Napoli/Naples: Setting the Scene, Challenges and Vision

The workshop brought together a diverse group of participants, including:

• Regional government departments (energy, environment, sustainable development),
• Environmental protection agency,
• Port authority,
• Land reclamation/consortium authorities,
• Marine research institutions,
• Cultural heritage authority,
• Environmental NGOs,
• Civil society maritime organizations, and
• Municipal political leadership.

Key Insights:

• Stakeholders operate across different administrative levels, which can complicate coordination.
• There is strong sectoral expertise, but limited inter-sectoral exchange, hindering holistic solutions.
• Notably, there is low conflict between ecosystem protection and human impact perspectives, providing a positive foundation for collaboration.

Challenges Identified:

• Institutional silos that impede integrated planning,
• A need for structured data sharing to improve decision-making, and
• Some key actors are not yet involved, risking gaps in the process.

Next Steps:

• Map all institutions with coastal and flooding responsibilities to clarify roles,
• Identify overlaps and gaps between departments to streamline efforts,
• Proactively engage missing strategic actors to ensure comprehensive participation, and
• Establish a regular cross-sector working format to foster ongoing collaboration and alignment.

The workshop in Naples produced tangible outputs, including:

• A spatialized mapping of ongoing projects, visualized on a large-scale physical map of the Naples coast, and
• An initial database documenting institutional initiatives, climate-relevant programs, and monitoring tools.

Key Identifications:

• Ecosystem-specific climate impacts, highlighting how different areas are affected, and
• "Obscured problems"—often overlooked issues such as small-scale agriculture, food systems, and homeowner practices—which play a significant role in local vulnerability.

Key Insight:

• Valuable knowledge exists across institutions, but it is fragmented and lacks a unified structure.
• There is a need to formalize and digitize this knowledge into a shared database for easier access and collaboration.
• The interconnections between ecosystem degradation and socio-economic practices require deeper analysis to address root causes effectively.

Knowledge Gaps:

• Integration of monitoring systems to ensure comprehensive data collection,
• A better understanding of small-scale and local behavioral drivers that influence vulnerability, and
• The lack of a cross-sector prioritization framework to guide coordinated action.

Next Steps:

• Digitize the mapped data to create an accessible, interactive resource,
• Develop a structured coding system for initiatives to standardize information and improve analysis,
• Identify cross-sector synergies to maximize the impact of interventions, and
• Analyze hidden drivers of vulnerability, such as informal practices and behavioral patterns, to inform targeted solutions.

During the workshop, priorities were structured into four key categories:

• Mitigation (reducing climate impacts),
• Adaptation (adjusting to climate change),
• Environmental co-benefits (positive ecological outcomes), and
• Socio-economic co-benefits (social and economic advantages).

Emerging Themes:

• Ecosystem protection as a natural flood mitigation strategy,
• Integration of port and coastal infrastructure planning to enhance resilience,
• Addressing local, small-scale practices that contribute to vulnerability, and
• Leveraging monitoring systems to improve data-driven decision-making.

Important Observation:
There was no strong conflict between human priorities (e.g., infrastructure, livelihoods) and ecosystem protection. This alignment presents a valuable opportunity to pursue integrated, nature-based approaches that benefit both people and the environment.

Next Steps:

• Develop a structured "measure catalogue" across the four categories to organize and prioritize actions,
• Identify synergies between environmental and socio-economic benefits to maximize co-benefits,
• Link adaptation measures with infrastructure planning to ensure cohesive, resilient development, and
• Prioritize nature-based and ecosystem-based solutions to address climate risks holistically.

Naples plays a central role within the KNOWING project, with a focus on the coastal flooding system. The city is leveraging co-mapping and a spatial database as foundational tools to build an integrated understanding of:

• Infrastructure vulnerability,
• Ecosystem degradation, and
• Institutional actions and responsibilities.

Methodological Innovation:
Naples is pioneering participatory approaches, including:

• Participatory spatial mapping as an engagement tool to involve stakeholders,
• Cross-sector priority mapping to align diverse interests, and
• Database-based decision support to inform planning and policy.

