
Naples has often been defined as a rebel city. A coalition of radical leftist parties and grassroots organizations, deeply involved with the anti-toxic struggles in the region, won the last two municipal elections. Nonetheless, the rebel city seems to stop at the gate of CC, leaving the way to the usual smart city framework in the meager public discourse on this topic. The rebel city and its ramified grassroots organizations remain invisible in the face of the CC challenges, both the present – extreme heat waves and wild fires – and the future – the 290 million dollars of damage due to CC quantified by the Basque Center for Climate Change. OCC! will search the causes of this gap, analyzing the divergence between more structured (mainstream) environmental NGOs as WWF and Legambiente engaged with the CC debates and the grassroots organizations which, while engaged in direct action aganist fossil fuel intese infrastructtures (as for instance the Trans Adriatic Pipeline), seem less receptive towards CC.
Publications
- Berruti, G. and Palestino M. F. (2020) )“Resilienza comunitaria e sviluppo di nuovi immaginari climate-sensitive. Note sulla percezione collettiva del cambiamento climatico in città” in AA.VV. “Atti della XXII Conferenza Nazionale SIU – Società italiana degli Urbanisti. L’Urbanistica Italiana di fronte all’Agenda 2030 | Matera-Bari, 5-6-7 giugno 2019”, Planum Publisher, Roma-Milano. ISBN 978-889-9237-21-9
- Berruti, G., and Palestino M. F. (2021) “Exploring the Governance of Naples, Italy, Through a Climate Responsive Approach”. In Peker, E., Ataöv, A. Governance of Climate Responsive Cities Exploring Cross-scale Dynamics (pp. 43-58). Springer.
- Palestino M. F., Berruti, G. and Quagliano S. (2020) “Climate change as a lever for place-based regeneration policies: The case of Naples, Italy” in AA.VV. Proceedings book of the conference “Production of Climate Responsive Urban Built Environments”. Istanbul, 22-24 May 2019. ISBN: 978-605-2095-96-6. (online available at: )
- Palestino M.F., Amore M.P., Cuntò S., Molinaro W. (2020), “Reinventare le scuole come hub di rigenerazione socio-ecologica. Una ricognizione sulle potenzialità degli spazi aperti degli istituti superiori di Napoli”, in BDC vol. 20, n. 1 2020, pp. 181-196, ISSN elettronico 2284-4732
Articles in Popular Press
- Geremicca F., Interview with Marco Armiero. “Le citta’ per l’ambiente a Napoli sfida svedese con trenta ricercatori,” Corriere del Mezzogiorno, December 12th, 2018.
- Maria Federica Palestino, Simona Quagliano and Elena Vetromile. “Pupils at the forefront: the school-work interchange on climate change between university and high school in Naples,” Undisciplined Environments, July 10th, 2019
List of experiences: TOTAL RESULTS 8
By Giorgia Arillotta
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
In the district of Afragola (Naples), stands the Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli, an asset that was confiscated from the local organized criminals. Since 2017, it has been managed by a network of associations and cooperatives in partnership with local authorities and schools. Spanning 12 hectares, the Masseria is one of the largest confiscated assets in the area. Its grounds feature urban vegetable gardens, educational gardens, a biodiversity museum, beekeeping areas, and a 1,000-square-meter farmer house currently under renovation.
The Masseria is relatively easy to reach: it’s about a 15-minute drive from the center of Afragola and only 8 minutes from the Casoria-Afragola railway station. It can also be reached on foot, though caution is advised as there are no pedestrian crossings along the route. The Masseria offers a green oasis, providing a peaceful refuge in a busy urban setting, with two bustling shopping centers and a major highway nearby.

