The Heat Island as a Result and Cause of Environmental and Social Degradation: Two Different Settlements in the Town of Afragola of the Metropolitan City of Naples

Abstract

The proposed work is related to the analysis for the redevelopment of some urban areas in the suburbs of Naples, affected by decay and abandonment as a result of illegal urbanization or obsolescence of the settlements. In particular, we will refer to two case studies both belonging the district of Le Salicelle in Afragola, a town of 65,000 inhabitants on the northeastern outskirts of Naples. In a first case, the consequences of the heat island will be analysed, produced by building interventions that are not careful to guarantee the transpiration of the soil and to defend the building from the effects of the sun; these effects are now accentuated by climate change that produces heat waves and droughts in Europe more and more frequently. In a second case, in the same district, the urban settlement is structured by block buildings and linear buildings disposed as a “court” system which includes green areas that actually undergo a deep decay affecting the entire housing condition; the existent green court areas are studied in order to value the possibility to upgrade their performance in terms of climate control and adaptation to the inhabitants needs.