Creativity as a strategy to recover: learning from Scampia

Fifteen years ago a coalition between public and private actors invented a creative formula to promote Naples supporting the regeneration of the historical centre with a mix of marketing strategies and more sophisticated socio-cultural practices based on the rediscovery of civic pride. The formula became known as Neapolitan Renaissance and one of its most important participative instruments was the so-called "adoption of monuments". After a period of urban decay, the formula started working again in 2005. But, this time, it was applied in the northern suburb of Scampia. Despite a few differences between the formula's first and second application, especially regarding the decreasing directive role of public institutions and the progressive extinction of the marketing emphasis, some elements seem to remain quite similar, giving us the possibility to state that a Neapolitan way really exists. It consists on a sort of cure to help an area, especially if marginal and poor, face a crisis by producing, with its inhabitants, local images of togetherness coming from shared visions.