Urban Spaces and the Levels of the Historic City

In the definition of the interventions in ancient contexts, history and project, archaeology and planning constitute open and intertwined variables, so that none of those components should be excluded, although in practice the conditions for an effective interaction is hard to be determined among those different fields of deepening. That difficulty is not only operative: in recent decades, even on a theoretical level the debate about ancient centers has lost its broadness, articulation and efficacy, often resulting in the resumption of a few and partial aspects, already formerly detailed. A case-by-case theory is now clearly prevailing, and probably that approach could be even positive, if meant as the intention of getting closer and studying a specific urban space. A major problem stands in the fact that – very often – the focus element of discussion and study is not an ancient center – considered in its entirety and meant as the field of definition of even limited and partial actions – but the single intervention, localized in a specific point and rigidly closed within its own borders. In many aspects, the dynamics of urban transformations are actually consistent with this mechanism of action: the modifications are the result of contingent programs, from time to time determining individual interventions with a more or less significant weight, in confined spots of the urban fabric. Thus should not be a surprise if the theme of the ancient centers – and even more the issue of the historical centers – has gradually lost its interest, also because of the futility manifested by planning projects and urban designs on the field. The experience of recent years confirms the inevitability of a condition that tends at tackling each time one single issue at most. In Naples, that situation really seems to constitute the only possible one: it is worth mentioning once again Giuseppe Samonà's article in "Casabella" and his brief but very clear consideration about the "rejection of plans" . A line of reasoning on the Greek-Roman historical center of Naples with the Hippodamian plan, actually requires to point out that the latest related study and project proposal is "The ancient center of Naples" wrote by Roberto Pane in 1971 , which brings us back to that positive climate of debate and controversies about the destinies of the ancient city, which has long been lost.