1- Cultivated vegetable plots on the Masseria (march 2023). Photo by Giorgia Arillotta
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
In 2017, the Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli was assigned, through a public tender, to the Associazione Temporanea di Scopo (ATS) for a period of 10 years. The ATS is led by the Consorzio Terzo Settore with CGIL Napoli, Radio Siani, the Associazione Sott’e’ncoppa, and the social cooperative L’Uomo e il Legno. The ATS that manages the Masseria brings together a network of actors who, through specific initiatives, promote legality and are committed to defending rights while building pathways toward inclusion and sustainability. The Associazione Sott’e’ncoppa promotes critical consumption and fair trade, raising awareness on social and environmental issues. The Giancarlo Siani Social Cooperative, founded in 2012 in Ercolano, manages lands confiscated from organized crime, cultivating typical Vesuvian products, and working to promote legality and fight against the Camorra. The L’Uomo e il Legno Social Cooperative, active since 1995 in Scampia, operates a woodworking workshop focused on the social reintegration of individuals with substance abuse issues, as well as offering employment opportunities for former inmates. The “Terzo Settore” Consortium of Social Cooperatives, founded in 2002, focuses on social innovation, providing support for women, minors, and people with disabilities. The CGIL Naples is a trade union organization dedicated to defending the rights of workers and retirees. Since 2017, the Masseria has been part of Libera – Associazioni, nomi e numeri contro le mafie. Libera is an Italian network of 1,600 organizations committed to fighting organized crime and corruption. One of its first initiatives was a signature campaign in 1995, which collected over one million signatures in support of a proposed law enabling the social reuse of assets confiscated from the mafia. Thanks to this mobilization, the proposal became Law 109/1996, which governs the social reuse of assets confiscated from organized crime in Italy. Over the years, the Masseria’s network has expanded to include other organizations involved in its projects and activities, including local associations, communities, universities, businesses, and schools.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The main beneficiaries of this initiative are the residents of Afragola, particularly young people, as the author noted. By participating in a workshop at a local school, it became clear for the author that many students identify the Masseria as a main space for gatherings. Providing opportunities for young people to meet and socialize, through cultural, musical, and artistic events. In 2023 there was ‘Festival of the Suburbs,’ a free music event dedicated to bands under 35 with workshop activities. Residents of other municipalities in the Naples metropolitan area also benefit from the initiative. For instance, external gardeners have rented plots to cultivate in the masseria, accepting the given guidelines to manage these. The author learned that a 50-square-meter plot of land, carefully tended, can provide enough food for a family of four to be self-sufficient and maintain a healthy, zero-mile diet.
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
The Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli promotes impactful actions focused on both climate change mitigation and adaptation. As a matter of fact, 328 urban gardens, each 50 square meters in size, have been created, through an agricultural requalification of the confiscated land. With 308 of these rented from residents across the Naples metropolitan area. The idea behind these gardens emerged from a participatory design process that actively engaged local citizens. The gardens contribute both to soil regeneration and local biodiversity. More than 2,700 native trees were planted over time supporting biodiversity preservation. These activities enhance the environmental quality of the heavily urbanized area while also creating employment opportunities. The Masseria launched a project for prisoners called “Coltivazioni Motivanti” (“Motivating Cultivations”), providing them with training in agricultural techniques and practical skills for cultivating the gardens.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
Based on in-person exchanges with the actors and past field observation, it is possible to affirm this project aims to promote a collective change by creating solidarity networks between local schools, associations, and citizens. Its main objectives include educating and raising community awareness on the social reuse of confiscated assets and how these assets can become valuable resources for the common wellbeing. The project also aims to tackle climate change by promoting sustainable practices and a circular economy that encourages environmentally responsible behavior. Another key element is to promote civic engagement and collaboration, encouraging citizens to take an active role in the management of shared resources, thus contributing to a more equitable and inclusive society. Through these objectives, the initiative aims to create sustainable social change in which everyone feels part of the change process.
