Tuff City

During the 1990s, Naples left-wing administration sought to tackle the city s infamous reputation of being poor, crime-ridden, chaotic and dirty by reclaiming the city s cultural and architectural heritage. This book examines the conflicts surrounding the reimaging and reordering of the city s historic centre through detailed case studies of two piazzas and a centro sociale, focusing on a series of issues that include heritage, decorum, security, pedestrianization, tourism, immigration and new forms of urban protest. This monograph is the first in-depth study of the complex transformations of one of Europe s most fascinating and misunderstood cities. It represents a new critical approach to the questions of public space, citizenship and urban regeneration as well as a broader methodological critique of how we write about contemporary cities.