2026: Special Issue. Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis
Special Issue. Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis

From Silent Ruins to Resilient Cultural Landscapes. Rethinking Heritage, Ecology, and Transformation in the Campi Flegrei case study

Marica Castigliano
DiARC - Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II
Anna Attademo
DiARC - Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II
Maria Simioli
DiARC - Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II

Published 2026-01-29

Keywords

  • urban strategies,
  • multi-risk,
  • natural and built heritage,
  • socio-ecological resilience,
  • community practice

How to Cite

Castigliano, M., Attademo, A., & Simioli, M. (2026). From Silent Ruins to Resilient Cultural Landscapes. Rethinking Heritage, Ecology, and Transformation in the Campi Flegrei case study. Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti, 444–475. https://doi.org/10.36253/contest-16572

Abstract

The paper explores the interplay between cultural landscapes and ecological systems, by adopting resilience as a unifying concept that bridges the preservation of heritage with sustainable and adaptive urban and territorial transformations. This approach has been developed in the research project carried out by DiARC (UNINA) within the PNRR Extended Partnership n.5 – Spoke 1. The focus is on "Campi Flegrei: a highly vulnerable area due to structural factors, given its volcanic nature, and the extractive use of resources where widespread historical assets and archaeological ruins emerge within the settlement fabric, often difficult to access, constantly exposed to risks, and experiencing degradation and abandonment. The research explores the interdependence between ecological-environmental values, history, communities, and ordinary landscapes through mapping activities and photographic campaigns for the activation of heritage communities as a factor of resilience. This allows the study to reveal a place-specific resilience with the aim of developing strategies that shift the role of archaeological ruins within the city - from static objects and barriers to contemporary transformation, to catalysts of resilient change.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Abarquez I, Zubair M (2004) Community-based disaster risk management: field practitioners’ handbook. ADPC, Bangkok
  2. Adger WN (2000) Social and ecological resilience: are they related? Prog Hum Geogr 24(3):347– 364. https://doi.org/10.1191/030913200701540465
  3. Ahern, J. (2011). From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: Sustainability and resilience in the new urban world. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100(4), 341-343
  4. Aimar, F. (2019). Landscape resilience and UNESCO Cultural Landscapes: The relation between resilience and the landscape identity in response to the anthropogenic variation of the systems. In K. Shannon & M. Q. Nguyen (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International European Urbanisms Seminar (pp. 70–75). Leuven University Press. https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2780452
  5. Aimar, F. (2024). The resilience of cultural landscapes: Perspectives from UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Springer Geography. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55861-0
  6. Alberti, M. (2008). Advances in urban ecology: Integrating humans and ecological processes in urban ecosystems. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-75510-6
  7. Aktürk, G., Dastgerdi, A. S. (2021). Cultural landscapes under the threat of climate change: A systematic study of barriers to resilience. Sustainability, 13(17), 9974. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179974
  8. Attademo, A.; Formato, E.; Russo, M. (2022) PPR Piano Paesaggistico Regionale della Campania, Volume 2, I Saperi del paesaggio, Studi, Artem, Napoli.
  9. Antrop, M. (2005). Why landscapes of the past are important for the future. Landscape and Urban Planning, 70(1–2), 21–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2003.10.002
  10. Bandiera G. (2021). Campi Flegrei: natura e cultura. Paesaggio, rischio e vita quotidiana. In Documenti geografici, n.2, pp. 205-218.
  11. Beagan, C., & Dolan, S. (2015). Integrating components of resilient systems into cultural landscape management practices. Change Over Time, 5(2), 180–194
  12. Berger, J. (1972). Ways of seeing. BBC and Penguin Books.
  13. Berkes F, Ross H (2013) Community resilience: towards an integrated approach. Soc Nat Resour 26:5–20
  14. Brand FS, Jax K (2007) Focusing the meaning(s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object. Ecol Soc 12(1):23. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02029-120123
  15. Bulley D. (2013) Producing and governing community (through) resilience. Politics 33:265–275
  16. Chaskin RJ (2008) Resilience, community, and resilient communities: conditioning contexts and collective action. Child Care Pract 14:65–74
  17. Chelleri L, Minucci G, Skrimizea E. (2016) Does community resilience decrease social–ecological vulnerability? Adaptation pathways trade-off in the Bolivian Altiplano. Reg Environ Change 16:2229–2241
  18. Council of Europe. (2000). European Landscape Convention. Florence, 20 October 2000. European Treaty n. 176. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/176.htm