Next Development Steps:

• Transfer physical mapping into a digital GIS/database for broader accessibility and analysis,
• Code and analyze stakeholder inputs to extract actionable insights, and
• Use the data to design the next KNOWING activities, ensuring they are evidence-based and targeted.

To-Dos:

• Develop a spatial decision-support tool to facilitate data-driven planning,
• Integrate infrastructure, ecosystem, and policy layers into the tool to provide a holistic view,
• Use a pilot coastal area as a demonstrator to test and showcase integrated solutions, and
• Test integrated adaptation scenarios to evaluate their feasibility and effectiveness.

Governance Insights:
The workshop in Naples enhanced mutual understanding across sectors, fostering collaboration and alignment. Participants demonstrated a high level of engagement, and there was low potential for conflict between ecosystem protection and human priorities, creating a positive foundation for integrated action.

Immediate Next Steps:

• Digitize the collected data to make it accessible and actionable,
• Design an analytical structure to organize and interpret the information,
• Follow up bilaterally with participants to maintain momentum, and
• Reach out to key missing stakeholders to ensure comprehensive representation.

Communication Strategy:

• Continue using a participatory format to sustain engagement,
• Strengthen a shared climate vocabulary to improve clarity and collaboration, and
• Use mapping as a neutral discussion tool to facilitate objective, data-driven conversations.

To-Dos:

• Establish follow-up working groups to drive ongoing progress,
• Formalize a coordination structure to streamline decision-making and accountability,
• Translate mapped priorities into a concrete action roadmap, and
• Ensure political anchoring at both municipal and regional levels to secure commitment and resources.

In Naples, the modeling phase within the KNOWING project has been refined to focus on spatial prioritization of interventions, ensuring that efforts are concentrated in areas where they can deliver the greatest impact. This phase also includes risk–benefit mapping, which helps assess the trade-offs and synergies of different actions, as well as a stakeholder-based ranking system to ensure that local priorities and community needs are fully integrated into the planning process.

The strategic contribution of the KNOWING project lies in its ability to translate stakeholder priorities into detailed scenario analysis and integrated coastal system modeling. This approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of potential outcomes, including flood risk reduction, ecosystem recovery potential, energy generation impact, and socio-economic co-benefits. By analyzing these dimensions, the project aims to create solutions that are not only effective but also aligned with broader sustainability and resilience goals.

Looking ahead, the mapped priorities will be used to inform and shape the upcoming Vision Workshop, ensuring that discussions and decisions are grounded in data-driven insights. Additionally, the project will develop demonstrator scenarios that combine coastal adaptation with renewable energy solutions, showcasing how integrated approaches can address multiple challenges simultaneously while delivering tangible benefits for both the environment and the community.

In the KNOWING demonstrator, the central climate focus in Naples revolves around coastal flooding, infrastructure vulnerability, and the energy transition. The discussion has evolved from broad coastal risk assessments to a more action-oriented approach, prioritizing concrete interventions that address immediate and long-term challenges.

The urban system in Naples is marked by its complexity, encompassing:

• A dense coastal urban fabric,
• Critical port infrastructure,
• Fragile marine ecosystems, and
• Residential districts exposed to climate risks.

To tackle these challenges effectively, there is a need to combine climate adaptation—such as flood protection and ecosystem restoration—with climate mitigation efforts, including renewable energy expansion and CO₂ reduction. This integrated approach ensures that solutions are both resilient and sustainable.

A key tension in this transformation is balancing environmental restoration with the economic and developmental pressures on high-value coastal land. Additionally, there is the challenge of integrating renewable energy infrastructure without exacerbating ecological pressures on already stressed ecosystems.

Next Steps (Transferable):

• Define concrete priority interventions within the broader climate risk framework to focus resources and efforts effectively,
• Clarify the interactions between adaptation and mitigation in coastal systems to maximize co-benefits and minimize trade-offs, and
• Identify critical areas where infrastructure, ecosystems, and communities overlap, ensuring that interventions address the needs of all three dimensions holistically.

The workshop in Naples brought together a diverse group of participants, including regional technical offices, port authority representatives, energy sector actors, environmental NGOs, public authorities, and private stakeholders. This broad representation ensured a comprehensive exchange of perspectives and expertise.

