbourhood magazine that was first published roughly 15 years ago by the Jesuit priests

in the area and the on-line periodical www.fuoricentroscampia.itcreated in 2001. Both are an important source

of information for the area, a tool for reporting situations of social unrest in the area it serves and a means of

publicizing important cultural, civil and institutional initiatives. InPiazziamocithese two periodicals report on

the conflict between the institutions and the citizens on the projects for Scampia and contribute towards weaving

new social relations by supporting participation of the resident population and the development of democracy.

All the organizations in the Committee had always operated independently in the area until they decided in

November 2001 to form a special alliance to coordinate their actions.

The University of Naples has an important role in the development of the local network and in particular, a group

of lecturers and researchers who have spent the last twenty years studying the society in Scampia and have

helped the civil society to draft participatory ideas and proposals. This collaboration has meant that recently

Scampia has on many occasions found itself at the centre of debate and involved in institutional and cultural

initiatives and events where the results of numerous sociological and urban studies performed by the University

and other groups (Censis, Ocse) have been presented.

3.2.2. Factors determining start of project

The Department of Urban Planning at the Federico II University in Naples (DUN) has undoubtedly played a

central role since it was involved in the Piazziamoci experience from the very beginning, although its

involvement has never been officially recognized.

At the end of the 1990s, the Naples City Council had financed a sociological study on Scampia with its own

funds and assigned it to a group of researchers from the Department of Urban Planning at Naples University

(consisting of Vincenzo Andriello, Federica Palestino and Daniela Lepore). The research project was centred on

problems of public safety in Scampia and involved intense consultation with the resident population; during

2001 numerous meetings (Focus groups, seminars, public meetings) were held with representatives of the local

civil society. Once it was completed, the study was published but in April 2001 the first results were already

disclosed at a seminar (public debate at the University) on "Regeneration and problems linked to public safety in

the Scampia Area", in which the need to provide the neighbourhood with continually supervised piazzas and

meeting places as a safeguard against criminality and decay was stressed.

This proposal was inspired by theories based on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED

(first developed by Jane Jacobs at the beginning of the 1960s), in which the opportunities for crime to occur are

reduced by employing physical design features that discourage crime but at the same time encourage legitimateuse of the environment. In line with these theories, the group of researches stress two basic concepts: the need


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for natural control of the territory by who lives there (eyes on the street) and the need to guarantee an intense and

continuous presence throughout the day. In conclusion, it clearly emerged from the studies effected that for

presence to be transformed into supervised monitoring, there is a need to develop territorial behaviour, i.e. a

sense of belonging between people and space (Andriello, 2001).

Recolonizing the area would encourage the repossession of areas used by organized crime and illegal activities

by building piazzas where young people can meet in safety. It would satisfy the need for places and areas forliving in, promote human relations and create opportunities for socializing and leisure so that the

neighbourhood gains a positive identity, the society deficit is eliminated and a sense of community and

belonging is re-established.

Based on the university researchers suggestions, the local actors already involved in the informal network of

associations working on social regeneration in the area developed the idea of putting forward a project for a

piazza with these characteristics in order to give meaning and continuity to the work of the University. In

November 2001 they decided to make the network official by setting up a committee of associations, whose

main aim was to create, in a material and social sense, a Piazza for Young People in the area, to be actively

monitored (DUN, 2002).

This project also represented the Committee of Associations response to another piazza project that the

Municipality had already initiated as part of the Urban Redevelopment Plan, called "Piazza della Socialit". This"piazza" was to be built on a different site with different characteristics and no access to other places where

young people already spend their time: schools, sport facilities and meeting places. In the Piazzamoci

Committees opinion, the City Councils project is excessively onerous and far removed from the populations

real needs and social life in the area and it is worried that a piazza will be built that is destined to remain empty.

The neighbourhood has a long history of top-down investment, which has proved to be completely

useless(E. Mostardi,Piazziamoci network, key person).

As far as economic resources are concerned, the promoters would like to stress how inexpensive the project for a

Piazza for Young People is compared with the considerable resources needed for the Urban Redevelopment Plan

and therefore justify the request made to the City Council for the funds needed to furnish the Piazza.

The associative network is trying to impose a new participatory planning model based on understanding thecitizens real needs and using the facilities that already exist in Scampia (especially schools and sports facilities).

They stress two main advantages offered by their project for a Piazza for Young People: first, the limited amount

of construction work required and, secondly, the existence of a full agenda of social activities and events that

they already organize in the area that would guarantee regeneration and development for the piazza.

3.2.3 Action taken

The Committee was not legally established with a deed of partnership but at an informal meeting with a report

that had been signed by all those present at the meeting. The Planning Department at the University of Naples

has offered full technical support by promoting and formulating participatory planning that is open to schools,

associations and inhabitants active in the neighbourhood with an decidedly bottom-up approach.

The promoters of Piazziamoci have been working with great enthusiasm for roughly two and a half years toachieve its objectives. The organization chart of the Committee is informal and straightforward. A coordinator

has been nominated and meetings open to all those who are interested are held weekly although usually only a

small group of associates who are more involved take part. Since the Committee does not have its own premises,

meetings are held at associations with suitable facilities on a rotational basis.

The activities that the Committee have been involved in to date extend in two different directions with two

common objectives: participatory planning and making the piazza animated and lively. The following steps have

been taken in the first direction:

! existing structures and potential areas for building the Piazza for Young People were examined; an area

with schools, sports facilities and other structures where young people spend time (Piazza Telematica)

was identified;

! several meetings and debates were held with institutions (District Council, City Council), experts

(DUN) and local organizations to assess the viability of the project and support for it;! a campaign involving local schools was organized to heighten the populations awareness and


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understanding of the needs and ideas of young people; the schools reacted by actively collaborating and

appealing to the young peoples imagination. Results were publicized at a series of events (end of

2001/2002 school year event with projects, plays and shows on the theme of the piazza), local media

and an on-line periodical;

! all items and material collected was processed by the University and then brought to the attention of the

City Council (June 2002).

The associative network is striving to fulfil the second objective by developing a sense of social awareness that

has always been suppressed in the area and establishing the areas own identity and collective historical memory.

It encourages the inhabitants to express their own needs and creates a movement of opinion and democratic

pressure so that these needs are met. In order to achieve these objectives, innovative tools are used to intensify

social relations in the area.

There are basically two new institutions: the Neighbourhood Diaryand aNetwork Communication System. The

Neighbourhood Diary is drawn up by the Commit

capabilities and community building: two case studies of social innovation in naples

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