Spontaneous urban areas planning: experimentation between plan and urban design

“Spontaneous” urban areas, i.e. urban areas that have developed in the absence of urban plans or derogating from the actual ones, represent a landscape that characterizes the contemporary urbanization, especially in Campania. Those areas raise issues that are significant for urban development also from a legal point of view, since they are affected by problems with the rule of law. From an urban point of view, they constitute mono-functional areas lacking in public spaces and services that the Public Authority is required to provide. The drafting of the Municipal Master Plan represents an opportunity to identify the distinctive aspects of these areas and to regulate their development. Moreover, the observation of the “in-between city” phenomenon in relation to the planning process allows stressing and reassessing the duality between plan and the urban design. In fact, these spontaneous urban areas are subjected to implementation plans by the regional legislation of Campania. Furthermore, the extension and the conformation of these parts of territory seem suitable for experimenting a new form of interplay between urban plan and urban design. The paper describes the results of a research carried out at the Department of Architecture of University of Naples Federico II about crucial themes of metropolitan urban planning: particularly about possible and efficient interactions between urban plan and urban design. The thesis is evaluated through the study case of planning process for the Municipal Master Plan of Qualiano. This territory shows typical problems, vulnerabilities and necessities of “spontaneous” urban areas. Moreover, the research aims to create a planning model for these areas that also characterize Mediterranean metropolitan areas.