Naples, Italy by Matteo Scaramella
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The case of Naples, Italy by Matteo Scaramella Contact Matteo Scaramella Abaton S.r.l Source: CIA factbook Via del Monte della Farina 19, Roma I-00186 Italia Tel. +39 06 6873104 Fax. +39 06 6896800 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] I. INTRODUCTION: THE CITY A. URBAN CONTEXT The huge physical and demographic expansion of the 14, already 1.09 in 1995, will reach 1.79 in 2020. major Italian cities started to slow down in the early ‘70s. Because of the differing demographic trends1, the three Comparison of the 1971 and 1981 Census data show, major geographic areas in Italy will remain more or less at first in the North and later in the South, a “deglomer- stable in terms of total population, but will show very ative” process, characterized by a drop in the number of different profiles in terms of age distribution: the Southern residents in major cities and the growth of outlying population will age more slowly, so that the aging index districts. will reach 1.2 in 2020, compared to 2.4 in the Centre and Residents in the top 12 Italian cities (see 1.9 in the North. The dependency index should therefore Table 1), which made up 18.1% of the Italian population be much lower in the South, where the working-age in 1981, dropped to 15.6% just 15 years later. This population will still account for 65% of the total. counter-urbanization process also affected immigration: Naples numbers third in Italy by population, with 9102 of the 860,000 immigrants between 1981 and 1996 just inhabitants per km2. It has one of the densest population 23% settled in the major cities. in Europe, despite the trends towards an emptying out As elsewhere in Europe, most of the Italian traditional of the central areas as residents move to outlying “100 cities” can no longer be distinguished from the towns: the Neapolitan hinterland grew by 20% between settlement basin in which they lie and which host all ’61 and ’81 and by 11% in the following decade, while different kinds of activity, even those historically located the population in the central districts fell by 12% in the in cities and still considered “central activities”, even if ‘80s and by a further 6% between 1991 and 1999. their centrality is functional and not spatial. ISTAT, Although only a quarter of the population lives in the based on the most recent census, aggregated the 8104 centre, about half work there, in addition to the roughly municipalities into 784 urban systems of this sort. 180,000 city users who commute from outlying towns. The Italian birth rate has dropped significantly: from a Between 1981 and 1996 the birth rate was much high fertility country, Italy has become the country with higher in Naples than in Northern Italy cities and led to the lowest birth rate in Europe. Since 1993, growth has a positive growth rate, even if it fell from 6.2% to 3.1% been negative, compensated by a positive migratory between 1981 and 1996; net migration was negative, - balance which has guaranteed a tiny overall population 6.4% over the same period. In addition to the counter- increase. Demographic predictions are of a stable popu- urbanization underway, Naples is the least attractive of lation of about 58 million until 2020, with a rapidly aging the major cities and, at least until 1988-89, was still feel- population: the proportion of those over 65 to those under ing the negative effects of the terrible earthquake of the Urban Slums Reports: The case of Naples, Italy 23rd of November 1980. This earthquake killed 53 between 1971 and 1981, although employment rose by people and injured hundreds, and destroyed much 14.7%. The next decade saw Naples lose 36% of its housing stock. After 1988, population movement is no manufacturing industries and 27% of its industrial longer towards the nearby periphery but towards other employment. The only growth sector was construction towns in the province. The population in the area which which, thanks to public works programmes, showed a the Campania Region calls the “Neapolitan 30% increase in registered employees; unregistered Conurbation” grew by 24% over the 15 year period employees counted for many more. The service sector above, compared to 15% in other towns in the province. offered more jobs throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s and The higher birth rates seen in some Northern and stabilized in the ‘90s, but the growth is “is concentrated Eastern peripheric quarters, Pianura and Soccavo, and in less advanced services, i.e. retail commerce and some central