2- Ortholan informs other farmers about what is growing in his garden (July 2024). Photo by Giorgia Arillotta
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli, originally known as Masseria Magliulo, was confiscated from the Camorra Magliulo clan in 1998. Much of the area had been out of control for more than 25 years. The area had been occupied, partly abandoned or set on fire (Martone, 2022). Only in 2017 was it assigned to the ATS network and re-named after a local mafia victim. In Italy, assets confiscated from organised crime face long and complex legal and bureaucratic processes before they can be used for social purposes. In the case studied, part of the property remained in the hands of the former owners until 26 April 2023, when it was finally handed over entirely to the ATS. Today, a large part of the green area has been redeveloped and returned to the community as a gathering space, transforming a symbol of illegality into a concrete example of social redemption. Ongoing projects include the renovation of the farmer house, financed with PON Legality funds, to create a support centre for women victims of violence, with family support services and work reintegration programmes. However, work is proceeding slowly, with those in charge denouncing on social media an ‘endless construction site’ that should have started as early as June 2018. On 8 November 2024, the construction site was completed and, after the inauguration, the author visited the farmhouse. During the visit, the Masseria managers pointed out that the interior spaces of the farmhouse are incomplete and need further work before they can be fully operational. Once completed, the ground floor will be transformed into a culinary workshop and agritourism, designed to enhance local gastronomic traditions. The area will include a foyer, a fully equipped kitchen and a dining room where visitors will be able to taste the products grown in the masseria’s gardens. The upper floor, on the other hand, will be used as a shelter for women victims of violence, providing them with a safe and secure environment.
Which limits does it encounter? Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
An important challenge is vandalism and intimidation by unknown persons, hindering the management of the confiscated property, and contributing to prejudices and stigma towards this reality. In July 2023, some as yet unknown people entered the farm and destroyed some areas intended for displaying produce. In a well-known newspaper, the author read that “all the plants were destroyed. Trampled, cut down and broken” (Di Caterino, 2023). This act of vandalism represents the fifth in a series of similar episodes that have occurred in the past, which the Masseria operators believe to be acts of intimidation by criminal organizations against the activities that take place there. Furthermore, the author points to difficulties in dialogue with institutions, which many Masseria operators see as obstacles in the long and arduous process of renovating the farmer’s house. For example, delays in starting the work have risked the European funding of 1.5 million euros obtained for the project. This funding is intended to transform the house into a shelter for women and children who are victims of violence. The project also includes the construction of training classrooms and a bouvette, spaces designed to encourage the employment of fragile people. Had the funding been lost, all of these initiatives would have been compromised. There are currently ongoing tensions between the Masseria’s operators and the Afragola municipal administration, related to a project to build a roundabout that threatens to damage the Masseria’s gardens. This project further complicates relations and puts future initiatives of the Masseria gardens in serious difficulty. Among the visible critical issues related to the spaces, some people report concerns about the safety of the crosswalks necessary to reach Masseria from downtown Afragola without using a car. It is essential to find alternative solutions that ensure a safe connection between the surrounding area and the Masseria.
3-The educational garden of the Masseria (march, 2023). Photo by Giorgia Arillotta
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The experience of the Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli can be considered a significant case study of social reuse and a model that can be replicated in other areas of the city, particularly on confiscated assets in Afragola or Naples with similar characteristics. The regeneration of this confiscated asset shows how it is possible to transform sites symbolic of illegality into places of social inclusion, education, and sustainable development. The story of Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli highlights the importance of well-coordinated collective action, involving the local community, institutions and associations, in order to give back to the community resources that have been stolen illegally. This type of project not only strengthens the sense of social justice, but also contributes to building a fairer and more sustainable future by promoting activities that enhance the territory. In particular, the ecological initiatives launched at the masseria, aimed at protecting biodiversity and raising awareness of environmental issues, are a fundamental pillar in ensuring sustainable development. Through the use of sustainable practices and the creation of spaces that encourage the active participation of citizens, the Masseria becomes a concrete example of how the regeneration of confiscated assets can become a strategic resource for the territory and an engine of positive change for the entire community.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes? If yes, which?
Yes, this initiative contributes to broader changes. By transforming a property confiscated from organised crime into a place of social reuse, the Masseria contributes to raising public awareness on the management of assets confiscated from organised crime, while providing a reference point for other associations wishing to activate practices of social reuse of confiscated assets. Moreover, through sustainable agriculture projects, biodiversity protection and actions to tackle climate change, the Masseria promotes environmental sustainability that improves the quality of the surrounding area. The case of Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli emphasises that the success of social reuse depends on the ability of the actors involved to build collaborative networks and activate projects in relation to the context, enhancing existing resources and social networks (Berruti, 2021). Through shared care practices, these assets are transformed into symbols of liberation and change, contributing to the regeneration of the territory.
