RECLAIMING THE PARALLEL CITY

RECLAIMING THE PARALLEL CITY
Academic project

An urban manifesto for reclaiming underground infrastructure in Naples
Reclaiming the Parallel City is a speculative and strategic proposal that explores the potential of Naples' underground infrastructure as a spatial, social, and environmental asset. The project emerges as a response to the latent value of an extensive subterranean network—tunnels, cavities, and forgotten passages—that exists beneath the city's surface, shaped by both its volcanic geology and layered history.

Rather than treating these underground spaces as marginal or obsolete, the project reimagines them as a parallel city: a civic and social infrastructure with the capacity to support new forms of inhabitation, mobility, and gathering. This "second layer" of the city is envisioned as a modular, adaptable framework that not only relieves pressure from congested urban life above but also provides a resilient, climate-conscious refuge below.

Rooted in a manifesto for spatial justice, the project advocates for:

Vertical and horizontal accessibility, through strategically placed entry points and pedestrian shortcuts that link the upper and lower cities.
Enhanced environmental conditions, transforming dark, abandoned tunnels into geothermally regulated, well-ventilated, and naturally lit spaces for use year-round.
Flexible, dismantlable systems that can host public and social activities—creating infrastructure that is both robust and responsive to evolving needs.
This new layer of the city merges forgotten heritage with future resilience. It addresses issues of mobility, shelter, water infrastructure, and social gathering—all while tapping into the rich material and historical memory of Naples.

Ultimately, Reclaiming the Parallel City proposes a radical reinvention of urban infrastructure: one that gives citizens the right and the ability to occupy and reclaim the underground not just as a leftover, but as a vital part of the city’s shared future.