Operationalizing the Circular City Model for Naples' City-Port: A Hybrid Development Strategy

The city-port context involves a decisive reality for the economic development of territoriesand nations, capable of significantly influencing the conditions of well-being and quality of life,and of making the Circular City Model (CCM) operational, preserving and enhancing seas andmarine resources in a sustainable way. This can be achieved through the construction of appropriateproduction and consumption models, with attention to relations with the urban and territorialsystem. This paper presents an adaptive decision-making process for Naples (Italy) commercialport's development strategies, aimed at re-establishing a sustainable city-port relationship andmaking Circular Economy (CE) principles operative. The approach has aimed at implementinga CCM by operationalizing European recommendations provided within both the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) framework--specifically focusing on goals 9, 11 and 12--and theMaritime Spatial Planning European Directive 2014/89, to face conflicts about the overlapping areasof the city-port through multidimensional evaluations' principles and tools. In this perspective,a four-step methodological framework has been structured applying a place-based approach withmixed evaluation methods, eliciting soft and hard knowledge domains, which have been expressedand assessed by a core set of Sustainability Indicators (SI), linked to SDGs. The contribution outcomeshave been centred on the assessment of three design alternatives for the East Naples port and thedevelopment of a hybrid regeneration scenario consistent with CE and sustainability principles.The structured decision-making process has allowed us to test how an adaptive approach can expandthe knowledge base underpinning policy design and decisions to achieve better outcomes andcultivate a broad civic and technical engagement, that can enhance the legitimacy and transparencyof policies.