References
Berruti, G. (2021), Urbanismo informal y equipamientos territoriales. La reutilización de los bienes confiscados a las mafias como respuesta a las vulnerabilidades de los territorios, in González García Isabel, Mazza Angelino (a cura di), Territorios segregados y (des)Gobernanza Urbana: Barcelona/Madrid/Nápoles, pp. 63-71
Di Caterino, M. (2023, july 7), Afragola, la masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli devastata per la quinta volta. il Mattino. [online] Available at: https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/area_metropolitana/afragola_masseria_antonio_esposito_ferraioli_ultime_notizie_oggi-7505556.html [Accessed 13 november 2024]
Martone, V. (2022), Terreni confiscati alla criminalità: il riuso sociale come leva di governo del territorio bene comune. In G. Nuvolati (Ed.), Enciclopedia Sociologica dei Luoghi (Vol. 6, pp. 309-327). Ledizioni
Redazione Gazzetta di Napoli, (2024, july 8). Sold out per il Festival delle Periferie ad Afragola. [online] Available at: https://www.gazzettadinapoli.it/eventi/sold-out-per-il-festival-delle-periferie-ad-afragola/ [Accessed 12 november 2024]
Websites
https://www.libera.it/it-schede-4-uso_sociale_dei_beni_confiscati
https://www.facebook.com/masseria.antonioespositoferraioli/?locale=it_IT
By Ludovica Battista
Terranostra Occupata – Verde liberato autogestito, scene from the last meeting that took place in the area between the actors involved (February 2023), photo by the author
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented?
It is located in Via Boccaccio, Casoria, in the northern fringe of Naples, Italy. More precisely, the place is 200 meters from Casoria-Afragola train station. The place was chosen as it was regularly used as an illegal site for waste discharges, and as it looked to the activists particularly exposed to building speculation (Terranostra, 2015).
Who are the promoters? Who are the actors involved? What are their backgrounds?
In the Facebook page, this grassroot initiative is called Terranostra Occupata, which the author translates as “Occupied Ourland”. It is promoted by a group of active citizens, coming from local collectives and associations, and from diverse knowledges and backgrounds. The author recalls having heard during a meeting that the number of activists has been decreasing during the last years, as the place has been closed by the police due to lack of alignment with the municipality. In fact, the closing has led to a change in activities for the collective, now prevented from living the space and therefore active mainly externally in a struggle that lacks of a fixed operational base (as one can read on the Facebook page, the members of the group, and whoever is interested in helping their efforts towards reclaiming the area as a common good, meet now occasionally in different venues around Casoria). The present situation has limited the possibility to engage with a larger public as it occurred when the occupation was still in place.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The inhabitants of Casoria, especially those who live in the outskirts of the town, whose urban structure, according to the site surveys by the author, lacks common open space and green space. Potentially, being situated near the train station, it could be also used by people from towns nearby.
How does this initiative engage with climate?
It is located in a conurbation whose lands have been covered in cement and waste throughout the years. Casoria is located in an area that has been defined as Terra dei Fuochi (“Land of Fires”). The activists want to counter-act the loss of collective agricultural infrastructures and the lack of livable green space. It also provides a refuge from summer heat to many neighbors: during the pandemic it has been one of the few if not the only place where people could find some free open space to inhabit together. This was an argument often repeated during a public assembly in winter 2023, which was convocated by the municipality to share with the activists and university professors the plan for an incoming “Boccaccio Park”. The site of Terranostra has in fact become the object of a design process for an “institutionalized” urban park, which is leading to an intense yet very difficult process of mediation between activists and the municipality. The area was previously a military fuel depot that had stayed closed for decades and deemed as contaminated. Despite the activists’ attempts to reclaim the soil, for instance through Phyto depurating and manually picking old waste, the levels of pollution of the site are eventually one of the reasons why the municipality has decided to close it during the design process.
Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both or other dimensions of climate change?
This initiative tries to integrate strategies to improve the quality of life for the citizens in the changing climate of the area, but its promoters also want to raise awareness on ecological multispecies relationships, soil and subsoil care, and biodiversity. The aim is to foster a change in lifestyles that can contribute to transform Casoria’s urban setting. It is worth mentioning that in this initiative the environmental justice and ecological conscience discourse are never separated from the dimension of the “commons”, central to Terranostra’s initiative.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
One can read on the external wall of Terranostra occupata in Casoria the writing “VERDE LIBERATO AUTOGESTITO” (which can be translated as “self-governed liberated green”). Its main objective is building a space for socialising, defending and enhancing recovery processes for the few green areas of that territory.
