'A new concept against the decay of cities and major works'

"Naples recovers its solidarity and equips itself to solve a problem, involving the various souls of the city: associations, institutions, businesses, the world of culture and art," says Ambrogio Prezioso, president of Est(ra)Moenia and promoter of the Piazza Garibaldi project. The project will also be discussed on 8 November at a conference on 'East Naples, a day-long journey' on the Campus of San Giovanni a Teduccio. One of the participants will be Mark Davy, founder of Futuregcity, an agency created to promote place-making centred on culture. Mark has convinced the private sector to invest in major art projects.

The starting point is to listen to those who live on the square: we have been asked for public toilets, play and sports areas, guided tours. We will start from here.

It seems clear to me: a public work is handed over to the community, but if it is not maintained and managed, it soon deteriorates. This is a problem with many projects in the NRP, which without maintenance and management risk being cathedrals in the desert. On the contrary, with 'La Bella Piazza' we start with management and maintenance. In co-project with the City of Naples.

It is an innovative experiment that perhaps comes close to Expò in Milan, made and conceived already imagining the aftermath. Italian research in the medical field finds space in privately financed venues that through fees and management of leisure and food activities for tens of thousands of people remunerate the capital invested. In addition, we are moving forward with tighter timeframes.

In Italy, a work worth more than 50 million is carried out in at least 20 years. In the meantime, everything changes and there is a risk of making useless interventions. Only public-private partnerships can bring about a turnaround. And the third sector can close the circle.