Participatory Processes Supporting Heritage Communities: Valorizing Identity Elements and Social Spaces in San Giovanni A Teduccio (Naples)

Social regeneration processes, if carried out in a participatory way, can foster the acknowledgment and valorization of local social, cultural, and identity resources by the local community. This is what emerged from the participatory processes implemented in San Giovanni a Teduccio, a neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Naples. Former industrial and marine area, today it characterizes for the presence of disused and run-down industrial establishments making the sea invisible and polluted. This weakened local identity and cultural heritages, on which common plans and goals could have relied. Interviews and focus groups about social identity elements, civic and social engagement in the community, and potential and critical issues identified in the current scenario were carried on with citizens and stakeholders. A split community emerged: a minority was civically and socially engaged for the regeneration of local places and relationships through a fragmented multiplicity of projects; a “dormant” majority seemed passive and anesthetized by the nostalgia of the industrial and marine past. Then, the photovoice was used to let commonalities among participants emerge and represent fertile soil for future joint planning. The collected pictures returned representations of abandoned and run-down urban spaces, but also of places where citizens could meet, share, and identify. An exhibition was organized in the area with the emerged materials, to return results to citizens while providing an opportunity to meet and match. This opens a space for thinking about the need to involve citizens in participatory processes to support the local cultural, social, and identity heritage.