Key Dynamics Observed:

• There is strong technical expertise across institutions, providing a solid foundation for informed decision-making.
• Economic interests, particularly those related to port land value, significantly influence the range of adaptation options considered.
• Municipal financial capacity for large-scale greening initiatives is limited, posing a challenge for ambitious climate projects.
• Notably, there is low visible conflict between environmental and energy actors, suggesting a positive starting point for collaboration.

Important Governance Insight:

• Acceptance of climate interventions heavily depends on demonstrating economic and social co-benefits, such as job creation, cost savings, or improved public health.
• Public–private agreements, such as partnerships for energy communities, are seen as essential to mobilize resources and share responsibilities.

Next Steps:

• Align the priorities of the port, regional, and environmental sectors to create a unified approach to coastal resilience.
• Integrate the private sector into adaptation strategies, leveraging their resources and innovation capacity.
• Develop a compelling economic rationale for nature-based interventions, highlighting their long-term value and cost-effectiveness.
• Address funding constraints early to identify alternative financing mechanisms and ensure the feasibility of proposed solutions.

The workshop in Naples built upon a solid foundation of preparatory work, including:

• A detailed coastal risk analysis conducted by PLINIVS,
• Demographic and territorial data to contextualize vulnerabilities,
• A stakeholder-driven ranking of interventions, categorized by high, medium, and low priority, and
• A risk–benefit–co-benefit mapping exercise to assess the potential impacts and advantages of proposed actions.

Key Knowledge Gaps Identified:
Despite the progress, several critical knowledge gaps were highlighted:

• Limited understanding of the long-term effects of urban greening, particularly regarding species selection and maintenance requirements,
• The need for more rigorous climate audits to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of coastal interventions,
• Insufficient integration of climate risks into building codes, leaving infrastructure vulnerable to future climate impacts, and
• Limited monitoring of the performance of renewable energy infrastructure, which is essential for optimizing and scaling up solutions.

Important Shift in Focus:
The workshop marked a significant shift—moving from simply mapping projects to evaluating their feasibility, risks, and co-benefits. This approach ensures that interventions are not only identified but also assessed for their practicality, sustainability, and broader impacts.

Next Steps:

• Develop a structured evaluation framework, such as a risk–benefit matrix, to systematically assess proposed interventions,
• Strengthen climate audit tools for infrastructure projects to ensure they meet resilience and sustainability standards,
• Improve the integration of climate risk considerations into planning regulations to future-proof urban development, and
• Assess the ecological impacts of offshore energy systems to balance renewable energy expansion with environmental protection.

The workshop identified a tiered set of interventions for Naples, categorized by priority level to guide climate action and resource allocation:

High Priority Interventions:

• Integrating CO₂ reduction measures into building codes to ensure new and retrofitted structures contribute to climate mitigation,
• Climate adaptation and mitigation audits for coastal projects to assess resilience and sustainability,
• Living breakwaters as nature-based coastal protection to reduce erosion and enhance biodiversity,
• Installing solar PV on public buildings to accelerate renewable energy adoption, and
• Establishing public–private energy communities to democratize energy access and foster local resilience.

Medium Priority Interventions:

• Environmental restoration of coastal areas to revive ecosystems and buffer climate impacts,
• Expanding solar PV on residential buildings to decentralize energy production,
• Increasing permeable urban areas to improve stormwater management and reduce heat,
• Creating climate shelters in public and school areas to protect vulnerable populations during extreme heat,
• Developing offshore renewables (floating structures) to harness wind and wave energy with minimal ecological disruption, and
• Expanding urban forests to enhance air quality, biodiversity, and cooling.

Lower Priority / Context-Dependent Interventions:

• Offshore fixed renewable structures, which may face higher costs or environmental constraints,
• Dune system restoration, dependent on local ecological conditions,
• Depaving to reduce urban heat and improve water absorption,
• Seagrass (Posidonia) restoration to protect marine biodiversity,
• Coastal cliff stabilization systems for erosion control in vulnerable areas,
• Wetland restoration to enhance flood protection and habitat, and
• Creating green areas in housing districts to improve livability and microclimates.

