(re)Activist Architecture
We explored the complex transformations of one of Europe’s most fascinating and misunderstood cities; a critical approach to the competing narratives of civility and citizenship.
The city of imminent doom: ‘A paradise inhabited by devils’
Naples, is a shameful, uncontrollable and uncontrolled metropolis. We have explored the complex transformations of one of Europe’s most fascinating and misunderstood cities; a critical approach to the competing narratives of civility and citizenship. A discourse that frames the city as backward, violent, plebeian, and passionate with an irreparable lack of civicness and a surplus of organised crime.
The city of imminent doom: ‘A paradise inhabited by devils’ Naples represents our period of ecological anxiety, true crime and fake news. An enticing jungle, full of fascination and risk. Always edgy and incessantly creative. Naples always seems to be in an end-times drama because of its feared volcano, Vesuvius and the land under the city is hollow, with houses or roads frequently sinking into the voids.
Its history is one of underdog survivalism in the face of daunting difficulties: earthquakes, cholera, corrupt politicians, poverty and organised crime. Beating the system is an enduring part of Neapolitan self-mythologisation. The presence and trust of the state are so irregular that people have had to find other ways to survive. Naples has one of the largest shadow economies in Western Europe.
Neapolitans have mastered the art of arriangiarsi the art of getting by, in the face of adversity with or without help from the state. Poverty defines the rules of everyday life and is evident in urban centre neighbourhoods dominated by low-income residents. These decaying central pockets of the historic city are in crisis. Political inactivity has failed to address the deterioration of the city and Neapolitans have learnt the hard way to rely on their own resources and creativity to improve not only their own lives, but that of their city.