Consumption and Retail in Urban Spaces: Studies on Italy and Catalonia

The article, based on the scientific results of the last phase of the project “Retail, Consumption, and the City: Practices, Planning and Governance for Urban Inclusion, Resilience and Sustainability”, proposes further reflections on the changing urban landscapes of retail and consumption through studies on Italy and Catalonia. This stage of the research project has been aimed at investigating – through specific in-depth studies (thematic or related to case studies) – aspects not adequately dealt with in the published volumes of the seven research units, or even to take inspiration from themes and cases already dealt with to advance in a reflection that could contribute to build a further piece of a new research agenda on retail, consumption, and the city. By cross-referencing descriptive evidence and theoretical reflections, the article traces the main themes of this special issue, with regard to the evolutionary and, in some cases, analytical trajectories starting as from the different case studies analyzed, all aimed at reflecting on the relationship between consumption, retail and urban spaces in Italy and Catalonia at different scales

CAMBIO URBANO Y ESPACIOS DE CONSUMO EN LAS GEOGRAFÍAS POLÍTICAS DE LA INESTABILIDAD ENTRE EUROPA Y MEDITERRÁNEO

El artículo se focaliza sobre la relación entre cambio urbano y espacios del consumo, enmarcándola dentro del proceso de globalización y, en particular, en el contexto del impacto que este juega en las ciudades, lugares donde las lógicas económicas y políticas y las consecuencias sociales la geopolítica global se concretan. Después de una introducción general, el focus se desplaza sobre las microgeografías que la relación entre ciudad y consumo produce a escala euromediterránea, diversificando el proceso de valorización del espacio urbano implementado en las regiones fuertes de lo desarrollado en el las débiles. Las formas de polarización y la inseguridad socio-espacial, así como el impacto de las políticas de regeneración urbana en la geopolítica local, se analizan con atención a las ciudades del sur de Europa, que no es sólo un área periférica dentro de la UE sino también un frontera dentro de un espacio más amplio que abarca toda el área mediterránea

Film-Induced Tourism, City-Branding and Place-Based Image: the Cityscape of Naples between Authenticity and Conflicts

The paper aims at analysing the connections between film-induced tourism, city-branding and place-based image through the case-study of Naples, particularly deepening the role played by urban policies not only in promoting or sustaining but also in refusing some specific city’s representations. In the first part we will explore this relationship focusing the attention on the changing representations of the city in films and on the changes produced by the urban policies carried out in the phase of so-called Neapolitan Renaissance. The second part will be dedicated to deepen the link between the images of the city conveyed by the media and the touristic sector, emphasizing the role of the official representations and of the Campania Region Film Commission. The third part of the paper will focus on the conflicts involving the urban actors about the existence of a potential link between some negative representations of the periodical crisis of the city (for garbage, organized crime and difficulties in the administrative management) and tourist flows. We will argue that the duplicity of representations proposes in a new way the traditional dual image of the Neapolitan cityscape, inspiring by a different notion of “authenticity”.L’articolo si propone di analizzare le connessioni tra film-induced tourism, city branding e immagine place-based attraverso il caso studio di Napoli, in particolare approfondendo il ruolo assunto dalle politiche urbane non solo nel promuovere e sostenere ma anche nel rifiutare alcune specifiche rappresentazioni della città. Nella prima parte esploreremo questa relazione focalizzando l’attenzione sulle rappresentazioni mutevoli della città nei film e sui cambiamenti prodotti dalle politiche urbane portate avanti nella fase del cosiddetto Rinascimento napoletano. La seconda parte sarà dedicata ad approfondire il legame tra le immagini della città veicolate dai media e il settore turistico, enfatizzando il ruolo delle rappresentazioni ufficiali e della Film Commission Regione Campania. La terza parte si concentrerà sui conflitti che coinvolgono gli attori urbani intorno all'esistenza di un legame tra alcune rappresentazioni negative delle crisi periodiche della città (causate dalla spazzatura, dalla criminalità organizzata e delle difficoltà nella gestione amministrativa) e i flussi turistici. Sosterremo che l’attuale duplicità di rappresentazioni propone in modo nuovo la tradizionale immagine duale del paesaggio urbano napoletano, ispirandosi ad una differente nozione di “autenticità”.

