Evaluating Socio-spatial Exclusion: Local Spatial Indices of Segregation and Isolation in Naples (Italy)

This research aims at evaluating socio-spatial exclusion, through selected spatial indices of isolation and segregation, within the Municipality of Naples (Italy), where entire communities, living in social housing districts, face critical conditions of social isolation and exclusion from the processes of urban development.The methodological approach investigates the scientific landscape in the fields of policy evaluation, policy analysis and planning, detecting the accepted standards for measuring urban segregation, as well as spatial multi-dimensional indicators and indices, able to tackle complex urban issues, related to social isolation processes, within the urban system. The selection of the global spatial indices of Dissimilarity, Isolation and Exposure, and their application at the local level are tested, using mesh blocks as minimum spatial units. The results identify different clusters within the selected urban territory, expression of the various critical conditions and effect of the many housing policies, during the second half of the last century, that highlight how some policy decision has reinforced segregation dynamics. The research is developed within the framework of the European project HERA Joint Research Programme “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe”, “PuSH: Public Space in European Social Housing”.