Terranostra is contextualized in a broader Neapolitan network of grassroots organizations campaigning for commons for civic and collective use fighting to re-appropriate the collective heritage. Terranostra’s activists say they “would like a park with an agricultural traction, where people can cultivate and eat healthy food together, living in nature and spending convivial moments in the countryside,” even though they “are in the most built- up area in Europe.” Agriculture and zero-kilometer food are basic ingredient of their objectives, they are instrumental to the change they wish for. At the present, the activists and the Municipality are discussing the construction and management of the park. The activists ask to be included as participant observers and to be consulted before any unscheduled intervention on the present vegetation. They also demand the right to directly manage the place through the assembly of the users. The conflict is between the Dichiarazione d’uso civico e collettivo (Declaration of Urban Civic and Collective Use), proposed by the activists, and the municipality’s Patto di collaborazione (Collaboration Pact), which sees the park as a property of the municipality to be entrusted to an individual, or a fixed group of individuals, i.e. an association). This conflict reflects an ongoing fight for a wider recognition of grassroots initiatives without paying the price of losing their original values. The aim is to find a management solution that building upon the heterogeneous and informal composition of activists’ community could offer better and more flexible ways to care for the planned park.
View of the of the fruit orchard planted by the activists (February 2023),
photo by the author
What is the timeline?
The group of active citizens started caring for these five abandoned hectares in the summer of 2015. After years of struggles with the Municipality, in 2021 they were forced out, and now they are at the center of a delicate process of dialogue with the Municipality, as an institutional regeneration project is intended for this area.
Are there already visible effects?
As a person who has been there and talked to them and to their neighbors, the author can say that the activists of Terranostra made the five hectares (38,000 square meters ) a true participatory laboratory for Casoria’s people to know, contact, and care for their land. By giving life to a social garden and organizing many activities, they imagined a productive and biodiverse urban park. Many local people have started to spend a lot of time there, and care for this green area.
Which limits does it encounter?
The relationship between the activists and the Municipality has been problematic especially since their political background is clearly far from institutional politics. This happens in spite of being next to Naples, home to Osservatorio e Rete dei Beni Comuni – observatory and network on “Emerging Common Goods” (De Tullio, 2018), an observatory and network that has succeeded in establishing fruitful institutional synergies during the last ten years. . As previously mentioned, the site of Terranostra is presently the object of a design process for an “institutional” urban park, and therefore closed and inaccessible to the community. This forces Terranostra activists to try to steer the project from afar, in a situation that presents many uncertainties, hoping to be soon entrusted as the caring community of the new park.

Closed access to the area (February 2023), photo by the author
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
The impossibility to access the area is a significant limitation since the community is deeply connected to that place and the possibility to use it. The risk is that the activists’ community might dissolve during the time needed for the construction of the park. In case the area is transformed into an urban park, it loses the agricultural drive that is crucial for the activists’ political project. More in general, the institutionalization of the park will imply the imposition of rules, laws, and management that can drastically change the nature of the experience.
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
It could be replicated in other parts of the town and its hinterland,, which has a huge amount of abandoned lands, often used as illegal dumps, as this one was, and a huge lack of green space for its inhabitants. The history of Terranostra demonstrates that occupations of similar open spaces, can avoid that they become target for urban development and illegal dumping, Those areas can instead be transformed into centers for community sharing of knowledges and for fostering new multispecies relationships, they can become tools to challenge the present condition of urban spaces in a political and ecological perspective.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes?
Yes, it is. Activists and engaged researchers — including the author of this entry — are negotiating with the municipality to introduce a set of regulations that will make possible for this community and for others to be recognized as a community of care for common lands. The result might be that more experiences like Terranostra can be generated producing better socioecological conditions, especially in low-income or hyper densely built contexts.
References
Aa.Vv. 2015. L’appello di Terranostra Occupata: “Aiutateci contro ogni intenzione repressiva delle istituzioni”. [online] Available at: https://www.casoriadue.it/lappello-di-terranostra-occupata- qaiutateci-contro-ogni-intenzione-repressiva-delle-istituzioniq/ [Accessed 14 June 2023].