Key Implementation Insights:

• Urban greening delivers strong social benefits, particularly through shade provision and community well-being,
• Renewable energy expansion is viewed as economically positive, offering long-term savings and energy independence,
• Offshore systems require cost-based design considerations to balance feasibility and ecological impact, and
• Regulatory instruments, such as building codes and audits, are critical leverage points for driving systemic change.

Next Steps:

• Prioritize regulatory and building-code interventions to embed climate resilience into urban development,
• Advance public–private energy communities as a scalable, inclusive solution for renewable energy adoption,
• Test living breakwaters as a pilot nature-based solution for coastal protection, and
• Combine greening initiatives with heat mitigation and social co-benefits to maximize impact and community support.

The workshop in Naples yielded valuable governance insights, highlighting both opportunities and challenges for advancing climate resilience. Participants demonstrated high stakeholder engagement and a constructive dialogue, fostering a collaborative atmosphere. There is strong potential for intersectoral cooperation, as diverse actors—including public authorities, private stakeholders, and NGOs—showed willingness to align their efforts. However, economic feasibility and land-use competition remain sensitive issues, requiring careful negotiation to balance development, conservation, and climate goals.

Key Insights and Challenges

Identified Risks:

• Maintenance costs for green infrastructure, which could strain long-term budgets,
• Limited public budgets, restricting the scale and pace of climate interventions,
• Regulatory complexity, which may slow down implementation or create compliance challenges, and
• Technical constraints, such as radon risks in elevated buildings, necessitating tailored solutions.

Co-Benefits Highlighted:
The proposed interventions offer multiple co-benefits, including:

• Increased energy efficiency, reducing costs and carbon emissions,
• Urban cooling and shade, improving livability and public health,
• Ecosystem restoration, enhancing biodiversity and natural resilience, and
• Strengthened local energy autonomy, fostering community resilience and energy security.

Immediate Next Steps

To build on the workshop’s momentum, the following actions are planned:

• Digitalize and structure workshop results to create an accessible, actionable knowledge base,
• Prepare data for the Vision Workshop to ensure discussions are evidence-based and forward-looking, and
• Develop an integrated adaptation–mitigation roadmap to align short-term actions with long-term climate goals.

To translate insights into action, the following priorities have been identified:

• Formalize a priority roadmap to clarify roles, timelines, and responsibilities,
• Develop funding strategies to secure resources for high-priority interventions,
• Strengthen communication on co-benefits to build public and political support, and
• Build implementation partnerships, particularly public–private collaborations, to leverage additional expertise and resources.

This approach ensures that Naples can move from planning to action, turning climate challenges into opportunities for sustainable, resilient development.

The workshop aimed to define transformative, climate-resilient development pathways for Naples by 2050, with a strong emphasis on improving quality of life for both communities and ecosystems.

The vision is built on three interconnected pillars:

• Climate neutrality,
• Climate adaptation, and
• Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The coastal system remains the central spatial focus, encompassing:

• Ports and logistics areas,
• Coastal urban districts, and
• Marine ecosystems.

Strategic Ambition:
The goal is to deliver interventions that generate simultaneous social, economic, and environmental co-benefits, ensuring that climate actions contribute to holistic, sustainable development.

Key Framing Shift:
Moving beyond the Challenge Phase, the focus has shifted from simply prioritizing individual measures to building a shared, long-term pathway toward 2050.

Next Steps (Transferable):

• Anchor climate action in a quality-of-life narrative to ensure public support and relevance,
• Plan adaptation and mitigation together to create synergistic, integrated solutions,
• Identify coastal zones where multi-benefit interventions can have the greatest impact.

The workshop brought together a diverse group of participants, including regional and municipal authorities, energy and environment agencies, the port authority, marine research institutions, NGOs and private sector actors, as well as experts in health, transport, tourism, and the environment. This broad representation ensured a comprehensive, multi-sector perspective on climate resilience.

Key Dynamics Observed:

• There was strong participation from both public and private sectors, reflecting a shared commitment to climate action.
• Participants widely agreed on the need for integrated approaches to address climate challenges holistically.
• There was a clear recognition that citizen inclusion and effective communication are critical for successful implementation.

Governance Insight:

• Cross-sector synergies are achievable, but they require structured coordination to align efforts and avoid fragmentation.
• The representation of socially vulnerable groups must be strengthened to ensure equitable and inclusive climate strategies.

