Smart Tracks. A strategy for sustainable mobility in Naples

The Regional Transport System (RTS) under development in Naples (Italy) is a network that will be obtained constructing an urban subway and integrating it with the existing urban, regional and national transportation lines. Even if the comparison with the London subway (M. Binyon, 2002) sounds a paradox, the new Naples underground appears to be really innovative. The case of the Naples RTS deserves attention for three reasons at least: - the urban context: Naples is a problematic place where public policies face enormous obstacles; it is an European city of great complexity affected by troubles and deficiencies typical of some underdeveloped metropolis; therefore, here any project is hardest to be carried on; - the philosophy of the RTS project: it is based on the construction of a brand new subway but it largely relies on the reuse and upgrade of existing railways; the connection and the integration of the old and the new tracks will shape a network that did not exist before and will enhance the capacity and the efficiency of the regional railway system; - the complementary objective of the project and the way of pursuing it: the construction of the transportation network is taken as an opportunity for improving the quality and safety of places; the stations (either newly built or refurbished) are conceived like poles of urban regeneration and this task is largely committed to contemporary art. The way this project is progressing proves that even a city affected by serious social and economic problems can build a modern transportation system if it is able to find its own way and represents an original approach to urban mobility based on the “smart use” of existing resources. It is definitely a case of sustainable development.