De Tullio, M.F. 2018. Commons towards New Participatory Institutions. The Neapolitan Experience. In Dockx, N., & Gielen, P. (Eds.), Commonism: A New Aesthetics of the Real.
Iavarone, S. 2022. Un nuovo parco di 30.000 mq nascerà a Casoria a via Boccaccio un Parco finanziato con i PICS della Regione Campania. [online] Available at: http://newsnapolinord.it/un- nuovo-parco-di-30-000-mq-nascera-a-casoria-a-via-boccaccio-un-parco-finanziato-con-i-pics- regione-campania/ [Accessed 13 June 2023]
Khalil, S. 2016. Giovani e agricoltura. Terra dei fuochi? No Terranostra. A Casoria il verde autogestito. [online] Available at: https://www.diregiovani.it/2016/09/01/49721-giovani-e- agricoltura-terra-dei-fuochi-no-terranostra-a-casoria-il-verde-autogestito.dg/ [Accessed 12 June 2023].
Tanzilli, E. TerraNostra, da Casoria una nuova esperienza per vivere la città. [online] Available at: https://www.liberopensiero.eu/12/07/2015/varie/terranostra-da-casoria-una-nuova-esperienza/ [Accessed 12 June 2023].
By Angelina Grelle
Ponticelli is a district in the eastern outskirts of the metropolitan city of Naples. It is a complex neighborhood, mostly born after the ’80 earthquake, with an emergency plan. For this reason, it assumes a complex identity: It is a neighborhood with its historic centre, and its suburb recently built. This space’s conformation brings a different perception of the district between old and new habitants. Moreover, Ponticelli in the past had been a swampland that was reclaimed in the ‘700-‘800. Today in Ponticelli there are frequent floods that cause a lot of damage. Frequent flooding is caused, not only by the orographic conformation of the land but also by the numerous impermeable soils or soils that have lost their quality in terms of drainage due to waste abandonment and frequent fires. Furthermore, the neighborhood is at the mercy of organized crime.
Following the 1980 earthquake, Ponticelli was interested by a massive urban intervention that included the creation of a large park, dedicated to Fratelli de Filippo (De Filippo’s Brothers). It’s 122k square meters between paved area, green areas, playground, and artificial hills. After the construction, this park has been abandoned and vandalized. In 2015, an area inside the park was entrusted by the municipality to a center dedicated to the treatment and support for drug addicted people, part of the local public health office (Lilliput center, ASL Napoli 1) in collaboration with a social cooperative (ERA GESCO). The entrusted area was dedicated to the creation of urban gardens. Slowly the gardens have grown and from a few plots of land came in 2019 to 145 cultivated terraces with a waiting list of 200 people interested to be included in the project. Last year it expanded further, involving another 50 terraces in the central area of De Filippo Park. To take care of the gardens are associations, parishes, schools, but also ordinary citizens, from different social classes. The strength of the gardens of Ponticelli is not only that the project has recovered an abandoned area but also it has created a community in which people support and help each other.
From the environmental point of view, no pesticides are employed in the gardens. Biodiversity is respected by respecting the natural cycle of the seasons. The gardens today represent an example of sustainable environmental, social and economic development. Many initiatives take place in the gardens. Schools and associations often use the gardens as a venue for various events.

Figure 1– Urban gardens plan. Photo by the author.
The urban garden of Ponticelli can be considered an adaptation strategy if we look at the drainage system built in collaboration with the University Federico II of Naples, Department of Architecture. Through a network of canals and cisterns, that system helped to avoid any waste of water. On the other hand, the urban garden responds to the needs of mitigation as it reduces CO2 emissions, lowering the cost of transport by promoting the km0 consumption and reducing waste related to packaging. The urban garden of Ponticelli brings into play actions that address several objectives of the European Agenda such as: ensuring health and well-being, ending hunger, making cities inclusive and sustainable, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, and ensuring peace justice.