  19. Corner, J. (1999). The agency of mapping: Speculation, critique and invention. In D. Cosgrove (Ed.), Mappings (pp. 213-252). Reaktion Books.
  20. Corner J. (2006). Terra fluxus, in Waldheim C. (ed.), The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Princeton Architectural Press, New York.
  21. Crane TA (2010) Of models and meanings: cultural resilience in social–ecological systems. Ecol Soc 15(4):19. https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art19/.
  22. Crampton, J. W. (2010). Mapping: A critical introduction to cartography and GIS. Wiley-Blackwell.
  23. Crowley, K., Jackson, R., O’Connell, S., Karunarthna, D., Anantasari, E., Retnowati, A., & Niemand, D. (2022). Cultural heritage and risk assessments: Gaps, challenges, and future research directions for the inclusion of heritage within climate change adaptation and disaster management. Climate Resilience and Sustainability, 1(3), e45. https://doi.org/10.1002/cli2.45
  24. Crutzen, P. J., & Stoermer, E. F. (2000). The “Anthropocene”. Global Change Newsletter, (41), 17–18.
  25. Cutter SL, Barnes L, Berry M, Burton C, Evans E, Tate E, Webb J (2008) A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters. Glob Environ Change 18:598–606.
  26. Davoudi S, Shaw K, Haider JL, Quinland A, Peterson G, Wilkinson K, Fünfgeldg H, McEvoy D, Porter L (2012) Resilience: A Bridging Concept or a Dead End? Plann Theory Pract 13:299–333.
  27. Desimini, J., & Waldheim, C. (2016). Cartographic grounds: Projecting the landscape imaginary. Princeton Architectural Press.
  28. Di Liello S. (2022). Esperienza estetica ed esegesi di un paesaggio: i Campi Flegrei. In Cortesi I. (a cura di). Il paesaggio al centro. Realtà e interpretazione. Letteraventidue, Siracusa, pp. 323-331.
  29. Elkins, J. (2011). What photography is. Routledge.
  30. European Commission. (2018). European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage. European Commission http://openarchive.icomos.org/2317/1/NC0319331ENN.en.pdf
  31. European Commission. (2019). The European Green Deal (COM 2019) 640 final). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52019DC0640
  32. Evans P, Schuurman D, Ståhlbröst A, Vervoort K. Living Lab methodology handbook. U4IoT Consortium. Published online (2017).
  33. Fabbricatti, K., Boissenin, L., & Citoni, M. (2020). Heritage community resilience: Towards new approaches for urban resilience and sustainability. City, Territory and Architecture, 7(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-020-00126-7
  34. Folke C, Carpenter S, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockstrom J (2010) Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol Soc 15:4–20.
  35. Folke C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses. Glob Environ Chang 16:253–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.04.002
  36. Folke C (2016) Resilience. Oxford research encyclopedia of environmental science. Oxford University Press, pp 1–63. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.8
  37. Forman, Richard T.T. (1995) Land Mosaics. The Ecology of Landscape and Regions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  38. Forman, Richard T.T. (2008) Urban Regions. Ecology and Planning Beyond the City, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  39. Formato, Attademo (2025), Cantieri, Atti della XXVI Conferenza Nazionale SIU “Nuove eoclogie territoriali. Coabitare mondi che cambiano”, Napoli, 12-14 giugno 2024, vol. 01, Planum Publisher e Società Italiana degli Urbanisti, Roma-Milano.
  40. Frallicciardi A. M., Palmentieri S. (2013). I paesaggi flegrei ovvero l’insostenibilità dell’azione umana. In Petroncelli E. (a cura di), Il paesaggio tra rischio e riqualificazione, Napoli, Liguori, pp. 125-135.
  41. Girot, C. (1999). Four trace concepts in landscape architecture. In J. Corner (Ed.), Recovering landscape: Essays in contemporary landscape architecture (pp. 58-67). Princeton Architectural Press.
  42. Harley, J. B. (1989). Deconstructing the map. Cartographica, 26(2), 1-20.
  43. Harvey, D., Perry, J. (Eds.). (2015) The future of heritage as climates change: loss, adaptation and creativity. Abingdon, UK: Taylor andFrancis Inc.
  44. Hillier J (2015) Performances and performativities of resilience. In: Beunen R, Van Assche K, Duineveld M (eds) Evolutionary governance theory: theory and applications. Springer, Switzerland, pp 167–184
  45. Holtorf C (2018) Embracing change: how cultural resilience is increased through cultural heritage. World Archaeol 50(4):639–650
  46. Holtorf, C. (2018). Embracing Change: How Cultural Resilience Is Increased through Cultural Heritage. World Archaeol, 50, 639–650.
  47. Keitumetse, S. O. (2017). Perceptions of Sustainability in Heritage Studies. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 19(4), 319–323. doi.org/10.1080/13505033.2017.1378535
  48. ICOMOS (2019) Future of our pasts: engaging cultural heritagein climate action. https://www.icomos.org/en/77-articles-en-francais/59522-icomos-releases-future-of-our-pasts-report-to-increase-engagement-of-cultural-heritage-in-climate-action
  49. Ioan I., Saghin I., Stoica Ilinca V., Zamfir D. (2014). Perennial values and cultural landscapes resilience. In Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, v.199, 225-229.
  50. Innovation Alcotra (2013). La creazione di Living Lab transfrontalieri, Torino.