quarters (Montecalvario, Stella, Mercato, traditional professional occupations, and in the public Pendino), where the birth rate is double the city aver- administration, providing evidence of the difficulties that age, seem to be due to a higher fertility rate rather than the city has experienced in making the transition toward to the demographic structure of the population. a service economy”.3 One cannot but notice how unem- Throughout the ‘70s, Naples was able to keep a ployment rose sharply between 1993 and 1995, when strong industrial presence, thanks to the presence of the State decided to end its policy of special intervention, numerous heavy industries, most of them public closing the legendary Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, once (Italsider, Aeritalia, Alfaromeo-Alfasud, etc.) and a large again demonstrating how the Southern economy devel- number of SME’s from many sectors. Naples has been oped overdependent on public funds. rapidly deindustrializing over the past 15 years, and the Work opportunities are available above all in the infor- growth in the service sector has not been sufficient to mal sector, if not unregistered or even illegal, yet the compensate for job losses. SME’s have also not devel- breadth of the informal sector shouldn’t be taken as oped much further, probably because of the lack of proof that unemployment is overestimated: “informal adequate infrastructure or services, the presence of an work in Naples is not of the same kind as that found in increasingly bold and aggressive organized crime - a the Northeast of Italy. It is unskilled, precarious and problem which grew enormously following the public poorly paid. Informal manufacturing activities have trans- works contracts awarded after the earthquake - and formed themselves from traditional crafts – what used to because of competition of the informal sector. be an urban subsistence economy – to a sweatshop Key to understanding the deindustrialization process is system of production, which is not direct towards the fact that “the Neapolitan industrial system was partic- medium-to-high or innovative sectors of the market, but ularly affected by European Union to reduce iron and to residual ones, such as the market for unauthorised steel production in Europe and its policies protecting fair imitations (knock-offs) or second quality goods. In this competition and thus limiting State aid to industries”2. context, work in the informal economy does not provide Already the number of businesses fell by 11% a substitute for a formal job.”4 Table 1: Socio urbanistic indicators for Italian cities with more than 250,000 inhabitants (1991) School Density Inhabitant/ m2 per Average Dependency Activity Unemploy- City Residents attendance (inhab/km2) dwelling inhabitant family size Index rate ment rate rate* Rome 2,775,250 1,825 2.7 32.3 2.7 36.6 97.6 43.7 8.9 Milan 1,369,231 7,541 2.4 34.0 2.3 38.2 98.6 44.7 9.5 Naples 1,067,365 9,102 3.4 24.0 3.4 41.8 95.9 39.3 42.7 Turin 962,507 7,394 2.4 32.0 2.3 37.6 98.4 44.7 14.1 Palermo 698,556 4,397 3.2 29.3 3.2 44.7 97.3 37.6 34.8 Genoa 678,771 2,823 2.5 32.6 2.4 44.0 98. 39.9 14.6 Bologna 404,378 2,873 2.4 35.0 2.3 44.9 99.5 45.4 6.5 Florence 403,291 3,938 2.5 35.1 2.4 45.0 98.3 45.5 10.1 Bari 342,309 2,946 3.2 27.8 3.1 38.9 97.9 39. 25.1 Catania 333,075 1,841 3.1 28.7 3.0 46.4 95.5 37.3 33.5 Venice 309,422 676 2.7 32.9 2.6 38.6 98.9 41.842.6 12.1 Verona 255,824 1,285 2.6 35.6 2.5 40.6 99.0 42.6 7.9 Source: Istat, Grandi Comuni, 1994. Our elaboration. * Compulsory schooling (age 6 - 13) 2 UNDERSTANDING SLUMS: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 Living conditions are poor. The data from Table 1 kinds of subdivision, but most socio-urbanistic research clearly show how Naples has the most inhabitants per is done on the basis of the districts, or on areas which dwelling, the least living space per inhabitant, and the do not fit into either classification (e.g., the Spanish largest number of family members. The unemployment Quarters and Sanità). This paper provides data on rate is very high and is more than 10% higher than districts, since these better correspond to the slums Catania, the second worst city in terms of unemploy- identified. It should be noted that the Naples municipal ment. Unemployment is the highest in Italy: for those registers differ sharply from the census findings; until between 14 and 29 it reaches 57.3% for males and 1981 these differences were not noteworthy, but in 1991 78% for females, with an overall female unemployment reached a difference of 138,647 residents who were not rate of 50%.