Trans-disciplinary approach to maritime-urban regeneration in the Italian case study "Friends of Molo San Vincenzo", port of Naples

Urban regeneration in coastal urban areas requires taking into account some specific features, due to the concentration of inhabitants, functions, and activities of the area. In addition to this, we need to consider the maritime identity, which derives from geographic position and community history. This paper addresses the issue of what kind of innovative strategies of urban regeneration are needed in coastal urban areas. Our analysis brings to the fore the need for a wide and across-the-board collaboration among all those people who, despite being heterogeneous, consider the sea as a substantial element in their culture, a common good, and hence a resource. Collaborative strategies of lateral participation represent an innovation, which also promotes, through technological innovation, more effective strategies aimed at bringing out those potentialities concealed in urban spaces. This can be attained through the use of new functions, which meet the needs of the civil society. This paper offers a contribution to the issues raised at the Conference by presenting a regenerating project under way at San Vincenzo Dock, which is the main external defense of Naples’ harbor. Despite its historical, cultural, scenic, and architectonical value, this place lies in a state of neglect and inaccessibility. Our goal is to regenerate a seaside public space in collaboration with Institutions, the local urban community, and pro-sumers. CNR IRISS interdisciplinary research group, together with Community Psychology Lab of the University of Naples Federico II, is a main actor in this process. San Vincenzo Dock represents a chance to develop and test the planning of collaborative methodologies for the regeneration of maritime cities.