Towards a local comprehensive productive development strategy: a methodological proposal for the Metropolitan City of Naples

Purpose: Identify homogeneous areas for metropolitan cities in order to activate a new governance based on territorial synergistic and symbiotic conditions, thus increasing multidimensional territorial productive processes through spatial planning. Methodology/Approach: The adopted methodology aimed at structuring a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) through three main phases: 1) Selection of criteria and indicators; 2) Statistical implementation procedures; 3) Multicriteria evaluation. Findings: Experimentation of a useful procedure for supporting the elaboration of strategic metropolitan plans oriented to development strategies for achieving a comprehensive territorial productivity. The obtained results can support the selection of territorial opportunities able to integrate complementary local resources and to activate synergies and symbiosis among them, combining tangible and intangible components. Research Limitation/implication: The research is the first step of a more general study that will be improved with the availability of more data, especially with reference to the industrial and economic processes. Originality/Value of paper: Proposal of an approach based on a complete integration between Geographic Information System, Multivariate Analysis and Multi-Criteria Evaluation in order to improve the governance of metropolitan cities.