Urban safety and public space: the case of Naples

The analysis of city from a perspective of safety is a significant characteristic of urban planning culture in contemporary society. Urban safety is becoming a managerial concept that has rooted itself into how private companies and public local governments operate. Urban landscape is impoverished leading into a defensive shell: the crescent number of gated communities; new forms of privatization of traditional public space such as malls but also airport stations, museums, galleries (quite similar) with shops, police surveillance and cctv systems; large public spaces designed without attention in new developments which rapidly decline are only some examples. Nowadays, a fracture between user and public space is amplifying caused by new feelings of unsafety towards crime, physical degrade, migrant populations and consequently new barriers (mental and physical) are rising in new urban landscape. In the paper we’ll present a methodology applied to analyse contemporary urban landscape giving particular attention to safety and planning design in two experiences from city of Naples.