MARGINS IN THE HEART OF THE “UPPER DISTRICTS”?

REALITY AND REPRESENTATIONS OF THE POPULAR ENCLAVE IN NAPLES’ WELL-OFF AREAS

Abstract

Most studies on urban poverty are concentrated on popular districts, but these centres of poverty can be found in the well-off areas as well. The following article focuses on Naples, describing the socio-spatial forms of poverty in the central and rich areas of the city and analyzing their “marginality”. Naples is characterized by the high number of real enclave of poverty, right in the heart of the “well-off districts”, whose presence is rooted in time. The article is based on the analysis of the quantitative data and on a qualitative investigation through the interviews to the residents of the rich districts, aimed at making the question and the representation of marginality emerge. The analysis shows how the marginality of the enclave is historically generated and accepted by the city élite in order to keep their social hegemony, and how it has lately become a matter of stigmatization to support the neo-liberal policies of standardization of some parts of the city.