Next Steps:

• Maintain a balanced mix of public and private stakeholders to sustain collaboration.
• Strengthen mechanisms for citizen representation, ensuring marginalized voices are heard.
• Align sectoral plans under the shared 2050 vision to create a cohesive, unified strategy.
• Use communication and education as enabling tools to build awareness, engagement, and support for climate actions.

The workshop’s analytical foundation was built on a co-creative approach, focusing on four key areas:

• Defining quality of life criteria specific to Naples,
• Aligning local priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
• Reviewing ongoing projects in relation to 2050 climate goals, and
• Identifying gaps and additional interventions needed to bridge current efforts with long-term ambitions.

Through participatory voting, the highest-priority thematic orientations emerged as:

• Clean and affordable energy,
• Protection of ecosystems and ecosystem services,
• Water-related ecosystem protection,
• Inclusion and equity,
• Marine pollution reduction, and
• Sustainable neighborhoods and public spaces.

A key strategic insight was that many relevant projects already exist, but they are not yet systemically connected. To accelerate progress, these initiatives must be linked into a coherent, integrated pathway that aligns with Naples’ 2050 vision.

Next Steps:

• Map how existing projects contribute to the 2050 vision to identify strengths and synergies,
• Identify missing links between energy, coastal, and social policies to create a unified strategy,
• Use the SDGs as a structuring framework for prioritizing actions, and
• Strengthen monitoring of quality-of-life indicators to track progress and ensure interventions deliver tangible benefits for residents.

The workshop outlined a phased, strategic roadmap for Naples to achieve climate resilience and sustainability by 2050, with each decade marked by distinct priorities that build on one another to create a cohesive, transformative pathway.

In the near term (before 2030), the focus is on urban regeneration and laying the groundwork for broader change. This includes redeveloping seafront public spaces to make them more accessible and vibrant, introducing green infrastructure in port areas—such as the transformation of Marinella Park—to blend industrial functionality with ecological benefits, and renovating schools and kindergartens to improve energy efficiency and safety. Additionally, industrial revitalization initiatives will repurpose underused areas, while behavioral change campaigns will engage citizens in adopting sustainable practices, ensuring that the transition is both top-down and community-driven.

By 2030, Naples aims to reach key milestones, such as ensuring accessible beaches and coastal reclamation to restore public access and ecological health, regenerating former industrial coastal areas for sustainable mixed-use development, and establishing Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) eco-districts as models of sustainable urban living. A significant focus will also be on marine ecosystem restoration, particularly in areas like Bagnoli-Coroglio, to revive biodiversity and improve water quality.

From 2030 to 2040, the strategy shifts toward systemic scaling and integration. This phase will emphasize the enhancement of UNESCO heritage sites to preserve cultural and natural assets, the development of green mobility corridors, including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and cycling networks, to reduce emissions and improve urban mobility, and the creation of a multimodal transport hub to enhance connectivity. Renewable energy communities will be expanded to democratize energy access, while solar PV and solar thermal systems will be installed on public facilities to accelerate the transition to clean energy. Climate audits for coastal interventions will ensure resilience, and depaving initiatives will increase infiltration areas to manage stormwater and reduce urban heat.

Around 2040, the focus will turn to nature-based and adaptive solutions. This includes nature-based coastal restoration to protect shorelines, dune system protection to enhance natural flood defenses, the expansion of urban forests to improve air quality and cooling, and the implementation of living breakwaters to combine coastal protection with ecosystem restoration.

In the final phase (2040–2050), Naples will pursue large-scale ecological and energy transformations. This includes deploying offshore renewables, both floating and fixed, to harness marine energy potential, establishing climate shelters in school areas to protect vulnerable populations during extreme weather, restoring Posidonia meadows to revive marine habitats, creating wetlands for flood control and biodiversity enhancement, and expanding public green spaces in housing estates to improve livability and community well-being.

The overarching strategic pattern reveals a thoughtful progression: the early phase (pre-2030) concentrates on urban regeneration and energy transitions, the mid phase (2030–2040) shifts toward systemic coastal adaptation and mobility integration, and the long term (2040–2050) prioritizes large-scale ecosystem restoration and offshore energy deployment.