Currently, gardens are facing a complicated period. Recently they have been increasingly vandalized: irrigation systems have been tampered with, trees uprooted, tools stolen, and crops ruined. Because of the socio-economic structure of the neighborhood small vandalism events have always occurred in the gardens, but recently these accidents have increased, to the point of requiring the intervention of public forces. The association Sepofà has become the spokesperson for these requests that hopefully will not go unheard. In a fragile neighborhood like Ponticelli, initiatives such as the social garden are often targeted by mafia. Clearly, when the most disadvantaged social classes are marginalized and their neighborhood transformed into a ghetto, they can easily be subjugated by criminal organizations, as they often become the only “presence” on the territory. For this reason, initiatives such as the social garden represent an alternative to show citizens that there are virtuous realities and a different way of life. It emphasizes how sometimes systems of injustice and inequity are not related to legal and “linear” dynamics, but rather, in certain contexts, are perpetrated by social and cultural conditions that arise from deep-seated social discomfort, leading those who most need change to be the first enemies of change. How does this cycle thicken? If it is true that climate change adaptation entails social transformations that contribute to more just and sustainable political, social, and economic systems, it is necessary that institutions support initiatives like communitarian gardens so they can thrive and play a key environmental and social role.

Figure 2- One of the terraces. We can see how well these are cared for and maintained.
Photo by the author.
This system is replicable elsewhere. There are numerous examples of urban gardens around the world that take their cue from the most distinct initiatives, some implemented from below as in the case of Ponticelli, but often also driven by institutional initiatives. Is there any certainty that these always work? No, as we have seen in the case of Ponticelli even when all goes well unexpected things can happen. This does not mean that it should not be an initiative supported and implemented, rather it means that we need more commitment from both institutions and citizens to protect these initiatives.
References
Alessandro Bottone on “Il Mattino”, (18 giugno 2021) ‘Ponticelli altre 50 terrazze nell’orto sociale’https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/citta/ponticelli_altre_cinquanta_terrazze_nell_orto_sociale-6030459.html
Alessandro Bottone on “Il Mattino” (3 febbraio 2022) ‘Orto di Ponticelli, raccolta fondi per riparare ai danni dei vandali’ https://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/cronaca/orto_di_ponticelli_raccolta_fondi_riparare_danni_vandali_napoli-6481010.html
Jenkins, K. “Setting energy justice apart from the crowd: Lessons from environmental and climate justice.” Energy Research & Social Science, 39, 117–121. (2018). doi: 10.1016/j.erss.2017.11.015
Ossigeno Bene Comune (Oxygen: a commons) is a multifaceted program promoted by the Metropolitan City of Naples (including around 100 municipalities and 3 million inhabitants) to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The program has 12 objectives and an almost 15 million budget. Among those objectives, Ossigeno Bene Comune promotes the planting of trees in urban spaces, the greening of public schools, the promotion of measures to reduce CO2 emissions, and of educational programs.
This document introduces the objectives of the upcoming development of Naples over the period 2019-2030. The envisioned urban transformation should allow and entail a factual and inclusive right to the city, meaning a just and equal access to the common pool of resources available in the city of Naples.
This document describes in details the concrete actions targeting and implementing a “urban regeneration” based on a just and sustainable transition.
The main actor and user of this planning strategy is the community and the several communities acting within the urban space, thus it represents a collective project rather than a top-down elaborated plan.
Actions against environmental contamination, pollution and injustice play a major role in this city project and the Municipality calls for fossil-free energy supply, reclamation of landfills and contaminated sites, green areas and urban forests, environmental friendly economic activities, sustainable mobility and access to public housing.
Come viene affrontato il cambiamento climatico: adaptation strategy behind the two documents.
The general vision of the City Urban Plan aims to read urban planning not as a program but as a collective project, which binds the city to the dynamics traversing the urban space, to the implementation of processes that find the primary reference in the community, and as a tool for the construction of the contemporary city. A city that today is continuous urban environment, a heterogeneous space, with a relational scale that goes beyond the municipal boundaries; a fragile ecosystem when compared to the strength of the ongoing climate changes, still a dynamic, attractive, but still unprepared community in regard to new social requests for hospitality and the right to housing. Finally, a space deeply redrawn in its geographies as a result of new landscapes and new natures that silently act in it.
The document is in Italian