  51. Jones, Z. M. (2022). Re‑thinking the resilience paradigm in cultural heritage. In M.-T. Albert & al. (Eds.), New metropolitan perspectives, Springer.
  52. Magis K (2010) Community resilience: an indicator of social sustainability. Soc Nat Resour 23:401–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920903305674
  53. Magnaghi, A. (2012) Proposte per la ridefinizione delle invarianti strutturali regionali, in Daniela Poli (a cura di), Regole e progetti per il paesaggio, Verso il nuovo piano paesaggistico della Toscana, Firenze University Press, Firenze.
  54. Magnaghi, Alberto (2016) Le invarianti strutturali, fra patrimonio e statuto del territorio, in Anna Marson (a cura di), La struttura del paesaggio. Una sperimentazione multidisciplinare per il Piano della Toscana, Laterza, Roma-Bari.
  55. Marris, E., Mascaro, J., Ellis, E. C. (2013) Perspective: Is Everything a Novel Ecosystem? If so, do we need the Concept?, in Richard J. Hobbs, Eric S. Higgs, Carol M. Hall (eds), Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order, Wiley Ed.
  56. Marson, A. (2016) La struttura del paesaggio. Una sperimentazione multidisciplinare per il Piano della Toscana, Laterza, Roma-Bari.
  57. Meerow, S., Newell, J. P., & Stults, M. (2016). Defining urban resilience: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 147, 38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.11.011
  58. Miano P., Izzo F., Pagano L. (a cura di) (2016). I campi Flegrei. L’architettura per i paesaggi archeologici. Macerata: Quodlibet.
  59. Mulligan M, Steele W, Rickards L, Fünfgeld H (2016) Keywords in planning: what do we mean by ‘community resilience’? International Planning Studies 21(4):348–361.
  60. Opdam, P.; Nassauer, J.I.; Wang, Z.; Albert, C.; Bentrup, G.; Castella, J.C.; McAlpine, C.; Liu, J.; Sheppard, S.; Swaffield, S. Science for action at the local landscape scale. Landsc. Ecol. 2013, 28, 1439–1445.
  61. Orff, K. (2016). Toward an Urban Ecology: Scape/Landscape Architecture. Monacelli Press.
  62. Perec G., (1994). L’infra-ordinario, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  63. Peterson G (2000) Political ecology and ecological resilience: an integration of human and ecological dynamics. Ecol Econ 35(3):323–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(00)002
  64. Pickett, S. T., Cadenasso, M. L., & McGrath, B. (Eds.). (2013). Resilience in ecology and urban design: Linking theory and practice for sustainable cities. Springer.
  65. Plieninger T., Bieling C. (2012) Resilience and the Cultural Landscape. Understanding and Managing Change in Human-Shaped Environments, Cambridge University Press.
  66. Poli, D. (2012) Regole e progetti per il paesaggio, Verso il nuovo piano paesaggistico della Toscana, Firenze University Press, Firenze.
  67. Pu B, Qiu Y (2016) Emerging trends and new developments on urban resilience: a bibliometric perspective. Sci Res Publish. doi.org/10.4236/cus.2016.41004
  68. Robbins, P. (2012). Political ecology: A critical introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
  69. Russo, M., Attademo, A., Formato, E., & Garzilli, F. (Eds.). (2023). Transitional landscapes. Quodlibet.
  70. Sauer, C. O. (1925). The morphology of landscape. University of California Publications in Geography, 2(2), 19-53.
  71. Schippers P, van der Heide CM, Koelewijn HP, Schouten MAH, Smulders RMJM, Cobben MMP, Sterk M, Vos CC, Verboom J (2015) Landscape diversity enhances the resilience of populations, ecosystems and local economy in rural areas. Landscape Ecol 30:193–202. https://doi.org/10. 1007/s10980-014-0136-6
  72. Schmidt, C. (2022). Landscape resilience: Basics, case studies, practical recommendations. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-63998-6
  73. Sekula, A. (1982). On the invention of photographic meaning. In V. Burgin (Ed.), Thinking photography (pp. 84-109). Macmillan.
  74. Stimson, B. (2009). The pivot of the world: Photography and its nation. MIT Press.
  75. Tuan, Y.-F. (1977). Space and Place: the Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
  76. Till E.R., Schwaag Serger S., Axelsson T., Andersson M. (2024). Transformation and resilience in times of change: A historical perspective, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, v. 206
  77. United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). (2004). Agenda 21 for Culture: A framework for culture in local sustainable development. UCLG. https://www.agenda21culture.net/sites/default/files/files/documents/multi/ag21_en.pdf
  78. Viganò, P. Urbanism and ecological rationality. In Resilience in Urban Ecology and Design: Linking Theory and Practice for Sustainable Cities; Pickett, S.T.A., Cadenasso, M.L., McGrath, B.P., Eds.; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2013; pp. 407–426.
  79. Wells, L. (2000). Photography: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Routledge.
  80. Waldheim C., The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Princeton Architectural Press, New York 2006.
  81. Walker, B., Holling, C. S., Carpenter, S. R., & Kinzig, A. (2004). Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 9(2), 5.
  82. Walker B., Salt D. (2006). Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Island Press, London.
  83. Wood, D., & Fels, J. (1992). The power of maps. Guilford Press.
  84. Wu, J. Landscape sustainability science: Ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landsc. Ecol. 2013, 28, 999–1023.