Consumption and Demand for Places: a Reading through the Neapolitan Case

The contribution starts from the historical importance of the commercial function in Naples in structuring the urban space, a function to which it is possible largely to trace the long-lasting relationship between consumption and demand for places, as well as many changes in the urban image. Retail organized the city not only on the main streets but also at the scale of non-minoritarian and widespread micro-spaces in the various neighborhoods, in a Naples that, especially in the twentieth century, was transformed according to macro logic very different from today’s. Today the element that seems to most order the structure of places and the urban landscape is consumption, mixed with living and related activities, walking and cultural functions: elements mediated by local authorities, which in turn must deal with new phenomena. The question arises in territorial terms, as retail and consumption (and their protagonists) claim places and public space. The case study will be that of the metropolitan territory in an extended sense and will be analyzed through four scales chosen as the most exemplary of the change: the upgraded/touristified city-centre; the historical centre in its marginal parts; the metropolitan interstices; the small and medium-sized centers at the metropolitan scale. Demands of products and places that become the expression of a new demand for cities bring out the potential, contradictions and conflicts of a Mediterranean city in transition

PERIPHERIES AND PRACTICES OF CONSUMPTION IN THE NAPLES METROPOLITAN AREA

The article analyzes the impact of the new attractors of shopping and leisure in the suburbs of the Metropolitan Area of Naples. After an introduction on the different features of today’s suburbs, the focus shifts on the transformations in the area to the north of Naples along an important axial highway (the Circumvallazione, officially the SP1). This axial road, as well as the so-called “median axis” (Asse Mediano), are analyzed as retail and consumption spaces. This case study demonstrates the complex reality of a suburb too hastily considered as uniform and anonymous: although in this area there is chaos, decay and forms of illegality, it is also characterized by a relative centrality thanks to new retail and consumption spaces which represent key-places for their users, places where the rhythm of life is slowed down and socialisation is somewhat recovered

Percorsi a Sud. Geografie e attori nelle strategie regionali del Mezzogiorno

Il lavoro si colloca nel quadro dell’interesse di ricerca che la Fondazione Agnelli è andata esprimendo negli anni sul tema della dimensione regionale, non soltanto come afferente al ritaglio geografico delle regioni italiane, ma soprattutto nella sua accezione di spazio di aggregazione di società ed economie territorialmente integrate.- Indice #4- Premessa, Marco Demarie #8- Introduzione, Lida Viganoni- Prima parte Una lettura geografica delle regioni meridionali #22- Fra il Tirreno e lo Ionio: frammenti d’Euromediterraneo, Pasquale Coppola e Lida Viganoni #24- La dorsale adriatica fra integrazione e frammentazione territoriale, Alessandro Gallo, Armando Montanari, Paola Morelli e Franco Salvatori #78- Sicilia, un’insularità complessa, Vincenzo Guarrasi #104- La Sardegna, ovvero la modernizzazione difficile, Francesco Boggio #128- Seconda parte Mezzogiorno testimoniato. Cento interviste al ceto dirigente locale #158- Campania: oltre l’”effetto Napoli”, Pasquale Coppola e Lida Viganoni #160- Basilicata: il “modello” dei piccoli?, Pasquale Coppola e Lida Viganoni #196- Calabria: dallo stallo a Gioia Tauro, Rosario Sommella #230- Abruzzo: tra Mezzogiorno e Italia “di mezzo”, Franco Salvatori #250- Molise: limiti e potenzialità di una “cerniera”, Alessandro Gallo #278- Puglia: proiettati verso l’esterno, Paola Morelli #300- Sicilia: visioni per un progetto, Vincenzo Guarrasi e Angela Alaimo #322- Sardegna: presi nella corrente?, Francesco Boggio #338- Riferimenti bibliografici #36