Naples needs to think like a major European city, says mayor

Naples must think like a major European capital to overcome decades of stagnation and ideological roadblocks that have hindered its progress. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi outlined his administration's vision for a "Great Naples" that extends beyond the metropolitan borders, emphasizing the need for a metropolitan-scale approach to services and infrastructure.

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Naples is too small to be self-sufficient, and too many residents in the province enter every day to work and study, not to think in this logic like the major European cities.

"Naples is too small to be self-sufficient," Manfredi stated, highlighting the daily influx of workers and students from the province. The city's strategy includes financing Metro Line 10 to connect with the high-speed rail in Afragola, a move aimed at integrating the wider region. The vision is to create a polycentric city where neighborhoods function as distinct urban poles, each with specific vocations, services, and livability, thereby redistributing value and ensuring opportunities for all citizens.

Specific regeneration projects are underway, such as transforming the "Vele" housing complex and developing the East as an innovation hub, the West for sports and wellness, and the North for accessible housing. Cultural and tourism initiatives are also contributing to this transformation, alongside efforts to improve the coastline's swimmability. These actions collectively aim to "widen" the city, homogenize its development, and reduce long-standing disparities.

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For too many decades, the city has appeared immobile and incapable of seizing social and economic changes, any idea that looked to the future was 'rejected' or hindered by ideological or post-ideological fury.

Manfredi acknowledged that for too long, Naples has been "immobile and incapable of seizing social and economic changes." Past ideas were often "rejected" or obstructed by ideological fervor. The fear of "Mani sulla città" (Hands on the City), a reference to a famous film about corruption in Naples, became a syndrome that stifled innovation and public-private collaboration. The administration's approach over the past four and a half years has been to lay the groundwork for Naples to reclaim its status as a capital city.

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We have laid the foundations for this to happen.