To move forward, Naples will sequence interventions along this 2030–2040–2050 timeline, ensuring continuity and maximizing impact. The focus will be on prioritizing measures that deliver multiple co-benefits—social, economic, and environmental—while integrating renewable energy communities as early flagship actions to build momentum. Additionally, nature-based coastal solutions will be prepared for scaling after 2040, ensuring that Naples is well-positioned to achieve its long-term resilience and sustainability goals.

The Vision Workshop produced a clear, actionable framework for Naples’ climate-resilient future, delivering four key outputs:

• A structured timeline of interventions, outlining when and how actions should unfold,
• Identified synergies between sectors, highlighting opportunities for integrated solutions,
• Explicit obstacles and constraints, such as financial, regulatory, or technical barriers, and
• SDG-linked priorities, ensuring alignment with global sustainability goals.

Role of KNOWING:
The KNOWING project will play a critical role in translating this pathway into integrated coastal system scenarios. This involves testing interactions between:

• Coastal protection (e.g., flood defenses, nature-based solutions),
• Urban regeneration (e.g., public spaces, eco-districts),
• Renewable energy expansion (e.g., offshore wind, solar integration), and
• Ecosystem restoration (e.g., wetland revival, marine habitat protection).

Expected Analytical Value:
This process will provide three major insights:

• Identifying which bundles of interventions deliver the strongest co-benefits—social, economic, and environmental—so resources can be directed where they have the greatest impact.
• Testing spatial feasibility in constrained coastal areas, where competing land uses (e.g., ports, urban zones, ecosystems) require careful balancing.
• Supporting investment prioritization by providing evidence on which projects offer the highest returns in terms of resilience, sustainability, and community benefits.

Next Steps:
To operationalize this vision, the following actions are prioritized:

• Convert the timeline into model scenarios to simulate different pathways and outcomes,
• Quantify the co-benefits of priority intervention bundles to build a compelling case for funding and implementation,
• Test for spatial conflicts, particularly in port and coastal zones, where infrastructure, ecology, and urban needs often overlap, and
• Support evidence-based sequencing of investments, ensuring that each step builds logically toward the 2050 goals while addressing immediate needs.

The workshop revealed several key barriers to Naples’ climate-resilient transformation:

• Spatial constraints in coastal infrastructure layout, limiting options for expansion or adaptation,
• High bureaucracy and regulatory complexity, slowing down approvals and implementation,
• Socio-economic stress, which reduces citizen engagement and participation in climate initiatives,
• Resistance to behavioral change, making it challenging to adopt new practices or technologies, and
• The need for large-scale infrastructure reorganization, such as port electrification, which requires significant investment and coordination.

Structural Challenges:
Beyond these barriers, deeper systemic issues were identified:

• Waste management and soil remediation demand integrated, cross-sector action to address pollution and land degradation effectively.
• The energy transition in port areas necessitates major system investments, including infrastructure upgrades and new technologies.
• Market and regulatory stability are critical to support decarbonization efforts, ensuring long-term viability for private and public investments.

Positive Signals:
Despite these challenges, the workshop also highlighted encouraging developments:

• Strong stakeholder engagement, with active participation from public, private, and civil society actors,
• Clear recognition of cross-sector synergies, fostering collaboration across traditionally siloed areas, and
• The establishment of a shared pathway to 2050, providing a unified vision for all actors to align their efforts.

Immediate Next Steps:
To build on this momentum, the following actions are prioritized:

• Use the Vision Workshop outputs to guide the KNOWING modeling phase, ensuring scenarios reflect stakeholder priorities,
• Refine priority intervention packages, focusing on those with the highest co-benefits and feasibility, and
• Strengthen stakeholder follow-up to maintain engagement and accountability.

To address barriers and advance the agenda, the focus will be on:

• Developing a governance roadmap for coastal transformation, clarifying roles, timelines, and responsibilities,
• Addressing regulatory bottlenecks early to streamline approvals and reduce delays,
• Building financing strategies for large coastal interventions, such as port electrification or ecosystem restoration, and
• Maintaining the stakeholder coalition through the next project phase to ensure continuity and shared ownership of the process.